discuss At eleventh hour, most .uk registrants still don’t own their .uk names

Great discussion. Valid points are brought to the table, both pros and cons!

Got one to share. I'd love to own random.co.uk. I have the perfect project for it. Not much budget though and it has been regged since before 96. Guess what I'll be gunning for?

Maybe .uk is not a great investment opportunity but I'm convinced it can be a goldmine for end-users and hobbyists!

NameDeck said:

Great discussion. Valid points are brought to the table, both pros and cons!

Got one to share. I'd love to own random.co.uk. I have the perfect project for it. Not much budget though and it has been regged since before 96. Guess what I'll be gunning for?

Maybe .uk is not a great investment opportunity but I'm convinced it can be a goldmine for end-users and hobbyists!

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It won’t happen all the best premium .uk will be taken by investors like myself

I suspect that that the thing that won't happen is that most names won't be available come the day that the right of registration ends.

I'll find it amusing when they decide that any names left unregistered that are worth anything have premium renewal fees

wizard said:

It won’t happen all the best premium .uk will be taken by investors like myself

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The battle is on

wizard said:

What are the crackers available then examples and 99% are caught

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toptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptoptop.uk is available.

NameDeck said:

Great discussion. Valid points are brought to the table, both pros and cons!

Got one to share. I'd love to own random.co.uk. I have the perfect project for it. Not much budget though and it has been regged since before 96. Guess what I'll be gunning for?

Maybe .uk is not a great investment opportunity but I'm convinced it can be a goldmine for end-users and hobbyists!

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I'm a member of a uk domain forum so there as well. There are a lot of domains shifting hands but many that seem to be a waste of time. The prices are much lower too.

As an aside. It is worth noting that many of us that have our CO.UK/UK domains registered with 123-reg co uk (I believe by far the largest uk register) We have been given a few extra months on the free period, taking us into September or October. (I don't believe this applies to unclaimed .UK domains)

This has caused a bit of consternation with other domain holders that went with cheaper registration services. So in effect we do get to see how the first few months plays out before making our own decisions.

This of course also creates a second release date for many of the first level UK's currently held. May be worth checking out that second release date if you see 123-reg on the Nominet whois

Nominet have indicated they are going to launch an awareness campaign shortly, to try and prevent businesses getting caught short, on the full UK release date. This should bring pretty much every UK operating business into the fray, depending just how high-profile this campaign actually is

BaileyUK said:

As an aside. It is worth noting that many of us that have our CO.UK/UK domains registered with 123-reg co uk (I believe by far the largest uk register)

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I hope not given their history of bugs and security holes

Kate said:

I hope not given their history of bugs and security holes

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Your right Kate, even I've had my problems with them over the years - you do have to keep your eye on them. But, that's pretty much the story with all the registrars. Netsol managed to lose a 100% of my domains and lets not mention godaddy shenanigans.

But, it is indeed true, we do have a few extra months grace on the free period of retaining our new .UK's at 123-reg. It was something they negotiated with Nominet right at the launch of the UK and during the discussions on the complementary registrations.

Anyway lets see what the Nominet advertising campaign looks like - scheduled for May, so it seems

We have already seen many large holders of .co.uk portfolios start to sell and drop domains very cheaply. The market for .co.uk is very weak compared to the past ..

In my opinion not many large portfolio owners are going to catch the 1000"s of dropping .uk domains later in the year due to the cost and resale market conditions in the uk at present..

Indeed Sound. The old reasoning that UK sold at 10% of a .com is long gone, more like 2% and even then it better have a ready made market to address.

UK sales seem to have almost disappeared from DNjournal reports , occasional exceptions of course

Kate said:

In the case of .uk there was another holdback until recently, you needed a local address whereas many .co.uk registrants live outside the UK.

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Is a local address required to register a .uk domain? Where can this information be found?

wrolie said:

Is a local address required to register a .uk domain? Where can this information be found?

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Only a contact name for UK

Looks like a bit of a stitch up with just a few registrars, some owned by the same groups that will be given an allocation of domains with availability from 1-5th July.
Pre- orders are from around 60-100 pounds and those with multi applications going to auction.
A huge profit coming to just a few registrars.

wot said:

Looks like a bit of a stitch up with just a few registrars, some owned by the same groups that will be given an allocation of domains with availability from 1-5th July.
Pre- orders are from around 60-100 pounds and those with multi applications going to auction.
A huge profit coming to just a few registrars.

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Any UK registrar can participate in the rollout. I'm not sure whether it's a stitch up or not... I'll reserve judgement until I'll see how many names I manage to catch >.<

MadAboutDomains said:

Any UK registrar can participate in the rollout. I'm not sure whether it's a stitch up or not... reserve judgement until I'll see how many names I manage to catch >.<

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Yes well we have been testing on the testbed and have been doing well so should get some good names best of luck !

wizard said:

Yes well we have been testing on the testbed and have been doing well so should get some good names best of luck !

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Nice! What language have you written your catcher in out of interest?

MadAboutDomains said:

AI'll reserve judgement until I'll see how many names I manage to catch >.<

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Hasn't this already started? On the 25th?

Lord Antares said:

Hasn't this already started? On the 25th?

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no

wizard said:

no

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When?

Maybe I misread the rollout info, did not go in to depth. But the way I read it was that qualified registrars were being allocated.a certain number of names which they could then offer to their clients at very high pre- release prices.I guess that is not the case, if so why the release is over 6 days initially?

wot said:

Maybe I misread the rollout info, did not go in to depth. But the way I read it was that qualified registrars were being allocated.a certain number of names which they could then offer to their clients at very high pre- release prices.I guess that is not the case, if so why the release is over 6 days initially?

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From what I can gather it's just cause there are so many names. If there is high demand for the names then why shouldn't registrar's be able to offer backorders for thier clients? It's like any other sunrise...

MadAboutDomains said:

From what I can gather it's just cause there are so many names. If there is high demand for the names then why shouldn't registrar's be able to offer backorders for thier clients? It's like any other sunrise...

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Not disputing the registrars providing pre-release services but as I said they are expensive.

I am missing something in that there does appear to be an allocation of specific names to each qualified registrar, not the same names to each registrar? Released over 6 days.
How do the ordinary domainers with their catch systems know what ,where and when?

Just an interested outsider looking in.

May have been posted before if so apologies.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/05/nominet_domain_windfall/