Domain Parking

auDAs Aftermarket Anniversary

info@domain-parking.com.au — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:20:00 GMT

One year on, is the .au aftermarket alive?

It's been a year since auDA relaxed their rules on the transfer of domain licenses between registrants, legitimising the sale of .au domain names. The changes were significant enough to draw media attention, spawning a flurry of registrations and creating a whole new industry in the form of domain aftermarket. But has the expected boom in domain name trading happened, and are .au domain names reaching anticipated values?

One year has certainly been long enough, it seems, for Netalliance Pty Ltd, owners of netfleet.com.au. The self proclaimed ".AU Aftermarket" current lists nearly 30,000 domain names for sale. The business would have benefited hugely from alliances with Netregistry and PlanetDomain forged earlier this year.

According to the website, the value of sales* back to January 20th peaked with domain name webdesign.net.au selling for $10,000 early in April. The average price during this period was just under $850 for the 50 domains shown*. With all due respect to auDA and their eligibility criteria, this is a fantastic average return on investment for an initial outlay of around $50, and in the midst of a global recession!

What is apparent, however, is that the values are not on the scale of some of last year's more optimistic reports. Whether Netfleet has established the credibility for premium domain names, or whether they're just not for sale is unknown. It's also not clear if all of Netfleet's sales are listed. However, as someone that regularly provides .au domain name appraisals, it's reassuring to see that my own valuations are in line with the market.

The domain name that appears to have generated most interest on netfleet.com.au (but no sale, yet) is ok.com.au. The current bid for this domain, the latest of 24, sits at $5,000. The target price is $25,000. Though there is a discrepancy between the target price and current bid even at this advanced stage of bidding (the domain has been listed for 7 months), it's at least closer than the gulf between target and bid for parramatta.com.au ($75,000 and $5,100 respectively after 9 bids).

At the other end of the scale, meetingonline.com.au sold for just $35. Even with an additional $100 or so in transfer fees this nice, generic domain name represents a great bargain for any domain parker.

Though perhaps no longer in its infancy, the domain aftermarket does seem to be alive in Australia, if not yet kicking. One thing's for sure, the unique nature of any domain aftermarket, particularly one as new as for .au domains, makes it an interesting study.

Domain sales statistics (source: www.netfleet.com.au, 29th May 2009):

29,491 domains listed
1484 offers made against 653 domains
Highest value (public) sale: $10,000 (webdesign.net.au)
Lowest value (public) sale: $30 (auctiondomains.com.au)
Average value (public) sale: $845.92
Sales achieved an average of 89% of target price, when specified
71% of sales achieved their target value; 3% achieved greater than their target value

* NOTE: Statistics based on publicised sales on www.netfleet.com.au between 20th January and 29th May 2009

Domain name acquisition

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:28:00 GMT

Redirect to http://www.domain-parking.com.au/17/buying_a_registered_domain_name_in_australia

Domain-parking.com.au calls for industry standard valuation process

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 4 Aug 2008 04:08:00 GMT

Calls for industry standardisation for .au domain name valuation

Domain-Parking.com.au has launched an initiative to standardise the process for the objective valuation of domain names under the .au TLD.

A new Google group has been created with this aim, and invitations are being sent to industry heads over the next couple of days. Anyone with a vested interest is invited to join the discussion.

Read the Domain-Parking.com.au media release, or check out our free domain name valuation service.

Domain name auction service

info@domain-parking.com.au — Sun, 3 Aug 2008 10:08:00 GMT

Domain name auctions available soon

Domain-Parking.com.au is excited to announce that we will soon be launching a domain name auction service.

If you own domain names that may be for sale and would like to be informed when the service is available, please complete the form below.

In the meantime, find out how much your domain name might be worth - take advantage of our free domain name valuations service. Free for a limited timeonly.

Free domain name valuations

info@domain-parking.com.au — Sat, 2 Aug 2008 23:41:00 GMT

We'll provide an objective domain name valuation for free

We use a number of factors for objectively valuing domain names, including:

current usage
genericness of the name
quality and quantity of links from other sites
brand association
availability of derivatives/alternatives

Please use the form below to list your domain names and we'll get back to you as soon as possible with an estimated value for each. Thank you.

Buying a registered domain name in Australia

info@domain-parking.com.au — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:22:00 GMT

Buying a registered domain name in Australia

You have the idea for a great new online business and everything is falling in to place to realise your dream...but someone's registered your ideal domain name. What do you do?

This is the situation that I've found myself in many times. The impact varies depending on the business idea. Not having the right domain name is rarely catastrophic, but it can have a severe impact, and having the ideal domain name (a generic term related to your product, for example) will give your business a huge boost that might make the difference.

The increasing trend for domain name registrations that end up being parked indefinitely and not used means that finding a good, generic domain name that's unregistered is increasingly difficult.

Domain parking does get the domain name off the block in the sense that the search engines should already be aware of the website, and may have made the necessary associations that will benefit a 'real' website. However, this comes at a cost.

The rules within Australia are that a registrant must have a connection to the domain name registered. If you feel that this is not the case, you can lodge a dispute with an auDA approved mediation company, but it's not cheap, so you'd really only do this if you were really very confident of recouping the costs.

Alternatively, it may be appropriate to approach the existing registrant and offer to purchase the domain name from them. This is now possible since auDA change the rules in June.

Of course, the tricky part in negotiating the purchase of a registered domain name is that a seemingly value-less domain becomes valuable as soon as someone makes an enquiry. This is the foundation of the whole domain parking industry.

At a cost of around $40 for a two-year com.au registration ($39.95 from domain-parking.com.au) domain names are incredibly good value. If the name is popular enough (which can be measured accurately from the moment the parked website is made live) it would be worth renewing domain name registrations indefinitely in the hope that someone will eventually make an offer.

For even a small business, an investment of, for example, $500 would be little to secure the right domain name. At a value of $500, the registrant of an existing domain has 25 years to recoup their investment, during which time they can continue to renew.

Domain-Parking.com.au offers a 'first contact' service for free. This includes making an anonymous enquiry to the registrant of an existing domain with a request for more information and an asking price.

Domain name registration prices

info@domain-parking.com.au — Tue, 3 Jun 2008 14:44:00 GMT

Domain name registration prices from Domain-Parking.com.au

All prices are quoted in Australian dollars inclusive of GST.

Prices for Australian domain names:

.com.au - 2 years - $39.95
.asn.au - 2 years - $40.70
.id.au - 2 years - $36.25
.net.au - 2 years - $39.95
.org.au - 2 years - $20.90

auDA governed Domain names (ending in .au) are available for periods of multiples of two years.

Pricing for other domain name registrations:

.be - 2 years^† - $53.44
.biz - 2 years^† - $38.36
.ca - 2 years^† - $74.40
.cc - 2 years^† - $144.40
.co.uk - 2 years - $25.08
.com - 2 years^† - $38.36
.de - 2 years^† - $33.76
.eu.com - 2 years - $93.58
.info - 2 years^† - $38.36
.it - 2 years^† - $233.84
.me.uk - 2 years - $25.08
.net - 2 years^† - $38.36
.nl - 2 years^† - $201.04
.org - 2 years^† - $38.36
.org.uk - 2 years - $25.08
.ru - 2 years^† - $201.04
.se - 2 years^† - $233.84
.tv - 2 years^† - $176.40
.uk.com - 2 years - $93.58
.us - 2 years^† - $36.36
.us.com - 2 years - $93.58

^† 1-year registrations also available and registrations available in multiples of 1 year

All prices are subject to change without notice due to currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Some domain extensions include registration criteria.

Which domain name to register?

info@domain-parking.com.au — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:27:00 GMT

Domain name registration - which name to register

When you're registering a domain name for parking, what name(s) should you choose? Registering a domain name that is a registered trademark, recognisable brand or company name is always asking for trouble, but what about other names?

Is it ethical?

Sticking to generic terms is always advisable, but, in an increasingly crowded market, there are a number of other factors to consider, perhaps most importantly, whether registering a domain name would be considered ethical. Examples of unethical registrations include:

registering a domain name specifically because it sounds like another domain name
registering a domain name specifically because it could be a mis-type or mis-spelling of another domain name (e.g. quantas.com.au)
registering the pluralisation of an established domain name

Basically, any domain registration that depends on deception or someone else's brand/domain name/customers/etc to attract visitors is probably unethical and should be avoided. If in doubt, consider whether you'd be comfortable contacting the other domain name or business owner to ask their opinion.

The rules

However, the rules for domain name registration are relatively new and evolving. For example, registering the hyphenated version of a registered, un-hyphenated domain name (and vice versa) is acceptable provided the domain name is not an established website. A parked domain, in my opinion, is not an established website...just don't plagiarise the content!

One problem with registering the hyphen-twin of an already registered (but unused) domain is that the owner of the other domain may not be as ethical as you. Once you've established a reputation and presence online, they may use this to promote their own site where the only difference between the domain names is a hyphen (or lack thereof). The big question is whether, legally, this would constitute 'passing off' or not, as, where the domain name is a generic term, the content and purpose of the website is likely to be similar or identical.

This is one reason why I would always advise registering both the hyphenated and un-hyphenated versions of your domain name, especially for generic terms. I think most people would rather they didn't invite competition in this way, particularly in view of the relatively low cost of registering an additional domain, and, if you ever come to sell the domain names, a 'hyphen-set' is likely to attract a premium price as it reduces the likelihood of future competition.

Legal considerations

As well as ethical considerations, there are legal considerations. According to auDA's registration guidelines, any domain names you register, if not directly related to your business or company names, must 'be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant'. It's not a legal requirement in Australia to register a business name for an online-only business (i.e. commercial domain name), so this may be difficult to prove one way or the other, but it's worth consideration - what would you say if someone asked what the connection was?

Though you should always stick to generic terms rather than names, the two can sometimes overlap. To avoid the potential for conflict I often use the ASIC national names index to check the terms that I'm registering once I've established that a domain name is available.

There are plenty of generic terms still available for registration so setting yourself up for a potential legal battle is probably not worthwhile. What is considered ethical in domain name registration is a grey area that will only become formalised with time.

Is the domain name commercially worthwhile?

Once you've traversed the ethical and legal minefields, the final consideration is whether the domain name is commercially viable. Will the name attract enough visitors to (at very least) break even? Will it generate sufficient interest from prospective buyers to be sold at a premium? What are the timescales?

Though individual domain registration is relatively cheap, registering domain names on a commercial scale is not. Some commercial domain name companies have portfolios with hundreds of thousands of domain names, which represents a huge capital investment.

At domain-parking.com.au we can give you a very quick assessment of any domain name that you're considering registering, though we obviously can't guarantee its success (or otherwise). Joining our network of domain names using the tried and tested domain-parking.com.au platform also maximises the exposure your domain name will receive. As well as providing advertising income, this helps your domain name achieve it's full value for potential re-sale, and, once the domain name is set up, any revenue from your domain name can be considered passive income. Minimal ongoing effort is required.

If you're unsure about a domain name registration, our services, or any other matter related to domain names, contact domain-parking.com.au now!

.au Domain names for sale

info@domain-parking.com.au — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:05:00 GMT

.au Domain names for sale

The following is a list of domain names hosted at domain-parking.com.au that are currently for sale:

Free domain parking, domain registration, trading and brokerage services

info@domain-parking.com.au — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:14:00 GMT

Welcome to domain-parking.com.au!

Register now with Australia's newest domain parking community. Your registration allows you to park existing domains with us and create holding pages whilst you decide what you'd like to do next.

Park existing domain names

If you have existing domains that you'd like to park at domain-parking.com.au, you can add them here (registration required). Make sure you read our article, Park your existing domain at domain-parking.com.au first for more details on what's required.

Register new domains

In order to register new domains, you must complete a domain registrant form (registration required). This registers your details with the auDA accredited registrar we use, giving you access to a broad range of domain name services, and only needs to be done once. It's a quick, straightforward process, but we recommend you do this now to prevent unnecessary delays in the future.

Also, check out our articles on which domain to register and domain name eligibility. We have very competitive domain registration prices, and offer domain name selection advice. Please contact us for more information.

Sell old domains

Since June '08, auDA have lifted their restriction on domain name trading within the au top-level domain (TLD) namespace, e.g. com.au, net.au, org.au, etc. If you have domain names that were registered with good intent, but never made the big time, we can sell these for you, either by offer or as part of our new auction service (available soon). For more information, or for a free, objective valuation of your domain name, please contact us.

You can also find more information of our domain transfer services.

Valuation of your domain names

We offer a free domain name appraisal service. Whether you're buying or selling a domain name and want some advice, or if you need an objective, third-party valuation for legislative or accounting purposes, we can help.

Buy registered domains

Because selling registered domain names is now allowed, it follows that buying registered domain names is allowed too! If you are interested in procuring a domain name that is already registered, but under-utilised and potentially available for purchase, we'd like to hear from you. We have a proven track record in negotiating for our clients who understand that achieving the best deal requires your anonymity. Please contact us now for more information on our domain brokering service.

Read our article on buying registered domain names in Australia.

Sign up to our feed

We produce regular articles about domain parking, trading and appraisal (valuation). If you'd like to stay in touch with what's happening, sign up to our news feed, available via RSS or email.

Park your existing website at domain-parking.com.au

info@domain-parking.com.au — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:39:00 GMT

Park your domain with domain-parking.com.au today!

If you've already registered a domain name, but you'd like to host your domain with us, you need to update the registrar's DNS entry for your domain to point to our server. Sound like gobbledigook? You can read the following or drop immediately to the last paragraph where we offer to do this techy stuff for you...

Website Technology 101 - How does the world wide web work?

DNS stands for domain name server or service. The world wide web (www) runs on addresses called IP addresses, and not on the names that humans find so much easier to remember. When you try to access a webpage the name you type in is converted to an IP address, e.g. 69.41.173.124 (the IP address of the domain-parking.com.au domain) by a domain name server. These aren't secret or secure as, in order to be found, every website must have an entry somewhere in a domain name server that converts the name to an IP address.

DNS for new domain names

When you register a new domain name your registrar will normally become your domain name server by default, but you can change this to any valid server you like. We currently use 800hosting.com as our webhost, so our domain name servers are ns1.800hosting.com and ns2.800hosting.com.

Redelegation of your existing domain name

One option for moving your domain name to domain-parking.com.au is to ask your registrar or current domain name server company to change your DNS server name to ours. You need to tell us, too, so we can add a DNS entry for your domain on our host's servers. Moving your domain in this way is called redelegation, and it gives us complete control over your domain name entries.

This process normally takes just a few hours to complete and would be recommended if you had no other services running on your domain name, e.g. email, at present.

Updating existing domain name servers with our information

The second option is to add an entry to the existing DNS to point just the website to our server. This would be particularly recommended if you already had services such as email or ftp running via your current registrar. If you'd prefer this option, ask your registrar to add a CNAME entry for your preferred domain name (e.g. www.domainname.com or domainname.com) to point to www.domain-parking.com. Again, you need to tell us that this is what you're doing so that we can set things up on our end.

This option will also take just a few hours to complete.

Too techy? Let us do it for you

This is not an easy concept to get your head around. We know that, which is why we're more than happy to contact your registrar on your behalf and arrange the necessary changes to make this happen. Simply drop us a line with your contact details and domain names and we'll be in touch.

Who can register .au domain names?

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:30:00 GMT

Can you register a domain name?

AuDA has clear policies on eligibility for registering domain names. Some are overall guidelines for any domain registration within the au top-level domain (TLD); others are specific to the second-level domain (2LD). The TLD that auDA governs is au. A 2LD is the next level of hierarchy below this, for example com.au, net.au and id.au.

Domain name composition

Eligible domain names must be at least 2 characters long and consist of a combination of letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and hyphens (-). For registration purposes at least, they are case-insensitive (more on that in a later article). Domain names cannot start or end with a hyphen (-) and hyphens cannot appear in the 3rd and 4th character position, e.g. 12--34.com.au.

The five common 'open' 2LDs

There are five common, 'open' second-level domains. 'Open' domains are those that are available to the general public, subject to certain eligibility criteria, as opposed to 'closed' 2LDs such as gov.au, that are reserved for use by specific groups.

The 5 open 2LDs are asn.au, com.au, id.au, net.au and org.au. Eligibility for each is discussed below.

More details on the eligibility criteria shown below can be found at the auDA's Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs (2005-01).

All au 2LDs must be either an exact match, acronym or abbreviation of the name of the registrant’s company or trading name, organization or association name or trademark; or be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, e.g. a product name.

Please note: Registration of a domain name means the granting of a license by auDA for the registrant to use the domain name exclusively for a period of time. Ownership of the domain name remains with auDA.

asn.au and org.au

The asn.au and org.au 2LDs are reserved for non-commercial organisations. Eligibility for an asn.au or org.au domain name is based on the registrant being:

a) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or

b) political party registered with the Australian Electoral Commission; or

c) a trade union or other organisation registered under the Workplace Relations Act 1996; or

d) a sporting or special interest club operating in Australia; or

e) a charity operating in Australia, as defined in the registrant’s constitution or other documents of incorporation; or

f) a non-profit organisation operating in Australia, as defined in the registrant’s constitution or other documents of incorporation.

com.au and net.au

The com.au and net.au 2LDs are designated for use for commercial purposes. Eligibility for com.au or net.au domain names is based on the registrant being:

a) an Australian registered company; or

b) trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or Territory; or

c) an Australian partnership or sole trader;

d) a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or

e) an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark ; or

g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or

h) an Australian commercial statutory body.

id.au

The id.au 2LD is reserved for registration by individuals. Eligibility for a id.au domain name is based on the registrant being:

a) an Australian citizen; or

b) an Australian resident.

id.au domain names must be an exact match of the registrant’s personal name, be an acronym or abbreviation of the registrant’s personal name, or be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant. This would be in cases where the domain name:

(i) is derived from one or more words of the registrant's personal name; or

(ii) includes one or more words of the registrant's personal name; or

(iii) is a personal name by which the registrant is known.

Domain-parking.com.au RSS feed available now

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:56:00 GMT

Subscribe to our RSS feed

We've created an RSS feed so you can keep up-to-date with what's happening in the world of domain parking.

Thanks to the skills of the guys at Feedburner you can:

Selling your domain name

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Transfering ownership of your domain name

As of June 2008, auDA, the governing body of Australian (.au) domain name registrations, will lift their ban on selling domain names under their jurisdiction. When you register your domain name with domain-parking.com.au you are asked to specify whether the domain name is for sale and if so, for what price. You can also leave the pricing open to offers.

Domain-parking.com.au can act as a broker between yourself and any parties interested in purchasing your domain name, in order to maximise your return.

On successful completion of negotiations, domain-parking.com.au will complete the necessary steps with the domain registrar to transfer the domain to the new owner on your behalf.

For more information on our domain name brokering and trading services, please contact us.

About domain-parking.com.au

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Please note:

Domain-parking.com.au operates all domain name registrations, renewals, delegations and other services through an internationally accredited Australian-based registrar

Domain-parking.com.au is not an accredited auDA registrar because auDA is not accepting applications for accreditation at this time

As a registered domain name reseller, domain-parking.com.au happily abides by the auDA Code of Practice and Published Policies

About us

Domain-parking.com.au is based on an original idea by Paul Middleton as part of the WebEquity internet business development community.

The WebEquity concept was devised to develop web-based business ideas, such as domain-parking.com.au, rapidly and cheaply. However, domain-parking.com.au was the ideal vehicle to establish the WebEquity presence online, and so was created first.

A keen registrant of domain names himself, Paul wanted a platform for promoting numerous domain names that had sat dormant since registration. Domain-parking.com.au was finally forged from inspiration gained by reading an article in The Sun-Herald newspaper entitled "The big internet land grab" (March 30 2008).

Perhaps foolishly of the belief that every good Internet company starts with a good domain name, Paul had previously been frustrated by the number of excellent domain names that are registered but unused. Domain-parking.com.au is his contribution towards ensuring every domain name has it's 15 minutes of fame.

Domain-parking.com.au is a trading name of Boxed Search Services (ABN 67 823 720 063). Registered at 2/60 Bream Street, Coogee, NSW 2034, Australia.

The team

The domain-parking.com.au team consists of:

Paul Middleton (originator/developer)
Paul has many years of experience in ecommerce, web development, internet marketing and search engine optimisation; a domain name addict.
Matt Inman (designer)
Matt is a highly respected web designer; part of the WebEquity community.
Lis Hogan (content researcher)
A former librarian, so vast is her knowledge that what Lis doesn't know is probably not worth knowing; friend of the felines - shecanhascheezburger.

Domain name checks report

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Domain name checks report

The following is a list of (registered) domain names recently checked on domain-parking.com.au. To prevent domain 'gazumping' we do not report on names that are unregistered. The list is in order of popularity (most popular at the top) and will eventually be used to highlight trends in domain naming:

Registering your new domain name

info@domain-parking.com.au — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Register your domain name with domain-parking.com.au

Follow our easy 5-step domain registration guide below and you'll be clicking around your new website in no time...

Check domain name availability
Obviously, the first step in setting up a new domain is to check that the domain name is still available. Use our domain availability checker in the red box on the right hand sidebar and you'll have your answer in seconds.
a) If your domain name is available
You'll be given the option to apply to register the domain name right away, just click on the 'register now' link once you've checked availability. You'll receive notification of the registration within 24 hours of completing this form.
- or -
b) If your domain name is already registered
We'll be starting a domain brokerage service very soon, so if the domain name you're interested in is unavailable, we'll contact the domain name owner on your behalf to see if it may be for sale. By working through us, your anonimity is assured.
a) No delay - create your page(s) immediately
Whilst you're waiting for your domain registration to be accepted you can start creating your domain parking page immediately. Creating your own pages is instant and free.
- or -
b) Use our expertise for maximum benefit
If you'd prefer, you can use our in house experts to create your domain parking page for you. We have designers and content specialists on hand that can combine to create web pages that are not only visually appealing, but also unique, keyword rich (important for the search engines) and grammatically correct (important for the site visitors!).
Select from a range of free options
Registering your domain name with us gives you access to a range of free optional extras; free because we consider them essential for making the most of your new website. These include Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Live Webmaster Tools, and more.
(Note: Some options require registration with third-party services, such as having a Google account)
Premium options
Need email? One page not enough? Want advanced page content (e.g. javascript) or source code access? Domain-parking.com.au has a broad range of premium service options to help you create one-page-wonders or web applications spanning many pages. We're always interested in adding innovative new solutions for our customers, too, just let us know.
Beyond parking
Domain-parking.com.au is a WebEquity project. WebEquity is a unique web business development concept that offers rapid, cheap solutions in exchange for equity or revenue share rather than hard cash. If you're registering your domain as the starting point for a new online business, WebEquity can help.