Speculative .net.au registration

[jamesau]

I know there are plenty of negatives for the new .AU proposal for domainers, but I figured there was also a positive opportunity here.

With the .nz release both .net.nz and .co.nz registrants had equal claim. If a domain was disputed it was put on ice, presumably to go to auction down the track. But no doubt many .net.nz owners got lucky and received the .nz domain by default.

If the same happens with .net.au and .com.au then there is a speculative opportunity to register .net.au before the cut-off date. We don't know what the date might be, but until there is a formal announcement you would guess it's still open.

Pick out some of the best .com.au domains that don't belong to domainers, and grab the .net.au. You would guess there's a reasonable chance in some of these situations that the .com.au owner won't have any interest and the .au is available by default. You walk into ownership of the soon-to-be prime ccTLD.

Obviously somebody loses here: the .com.au owner. But it might be a good opportunity for latecomers to domaining.

 

[Horshack]

The .NZ announcement was released on the 21st July 2014 and they backdated the eligibility by years (as you can see below) so I'd suggest that it would be a waste of time now if the .com.au has been registered for some time:

If you registered your existing name before 9am on 30 May 2012:

• You’ll have PRR (Preferential Registration or Reservation) status if it's the only instance of the name. This means you’ll be able to register or reserve the shorter version of it before anyone else.
• You’ll have Conflict status if there are multiple instances of the name e.g. .co.nz, .org.nz, .net.nz, etc versions. This means you’ll have to agree with everyone about who will get the shorter version.
• * please note that holders of .kiwi.nz names aren't able to take part in the conflicted names process. This is because the .kiwi.nz second level was launched in September 2012 - after the Domain Name Commission first publicly consulted about the new, shorter .nz names.

If you registered your existing name between 9am on 30 May 2012 and 3pm, 11 February 2014:

• You’ll have PRR (Preferential Registration or Reservation) status if it's the only instance of the name. This means you’ll be able to register or reserve the shorter version of it before anyone else.
• If there are multiple instances of the name registered between these dates - e.g. .co.nz, .org.nz, .net.nz, etc versions - (and it's not already 'PRR' or 'Conflicted') the shorter version of the name will be available for general registration (first-come, first-served) from 1pm, 30 September 2014.

If you registered your existing name after 3pm, 11 February 2014:

• The shorter version of the name will be available for general registration (first-come, first-served).

 

[Shane]

I picked up a nice .nz domain in this manner, but it wasn't my reason for registering the net.nz in the first place.

Initially the .nz was put into conflicted status. I registered my interest in the domain and didn't hear anything further. Then over a year later I received an email telling me I had two months to register the .nz if I wanted it.

The reason it became available is because the co.nz registration lapsed. Naturally I registered both and will be letting the net.nz drop as it was (and still is) undeveloped.

But I have to say, if you're looking at doing this so you can attempt to re-sell the .au to the com.au owner, it's pretty shaky ground...