Hi All,
Australia is in the early stages of its internet growth and thanks to AuDA we'll see less restriction and more transparency for all participants.

A colleague said recently that a good domain name is rarer than beach-side property cos, unlike property, it's uniquely one of a kind (eg: there is only one cars.com.au, love.com.au etc).

Remember, what we may consider a high price now maybe bargain basement in 5 yrs time. I too am in the market for good names and am always looking around. Best part is, not many people know about domains names in Australia and their respective worth so the handful of people (so to speak) that are involved are at the pointy end of the market and see the best opportunities.

Cheers,
K.

yep , one day the flood gates will open ..... good to get in now , good luck

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Good to get them now when you need an ABN, keeps the high roller internationals out

interesting comment ........ abn , i understand paz's views , but on the other hand until the average joe blow can reg a name i think our market stays small ???????? to be honest i think the abn is a major setback , because the average person cant get involved the market doesn't grow ??? ....... happy to read other views on this

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Yeah it would be very interesting to see how the market would grow if anyone was able to rego without an ABN.

I would support such a move but the main problem as I see it is that it would be hard to police the 'australian only' rule which I think has been a worthwhile restriction.

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CocktailRecipes.com.au ★ Photographers.com.au ★ DebitCard.com.au ★ Hockey.com.au ★ Boxing.com.au ★ DomainName.com.au

I understand what your saying but really disagree with it. Initially I was all for the .com.au becoming open to anyone as this would greatly help the aus domain market place but recently I have completely changed my stance on this as I believe for the sake of Australia business on the internet it is important that they be able to register a domain that they are going to use to its full potential rather than just a domainer parking it.

There is nothing more annoying than when you type in a domain and its just a park, yes its great for the domainers who may be profiting from it but if you were to relate the same to the real world it would be like getting a street address for a business, driving there to only find a map on the building to other 'legit' addresses.

The thing I like about the .com.au is how it was initially strict and in doing so actually preserved the quality of a .com.au domain. Now with the laws more relaxed, being involved with the domain business i have seen many registrars who it seems will approve a registration without the business really having any real connection to the domain. Again great for domainers, not so great for people who want it for genuine purposes.

A prime example of this is IntaServe, take for example James Pacific Octane company, he is very public with the number of domains his company owns which is not a bad thing and congratulations goes to him for managing to acquire so many. But in all honesty how can IntaServe approve all those registrations if abiding by the AUDA's registration eligibility criteria? (http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2003-07/)

Also what legal stance would James have if the AUDA wanted to reclaim all the domains on the grounds they were registered with the purpose of financial gain and not that for legitimate purposes as required by AUDA policy? Would he be reimbursed? or would he simply lose them all with the AUDA pocketing a nice sum and getting their domains back?

This post may ruffle some feathers but it is a serious issue at the moment and until these type of things are better documented and understood i think people looking to invest big in Australian domains will need to proceed with caution to protect them self from possible great financial loses.

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at the moment it seems to be six of one half a dozen of the other , i feel more aussies would get into domaining if they could actually buy a domain. Other than hard to get generics , i think most business's would reg a name close to theirs "smithscarsales' and so on ...... some will always miss out , mobilephones.com.au , how many phoneshops are there ????? ...... just one example of not a perfect world

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In regards to Sway's comments -

Couldnt of said it better myself.

Pacific Octane is in the domain monetisation business, in my view at least

Please refer to the auDA monetisation policy that is freely available:
http://www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2008-10/

Some key points:

4. DOMAIN NAMES REGISTERED FOR PURPOSE OF DOMAIN MONETISATION

4.1 It is acceptable to register domain names under the close and substantial connection rule for the explicit purpose of domain monetisation within the category “a service that the registrant provides”. The “service” being provided by a domainer is the service of providing users with information and advertising links about the subject matter of the domain name.

4.2 If a domain name resolves to a monetised website then auDA is entitled to regard the domain name as having been registered for the purpose of domain monetisation under this policy. auDA is also entitled to take into account a pattern of conduct on the part of the registrant in determining whether or not a domain name was registered for the purpose of domain monetisation under this policy.

Best Regards,
Kristoffer Sheather

What if my name is bob, i have a cake shop and i register bobscakes.com.au and then sell cakes online. Is that not monetising a domain?