Following auDA’s decision to liberalise policies in June, allowing for
the transfer of domain names for any reason, a number of small
companies have started up websites to allow for sale and auction.One site, netfleet.com.au, currently has 5,734 domain names listed and recently sold the domain name pwc.com.au for A$10,450. Pwc.com.au was a site for personal water craft such as jetskis and was sold to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global consultance firm, who already have pwc.com.
“It’s very much early days, but once people understand .au domain
names can be sold, the .au after sales market will take off,” David
Lye, CEO of Netfleet, told DomainNews.com.
“Once a critical mass of .au names is available, it will push the .au aftermarket off the ground,” Lye continued.
While the market is small to date, as awareness grows to the change in
policy, it is likely to grow. Reflecting this, Netfleet is pushing for
a target of 10,000 domain names to be listed by December. They also
have a target of 50,000 names listed before they commence charging for
listing on their site. One cuddly domain name awaiting an offer is
koalabears.com.au with less than one day remaining for bids.
The integrity of the .au ccTLD is also important to Lye.
Lye gives “credit to auDA for insisting on eligibility requirements to
ensure only Australian businesses can register .au domain names. This
has meant the integrity of the .au namespace has been maintained.
People know a com .au name means an Australian business.”
For potential buyers, you should note there are a number of
restrictions on buying and selling .au domain names. A domain name
cannot be registered for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a
third party a domain name cannot be transferred for the first six
months after it is registered. There are also eligibility rules for .au
registrants.
To check out the Netfleet website and see what names are currently available, see www.netfleet.com.au.