Last Thursday (21st February 2019) the premium domain name Land.com.au was purchased on the wholesale-drop market for $100,000.
On the face of it, this looks like a great buy for a domain name that could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars within 12 months, if developed correctly, and possibly worth millions in a few years.
The only problem is, that very same day, auDA (AU Domain Administration) released the Policy Review Panel‘s (The PRP’s) THIRD VERSION of the proposed Direct .AU Registration Implementation rules.
Don’t forget, auDA APPROVED Direct .AU Registrations on April 16th 2016 (for example, “yourname.au”.)
Since that time, The PRP have been creating the rules to implement this.
Where we stand right now is; The PRP have created a THIRD DRAFT VERSION of the rules they are going to present to the auDA Board in a few months, that dictate how Direct .AU Registration is going to be implemented.
I implore everyone who owns an Australian domain name to read these new proposed rules. They are available to read right now RIGHT HERE.
In these new proposed rules, it states that anyone who has purchased a domain name from the wholesale-drop market is NOT ALLOWED TO OWN THE DIRECT .AU DOMAIN NAME that MATCHES their existing .COM.AU domain name IF they purchased the domain name from the wholesale-drop platforms AFTER FEBRUARY 4th 2018.
This also means, anyone who has purchased a domain name from a wholesale-drop platform and SOLD IT to someone else after this cut-off date, is also not allowed to own the matching Direct .AU version of their new domain name!
But getting back to the specific Land.com.au example… this means, that if this THIRD VERSION is presented to the auDA Board in the next few months, and the board approve, the new owner of Land.com.au who just spent $100,000 will NEVER be allowed to own Land.au(.)
Instead, the owner of Land.net.au will own Land.au uncontested.
And how about in August 2018, when Broker.com.au was purchased for $100,000 off the wholesale-drop platforms AFTER THE PROPOSED CUT-OFF DATE?
And how about in July 2018 when CPA Australia purchased CPA.com.au for $50,000 off the wholesale-drop platforms AFTER THE PROPOSED CUT-OFF DATE?
These are merely a few examples.
How are these two large corporations going to feel investing this kind of money into Australian domain names once they hear these proposed new-rules are being considered for Direct .AU Implementation?
They will NEVER be allowed to own CPA.au and Broker.au (!)
One question many people may begin asking today is the following…
Should auDA’s CEO, Cameron Boardman, have done more to educate the hundreds of people who’ve been buying domain names for ten’s of thousands and hundred’s of thousands of dollars in good faith for the past 12 months (AFTER THE FEBRUARY 4TH 2018 CUT-OFF DATE) if this proposed new-rule has been “on the table” during this entire time?
We’re only scratching the surface of the iceberg here with a lot of these “new” proposed CHANGES to the Australian domain name space mentioned in this new THIRD VERSION of proposed Policy Reform and Direct .AU Registration Implementation rules created by auDA’s-elected PRP.
Keep an eye on Domainer over the coming weeks as we expose EXACTLY what all these changes can possibly mean to the future stability and trust of the Australian domain name space.
The new Land.com.au owner WILL be allowed to own Land.au, but simply will not have rights to it.
Big difference. Under the proposed but not final rules, the new Land.com.au owner would need to reach agreement with the owner of Land.net.au and then if agreement is reached could own Land.au
But seriously, who cares ?
Pure .au is going to crash and burn just like pure .nz did, just like pure .uk did
Neither Google.nz nor Google.uk even resolve. If Google thinks something is crap then guess what so does everyone else.
I’m personally delighted that pure .au is coming as it will greatly increase the value of my .com.au and .net.au names.
Pure .au will be a meaningless, unfamiliar, incompatible and SEO-penalised extension for Facebook mums, axe-to-grind bloggers and spammers from other countries who will now finally be able to have a .au name and spam the crap out of everyone
Should be fun!
The point is, the new owners of these premium domain names have no say in owning their Direct .AU (if and when Direct .AU comes into existence).
I’m not saying the drop-platforms have or are doing anything wrong.
… and what about the buyer of Heating.com.au for $8k last week? He has no rights to owning Heating.au – which is unfair if this new proposed Policy is implemented.
There are hundreds of examples like this.
The CEO of auDA likes to put out the odd blog article “warning” people of this and that, but never saw it important to publicly “warn people” about buying domain names off the drop platforms when a CUT OFF DATE has been on the table for the past few years that stops domain name owners from being able to own their Direct .AU(.)
You have to question why he, and auDA, have never mentioned any of this?
[redacted sentence by editor]
Anyone know whether .au needs to pass a ‘business case’ test with Deloitte or the like ??