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I want to buy a domain name as a present for a non-technical friend. I therefore want to pay the initial setup cost, but have the account management, and repeat billing under their control. What is the easiest way to do this?

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IMHO buy the domain through godaddy, once you've given the gift, have your friend create an account with them and you can then transfer the domain between godaddy accounts for free. Other registry's may offer a similar feature.

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This may work, but I would prefer to be able to do something that does not actively require them to do something, as that is possible to result in them not doing it and me ending up stuck with the domain. (There may be no option that solves this, but I am hoping for something that does. If they were more technically literate, I would just give them the money.) – Christi Jun 12 '12 at 22:49
@Christi I you can open the second account on their behalf, and just update the email address afterwards. I think they may also do giftcards. – toomanyairmiles Jun 12 '12 at 23:23
The only option is to register the domain and make sure auto-renew is not selected. If they ever choose to use the domain transfer it to their own GoDaddy account. @toomanyairmiles Godaddy doesn't support gift cards any longer. They accept all old ones but aren't giving out new ones – Anagio Jun 13 '12 at 6:33
@Christi - For your friend to be in control of account management and repeat billing they will need to do something at some point. – w3d Jun 13 '12 at 10:52
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In the end I solved this by creating a GoDaddy account for my friend, and buying the domain using my Paypal account. I then had to cancel the connection between her GoDaddy account and my Paypal account manually on the Paypal website.

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