#1 Priority-Don’t invest in AU domains

[snoopy]

Just some general comments about .au (talking about all the extensions here).

Whilst we are all up in arms about direct registrations lets not forget that we all have the power to avoid most of the damage that .au could do to do domain values, profitability & usage of the Australian domain space.

For years I’ve been telling people not to invest in Australian domains, it has always been a pretty lousy market, but if there is ever a time when this is most true it is probably now. If you look at the UK market it has never really recovered after their changes. Its best years were 5-10 years ago, has the occasional big sale but it is nothing like that it was. .Com.au is following the same path.

So why put money into .au right now? Would you invest in a company if the people running it were just trying to line their own pocket at the expense of the owners?

So whilst rallying the troops against AUDA and its board is a good idea the #1 priority people have should be taking money off the table where you can, or not putting it there in the first place.

 

[Scott.L]

Snoopy I think you will find there is never a time more opportune than now to invest in a decent domain name:

Australian consumers spent an estimated $20.1 billion over the last year purchasing goods and services online, with strong growth in the purchase of takeaway food, toys and media. National Australia Bank’s latest Online Retail Sales Index (NORSI) shows online spending grew by 13.5% in the 12 months to June 2016.

See link to view the full report;
http://business.nab.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160729-NORSI-June-2016-Final.pdf

.

 

[Rhythm]

I just invested in analytics.net.au

Oops

 

[snoopy]

Snoopy I think you will find there is never a time more opportune than now to invest in a decent domain name:

Australian consumers spent an estimated $20.1 billion over the last year purchasing goods and services online, with strong growth in the purchase of takeaway food, toys and media. National Australia Bank’s latest Online Retail Sales Index (NORSI) shows online spending grew by 13.5% in the 12 months to June 2016.

See link to view the full report;
http://business.nab.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20160729-NORSI-June-2016-Final.pdf

.

Online spending has been rising for years, whist values of .com.au domains have been falling. The two don't simply go together because there is all sorts of speculation & rule changes which upset the balance. In my view AUDA and Ausregistry are working to put more money in their own pockets at the expense of domain owners.

 

[Rhythm]

feel free to cor me all your .au domains

 

[snoopy]

feel free to cor me all your .au domains

How about this one, downlights com au? you can have it for the $2269 I paid for it at auction 5 years ago.

 

[snoopy]

Vital stats for the name,

Number of inquiries in last 5 years = 0
Parking revenue over 5 years = $16.06

 

[DomainNames]

How about this one, downlights com au? you can have it for the $2269 I paid for it at auction 5 years ago.

That was a high price to pay don't you think? Maybe spend an hour emailing and phoning all the light companies to try and offload it and you may get the $ back at least.

I hand registered a name 4 years ago for $20 and sold it for $33,000 recently so there is still huge money to be made in .com.au names if you register the right ones.

.com names are also going crazy again.. nearly every ad on USA TV is a .com company or brand these days. There has been massive .com start ups there again. It seems many people may have a job and some sideline .com they are doing something with..really interesting

Many Chinese buyers are also buying up .com names in big numbers. They don't worry about other extensions it seems. The .com is still king globally... 99% of the newer 3000 TLDS have failed

 

[snoopy]

That was a high price to pay don't you think? Maybe spend an hour emailing and phoning all the light companies to try and offload it and you may get the $ back at least.

I hand registered a name 4 years ago for $20 and sold it for $33,000 recently so there is still huge money to be made in .com.au names if you register the right ones.

.

Yes, was bought at auction. I think spending time try to sell this is probably not a good use of time. I have found in the past it takes along time to even get domainers to buy .com.au. In my view if I auctioned this name again (which I will probably have to do one day to move it) it would get half or less what it sold for 5 years ago, maybe even one quarter. There has been zero interest in that name in 5 years, so it is probably the last name I would attempt outward marketing on. (note I don't think outbound marketing is a good idea regardless)

Whilst there may be some decent sales in .com.au I think these are outliers, much like .cc or .info. I keep asking the same question, "Who is actually making a living in .com.au" and the answer so far is one person (Ned), even he seems to be moving on from .com.au.

As you say .com is strong, and that is where people should be in my view. God knows why I bought that name, a moment in of insanity perhaps.

 

[Lemon]

I think spending time try to sell this is probably not a good use of time

Which is a good reason for engaging a broker.

 

[DomainNames]

Yes, was bought at auction. I think spending time try to sell this is probably not a good use of time. I have found in the past it takes along time to even get domainers to buy .com.au. In my view if I auctioned this name again (which I will probably have to do one day to move it) it would get half or less what it sold for 5 years ago, maybe even one quarter. There has been zero interest in that name in 5 years, so it is probably the last name I would attempt outward marketing on. (note I don't think outbound marketing is a good idea regardless)

Whilst there may be some decent sales in .com.au I think these are outliers, much like .cc or .info. I keep asking the same question, "Who is actually making a living in .com.au" and the answer so far is one person (Ned), even he seems to be moving on from .com.au.

As you say .com is strong, and that is where people should be in my view. God knows why I bought that name, a moment in of insanity perhaps.

There are far more people than Ned making good money from .com.au domain names .. you may even note some old hands getting back into it after they sold off years ago or built up large .com.au brands and are starting new ones,,,, Some big ASX CEO's have .com.au generic portfolios or high value names they are very quiet about. They may do this for various reasons including to build up one sell it and move to the next...Very few of them if any are on this forum, I know several.... they even buy up competitor type .com.au names to keep them out of markets completely.

 

[snoopy]

There are far more people than Ned making good money from .com.au domain names .. you may even note some old hands getting back into it after they sold off years ago or built up large .com.au brands and are starting new ones,,,, Some big ASX CEO's have .com.au generic portfolios or high value names they are very quiet about. They may do this for various reasons including to build up one sell it and move to the next...Very few of them if any are on this forum, I know several.... they even buy up competitor type .com.au names to keep them out of markets completely.

What do these examples have to do with people making a living in .com.au?

You're listing a whole lot of people who obviously do not make their living in .com.au domains, ASX ceo's, people who sold off their names, people who developed a business etc.

 

[topflight]

What do these examples have to do with people making a living in .com.au?

You're listing a whole lot of people who obviously do not make their living in .com.au domains, ASX ceo's, people who sold off their names, people who developed a business etc.

I would love to be one who does but this market isn't strong or fluid enough to make a living out of it. I do it more for fun and I think I'm up (only just). I must say the thought of a mass liquidation of names is on the cards for me.

 

[snoopy]

I would love to be one who does but this market isn't strong or fluid enough to make a living out of it. I do it more for fun and I think I'm up (only just). I must say the thought of a mass liquidation of names is on the cards for me.

In my view people should consider shifting money into .com wherever they can.

-If .au is unsuccessful (highly likely) the uncertainty will still damage the market for year and years.
-If .au were to be successful then I think we will end with a 3 extension market like China and India where local sites use either cn/.com.cn or .com (and .in, .co.in or .com)

With .com there is no alternative, it is a monopoly and is heavily protected by the US government. It is a good place for domainers to be versus .com.au which is a train wreck controlled by supply side vested interests.

.com.au greatest asset has been that it is "the clear choice". Not many other countries had that and AUDA is about to erode it.

With the "mass liquidation" I don't really know how that will go, I think you be met by "nearly no market". I have found pretty much anything is extremely hard to sell. You could try a big sale like Ned did a couple of months ago or just stop investing, or shift money more gradually.

Here is some good examples of the problem India and China has, (note particularly what the local sites as using). It is all over the place and .com is heavily in the mix for local sites.

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/IN
http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/CN

 

[topflight]

In my view people should consider shifting money into .com wherever they can.

-If .au is unsuccessful (highly likely) the uncertainty will still damage the market for year and years.
-If .au were to be successful then I think we will end with a 3 extension market like China and India where local sites use either cn/.com.cn or .com (and .in, .co.in or .com)

With .com there is no alternative, it is a monopoly and is heavily protected by the US government. It is a good place for domainers to be versus .com.au which is a train wreck controlled by supply side vested interests.

.com.au greatest asset has been that it is "the clear choice". Not many other countries had that and AUDA is about to erode it.

With the "mass liquidation" I don't really know how that will go, I think you be met by "nearly no market". I have found pretty much anything is extremely hard to sell. You could try a big sale like Ned did a couple of months ago or just stop investing, or shift money more gradually.

Here is some good examples of the problem India and China has, (note particularly what the local sites as using). It is all over the place and .com is heavily in the mix for local sites.

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/IN
http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/CN

I hear you and for me I made the wrong bet. I get the feeling I am too late on the .com.au play and had some decent offers on names recently but pushed pretty hard and lost out on potential sales.

I don't see armageddon coming but flat to no growth is always bad on any investment. There is an easy exit on half my portfolio to someone that would gobble it up for about 30% of what I think its worth so this is always an option. I have done some basic outbound marketing with some success on flipping some domains, but my time really is better spent on other things these days.

I could always win Tattslotto this weekend and not have to worry?!?

 

[snoopy]

Breaking news today that the CBA have acquired cba.com, would be expecting a fair bit more of this with the .au push. They also filed a UDRP for Bankwest.com (hopefully they'll get a hand slap over that one),

http://www.domaininvesting.com/cba-com-acquired-by-commonwealth-bank-of-australia/

 

[Rhythm]

Banks are moving to .bank
CBA has .cba
Go figure, no clue why.

cba.com sold because the seller wanted to cash out before .com crash

 

[snoopy]

Banks are moving to .bank
CBA has .cba
Go figure, no clue why.

cba.com sold because the seller wanted to cash out before .com crash

You are in la la land.

 

[snoopy]

Update on this, CBA have won the UDRP on Bankwest.com unfortunately, will have to see if they do anything with it. CBA.com only a redirect at present.

 

[snoopy]

Just thought I'd update this thread, with the proposed "lottery model" for .au things are only going to get worse. If this model ever comes in it will leave people in the same situation as some .uk owners are in where they have one variant and not the other (e.g. owning the .uk without the .co.uk and vice versa).

Those names have been termed "orphan names" and have far lower level of interest, Australia is headed for the more extreme situation with much of the good names being orphaned because there is likely to be 3-4 parties in the lottery for the better names (.com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .id.au, .gov.au, .edu.au) and the .com.au owner will miss out much of the time.