If .au was open for direct registrations (eg. domainname.au) would you get one today?

[findtim]

let their old co.nz domain names drop

that would be a mistake in my view, i'm not sure how many years it took but do you remember when they changed the phone numbers......... adding 9's and 3's, that took ages before they could force the conversion.
tim

 

[Joel]

I'd certainly want the .au for the major domains I own in .com.au purely to protect the .com.au
As for the reasons behind it, 100% money grab.

 

[Erwin]

I hope common sense prevail & have .com.au/net.au businesses a preferential choice when it comes to securing/maintaining their brand online..

 

[Chris.C]

Not only do I think that that introducing .au domains adds value. I believe it's value destroying and wastes businesses precious resources.

I see this move as no different to the any of the other domain administration entities that have done this previously, ie the pros and cons are the same:

PROS OF .AU (vs .COM.AU)

• Shorter than .com.au (but how much value does this REALLY add?)
  
• More visually appealing (maybe, but it's debatable)
  
• Makes more domain names available (this is not the case if existing owners of .com.au get first right of refusal)
  
• Added revenue for AUDA and .Au registrars (do they deserve to make more money if the system is worse off as a result)?

CONS OF .AU (vs .AU)

• Undermines the trusted brand of .com.au
  
• The current system of .com.au vs org.au vs .gov.au is effective and well understood
• No technical reasons to change the current structure
• Businesses will incur large setup costs to run or redirect two domains/websites/emails/hosting as well as the ongoing costs to manage the duplication
• Using .AU and .COM.AU simultaneously creates both confusion for both the business and customer
• Businesses will be forced to acquire and maintain both registrations, regardless of cost, to protect their brands
  
• Forces 300,000+ businesses already using .com.au web addresses to invest resources to discuss, manage and potentially mitigate the potential threat /opportunity of .au domains to their already established online brands (which is non-value adding)
  
• Potential for astronomical rebranding costs to traditional marketing, business cards, quotes, billboards, websites, tv ads, stationary, business signs, company cars, etc

• Increased yearly domains fees for no value add

• Added complexity to digital marketing management

• High human resource costs to fix and deal with the complications of emails being sent to wrong extensions or websites not functioning correctly

• Increase in scamming in light of having an easier ability to "pass off" as an established brand

• Potential privacy breaches, loss of trade secrets etc because of emails gone astray

And don't get me started on the potential for business confusion of operating multiple domains (I worked with an Australian firm that owned its business names in .com, .com.au and .net.au extensions and had opted to use a .com as their domain extension but redirected the .com.au and net.au domains, when I got there I found out that there were hundreds of emails a month that were being sent to a .com.au email addresses that were just going into the abyss and they had no idea - they easily lost millions in revenue over the years...)

As a domainer, this might be could for many of us, given that any business that registers the .au extension of domains that I own the .com.au and develops it will ensure they will be sending traffic to my domains making it more value to either them or their competition and likely forcing them to also acquire the .com.au version.

That said, I don't this AUDA could argue their is a shortage of domains, given the .com.au extension is no where near as popular as most other international domains and if you look at what extremely good .com.au domains sell for on NetFleet's catalogue there is no shortage or great domains available for $XXX or low $XXXX that would be FAR better for businesses to buy rather than deal with the complications of using an unknown extension and having the constant problem of not also owning the .com.au...

At the end of the day, more domain names don't increased the number of potential customers or help streamline their operations, yet the ongoing added expenses and high potential for complication will operate like a tax on a businesses and everyone in the system worse off.

So if ADUA were being truly altruistic about the decision I don't feel there is any benefit to warrant such a move.

To be completely honest, if AUDA really cared about Australian businesses they'd consider getting rid of .net.au domains (which SO MANY businesses opt to register out of fear) rather than introducing another domain.

And if AUDA REALLY wanted to promote the growth of Australian domains (the .com.au version) they'd get rid of the requirement of needing an ABN to own a .com.au domain - I can't count the number of times I've had friends start hobby sites with .com domains (when they would have preferred a .com.a) because they were easier to register when in many cases these hobby sites have the potential to go on and become businesses at which point they are stuck with their .com domain because that's what they've built their brand on...

Of course it saddens me that in spite of the "logic" of not introducing the .au extension it will likely happen because of the "vested interests" of those making the decision... real shame.

 

[Erwin]

Next year would mark the 30th anniversary of .au
Could 2016 be the year of the ".au?!"

 

[findtim]

i think the panel would take longer then that to present suggestions and then i think there is another process after that, i think presenting ideas on dnt can't hurt what happens in the end, surely auda do read some posts?
chris c's post is very well structured and we ( dnt members ) can have an opinion on what happens in the future eg: become an auda member and submit your thoughts.
OF COURSE its only stating your own vested interest and in this case ALL people involved are doing that so lets just face it and move on
tim

 

[Offtap]

Would be very interesting if they :
1. Did a full audit of the owners of .com.au's eligibility
2. Only offered the .au to those found to be rightfully eligible to hold .com.au's.

I was recently offered two .com.au's - both of which were left in the previous owners names - neither of which could be rightfully owned by the person selling them.

 

[petermeadit]

Chris C.; On the points you made with the pros and cons. There are a lot of great points you made here. What I kinda got from your post is the idea of, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it?

findtim; Yes, many non DNTrade members regularly read the public posts on this forum. We have a high number of public visitors to the site.

Offtap; there is data known about domain name registrations. AusRegistry created a report called 'Behind the dot' which has a section on .au Governance which goes into some eligibility stats. This infographic shows some data on PDs http://www.ausregistry.com.au/pdf/SOTD_Infographic2.pdf

 

[findtim]

informative infographic, thanks
a lot can be assumed by it !
tim

 

[Offtap]

Offtap; there is data known about domain name registrations. AusRegistry created a report called 'Behind the dot' which has a section on .au Governance which goes into some eligibility stats. This infographic shows some data on PDs http://www.ausregistry.com.au/pdf/SOTD_Infographic2.pdf

AUDA wouldn't even know these two were no longer rightfully owned based on a cursory look.

 

[Erwin]

It would interesting to see what the uptake of .com would be in Australia, should implementation of .au occur..

 

[Chris.C]

Chris C.; On the points you made with the pros and cons. There are a lot of great points you made here. What I kinda got from your post is the idea of, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it?

Actually not only was I trying to say "if it ain't broke don't fix it" I was also trying to say "the way you are trying to fix it will likely make it much worse" and "if you are trying to fix it, do less not more - ie scrap .net.au and the ABN requirements".

 

[boppity]

I think the .com.au and .au records should be mirrored/duplicates - if you change details in one it is automatically changed in the other - no confusion, no domain squatting/issues over com.au and .au owners/marketing/technical. No existing websites need to change. For international branding the TLD status is essential, for local brands any confusion will be avoided by simply having .com.au=.au and nobody gets to register the .au of your .com.au - they can be assigned at no extra cost and you choose which one you want to advertise (but both work equally).

 

[petermeadit]

Hi boppity, your point is interesting. Does anybody know if this would be technically possible?

 

[findtim]

It would interesting to see what the uptake of .com would be in Australia, should implementation of .au occur..

i do not think it would have an effect, registrations of .com's by australian businesses IMO is already habit based as its been long enough now.
.com's are registered by people who do not want the restrictions the au requires or businesses that are targeting worldwide or overseas eg: exporters or things like resorts/hotels/tours
i can't see the general public that already have a .com.au being influenced to switching to .com only by a change to .au
it doesn't make sense, the first thought will be to switch to just .au as they are already familiar with it.
tim

 

[findtim]

Hi boppity, your point is interesting. Does anybody know if this would be technically possible?

F, "is it technically possible", of course it can be done, just get some geeks in a room and pay them in pizzas and beer for a few days ! you will save small business a FORTUNE.
boppity's point is not interesting, its just basically the most sane thing that has been said so fr in one sentence !
backed up by chris c with "if it ain't...........do less not more........"
chris c, i'm still not convinced on the no ABN, nobody has won me on that one yet.
you can't get rid of .net, its to far down the road now, the .net.au is what will be the MAJOR stuff up if this happens.
simply more consumer confusion.
tim

 

[Lorenzo]

oh wow....I got busy with studying and it seems I missed a lot!
.nz is coming? Do .co.nz holders have any right on the .nz corresponding domain?

And yes I would totally support .au (sorry I missed the poll).

 

[findtim]

.co.uk and .co.nz have different aspects to what would happen in australia, we have had a reasonably strong .net.au existance.
SO, lorenzo, i own one of your best .com.au names as the .net.au but my timestamp is aged longer as you bought the .com.au on drops and thus changed the timestamp, which means potential i am going to own the .au NOT YOU because potentially the decision will be based on longevity , are you still happy to now to say

And yes I would totally support .au (sorry I missed the poll).

?
or would you like to go to auction on it ?
tim

 

[Lorenzo]

.co.uk and .co.nz have different aspects to what would happen in australia, we have had a reasonably strong .net.au existance.
SO, lorenzo, i own one of your best .com.au names as the .net.au but my timestamp is aged longer as you bought the .com.au on drops and thus changed the timestamp, which means potential i am going to own the .au NOT YOU because potentially the decision will be based on longevity , are you still happy to now to say ?
or would you like to go to auction on it ?
tim

Yes I would because I like simplier things but I admit that not having many domains anymore plays an influence more than likely on my opinion so I totally understand why many of you that have spent time and money on existing older domains would oppose direct second level extension. I don't like the auction system because it gets too expensive and that's not fair for first comers so what I said, I did not mean that first comers should not have the preference right to register the shorter version of their domains.

So...can anyone spare me the time to research about .nz or point me to the right topic if you already discussed it please?
Thanks

 

[Lorenzo]

oh nevermind I found the .nz site...is anyone of you going to register any?

Such a small market, I don't even know if I will given the fact premium names will be out of my reach.