Joe Public thinks .Com is an excellent alternative to .Com.Au

[snoopy]

Interesting to look at the comments section of Sean's article,

In particular these 3 quotes,

StephenSydney,Aug 9 2017 at 11:42am
There is no commercial or technical disadvantage to owners in Australia of websites that do not have a .au domain. Go to GoDaddy or even Google to register your domain name for about $20 pa. With Google, you also get a distinct advantage. Your domain name is indexed higher in searches on Google.

eiger3970Gold Coast,Aug 9 2017 at 10:48am
.au domain names have always been a rip off. I suggest buying a different domain name like .com, .net etc.

OutragedAug 9 2017 at 7:19am
This is actually the sort scandal the SMH should follow. I chose not to get a .au domain name solely on price.

$150 for com.au $50 for .com

http://www.theage.com.au/small-busi...n-name-owners-ripped-off-20170807-gxqpzs.html

That is quite a number of people basically giving the same advice, buy a .com. In my view that "problem" will get worse if .au comes in. Clearly there is major issues with the .com.au namespace in terms of pricing, in particular with MelbourneIT and the lack of visible discount sellers. Ausregistry and the lack of tendering is part of the problem as well.

I also think there is major red tape issues and that is what should be worked on rather than a new extension which will make thing even more complicated and unclear than they are now.

What I'm saying is that I think if .au came in that would give .com a big boost in Australia over time. AUDA is wasting its time at the moment, focusing on the problems that do not exist and ignoring problems that do exist.

 

[Sim]

I don't get the price argument - Melbourne IT shouldn't be used as a yardstick, everyone knows they are an anomaly.

I don't know any non-technical person who even knows about Melbourne IT - they buy their domain names from GoDaddy or CrazyDomains.



Based on current exchange rates, most resellers are selling .com.au domains for less than .com domains - so the argument about being ripped off on price is actually completely invalid.

If anything, I think the price issue largely comes down to the fact that you need to pay for 2 years at a time for a .com.au, which doubles the headline price and makes it seem more expensive (hence why everyone has moved to quoting yearly prices with a large asterisk to indicate 2 year purchase required).

I think the biggest benefit that could be gained for .com.au domains would be to remove the silly 2 year registration thing and go to annual registration (for up to 10 years) like most of the other registries.

To me, that is a far bigger issue than the wholesale price of the domains - which I don't really see as a huge issue when compared to other domains.

 

[Data Glasses]

They probably tried to register a name and got asked for an Abn ....... a very restrictive rule, if you want an extension to grow don't put silly restrictions on it, simple

 

[Data Glasses]

The worry with Godaddy is they display .com.au names that are already regsitered

 

[Bacon Farmer]

They probably tried to register a name and got asked for an Abn ....... a very restrictive rule, if you want an extension to grow don't put silly restrictions on it, simple

The issue is about having trust in the .com.au domain system. Australian's see a .com.au and they trust it for commerce and legitimacy.

This is the legacy restricted ownership has brought over the last two decades.

 

[neddy]

Australian's see a .com.au and they trust it for commerce and legitimacy.

Unless it is an UBU!

 

[snoopy]

Unless it is an UBU!

Given people just register names with fake ABN's it may now be the case that the strict policies mainly just serve to prevent legitimate registrants from using .com.au. E.g. People starting new businesses who don't have an ABN, hobbyists, personal websites.

 

[Bacon Farmer]

Unless it is an UBU!

This is the biggest current threat to to public confidence in the Australian domain system.

Dishonestly auDA boasted at the special meeting about how many they have deleted but it's been at the instigation of people from here.

They have no solution and no strategy to deal with this issue.

They respond when shamed into action > http://www.domainer.com.au/auda-gives-scammers-another-smack/

 

[snoopy]

Interesting statistic

Top 50 sites in Australia
.com.au - 11 sites
.com - 29 sites

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/AU

 

[Scott.L]

Given people just register names with fake ABN's it may now be the case that the strict policies mainly just serve to prevent legitimate registrants from using .com.au. E.g. People starting new businesses who don't have an ABN, hobbyists, personal websites.

 

[snoopy]

This is the biggest current threat to to public confidence in the Australian domain system.

Dishonestly auDA boasted at the special meeting about how many they have deleted but it's been at the instigation of people from here.

They have no solution and no strategy to deal with this issue.

They respond when shamed into action > http://www.domainer.com.au/auda-gives-scammers-another-smack/

I agree. Personally when I think AUDA shows graphs like the one below I tend to think the situation is getting out of hand. I'm assuming the ones getting taken down are the tip of the iceberg and I'm now coming across these sites fairly regularly (selling counterfeit shoes),


Unfortunately the .au zone files don't seem to be publicly available so it would be hard to calculate how big that iceberg actually is.

 

[Data Glasses]

So she said ..... "I wanted to do a blog in .com.au but I am not a business so I had to go with .com, can't believe it, someone offered me big money for the name because .com was the better choice, thanks .com"

 

[snoopy]

Btw, for AUDA’s benefit,

• I don’t see anyone in that Age thread complaining about the length of .com.au
• I do not see anyone telling people they should register a new tld instead
• I don’t see anyone clamoring for .au in the comments

Those factors raised by the Names Policy Panel Majority Report are non issues for the man on the street. The competition is .com and businesses care about what it costs them. That’s the bottom line.

 

[Scott.L]

I agree. Personally when I think AUDA shows graphs like the one below I tend to think the situation is getting out of hand. I'm assuming the ones getting taken down are the tip of the iceberg and I'm now coming across these sites fairly regularly (selling counterfeit shoes),

View attachment 544
Unfortunately the .au zone files don't seem to be publicly available so it would be hard to calculate how big that iceberg actually is.

Did you read this report snoopy

Statistical Analysis of DNS Abuse in gTLDs Final Report
Our findings suggest that some new gTLDs have become a growing target for malicious actors. Competitive domain registration prices, unrestrictive registration practices, a variety of other registration options such as available payment methods, free services such as DNS or WHOIS privacy, and finally the increased availability of domain names decrease barriers to abuse and may make some new gTLDs targets for cybercriminals.

https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/sadag-final-09aug17-en.pdf

 

[snoopy]

Cheers Scott, will have a look, haven't seen it before.

 

[Data Glasses]

Listening to the radio this morning, an ad comes on "need a break .com" repeated about 8 times in 30 seconds, then the next ad comes on, X drive repeated about 5 times in 30 seconds, then in the last 5 seconds "go to x "dash" drive .com.au ...... I felt the first example even though a .com was much more effective

 

[snoopy]

Listening to the radio this morning, an ad comes on "need a break .com" repeated about 8 times in 30 seconds, then the next ad comes on, X drive repeated about 5 times in 30 seconds, then in the last 5 seconds "go to x "dash" drive .com.au ...... I felt the first example even though a .com was much more effective

I guess for a radio ad you do get to save 1 second with a .com domain also. Doesn't quite work with domain.au because people will be confused as hell and marketers would need to start adding www.

 

[Data Glasses]

I guess for a radio ad you do get to save 1 second with a .com domain also. Doesn't quite work with domain.au because people will be confused as hell and marketers would need to start adding www.

It was the added word of "dash" that after saying x then drive a number of times that added confusion, you would have expected them to say x drive .com.au not x - drive .com.au
~
More radio stuff this morning "just go to switch.vic.gov.au" the guy then laughs and says "nothing confusing about that!"

 

[snoopy]

It was the added word of "dash" that after saying x then drive a number of times that added confusion, you would have expected them to say x drive .com.au not x - drive .com.au
~
More radio stuff this morning "just go to switch.vic.gov.au" the guy then laughs and says "nothing confusing about that!"

Lol reminds of "winston with a y". They spend a tonne of radio advertising.

 

[Sim]

I spend a lot of time explaining to my clients the importance of choosing a good domain name and I like to use the "phone test" is (if you have to say your website name over the phone - how easy is it for the other person to understand?).

Radio is also a good test - how easy is it to understand the domain name when spoken in a radio advert?

Although many of my clients are never going to buy radio advertising, so they don't consider that much of an issue compared to the phone.