advice .co.uk domains, are they worth buying?

[JDuff94]

I was doing some research and found some keywords that sold in the region of £xxxx - £xxxxx for their .com, .net and .org counterparts. I also noticed the .co.uk was not registered for a lot of these keywords.

My question is: why is this? Is there something I am missing? For example are .co.uk domains not worth much? Would they not be in the same price range?

I did a quick search on the forums and couldn't find much related to this question. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[GoKaizen]

https://namebio.com/?s=QN2IDN4YTO

https://www.namepros.com/threads/the-co-uk-discussion-and-showcase.475301/

https://www.namepros.com/blog/insid...wner-paid-650-000-for-furniture-co-uk.979917/

 

[Kate]

Many sales are one of a kind ie a US company may buy some descriptive or brandable domain. They don't need the .uk or other ccTLDs unless they actually do business in those other countries.
And that doesn't mean a company in the UK will want to use the same name. The name could in fact become TM, and that makes it LESS likely that it will be used elsewhere/by somebody else. Many sales will not repeat in other extensions, unless the keyword is very generic.

Some names do not make sense in foreign countries. For example they don't say real estate in the UK, they use words like homes properties etc.

Even though .co.uk is established (10+ million names registered), there are always more sellers than buyers. And this is true in .com too even though the market is larger for .com domains.

 

[carob]

Would they not be in the same price range?

Logically the price should not be more than 1/6 of the .com price since the UK population is maybe 1/6 of the USA population and .coms are not just for the USA.

In practice .co.uk domains now cost more than .com to register and you need to also register the .uk version to sell it - why would someone buy .co.uk in the aftermarket if they can get .uk for regfee. So you are spending 2-3 times as much per year to target 1/6 of the return, and endusers have good alternatives available. They can also register .me.uk and .org.uk as alternatives, or a company could go with .ltd.uk or .plc.uk http://www.nominet.uk/domains/our-domains/uk-domains/

 

[Aaron.A]

There's money to be made with .uk domains but the returns are a lot smaller than .com, roundabout the same as .net. The market is also different which can take a little getting used to.

First problem people encounter is the spelling differences (using an z instead of an s) and the use of words which Kate pointed out.

It's also a very congested market, the pros catch the few quality names that drop and hold most of the other valuable names which means each year the pool gets smaller.

All uk domains need to be transferred through nominet which costs £12, so even if I offered you a domain for free you'd still be out of pocket about $15.

One thing I do believe but is all ccTLDs will gain strength due to amount of silly extensions being released.

 

[JDuff94]

Thanks for all the responses guys some helpful insights! Being from the UK I don't have trouble with the language differences but good point.

Although .uk .org.uk etc are available as you guys said; .co.uk is usually the preferred one for businesses and websites here, just from my personal experience. I think .co.uk has been around a lot longer than .uk as well; so imo it just sounds more premium; kinda like .com vs .info (for the UK market). I could be wrong however as I am pretty new to the domain game and that's just what I feel as a UK person using the web.

I didn't know you had to buy the .uk version to sell .co.uk domains. Thanks for letting me know that one!

 

[platey]

I was doing some research and found some keywords that sold in the region of £xxxx - £xxxxx for their .com, .net and .org counterparts. I also noticed the .co.uk was not registered for a lot of these keywords.

My question is: why is this? Is there something I am missing? For example are .co.uk domains not worth much? Would they not be in the same price range?

I did a quick search on the forums and couldn't find much related to this question. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

.co.uk domain names are worth buying but check the spelling of the word before buying a .co.uk domain because the word can be spelt differently in the uk than the us etc

 

[Aaron.A]

You don't have to buy the .uk to sell the .co.uk.

I've had a few sales this year were the holder of the .uk has contacted me to purchase the .co.uk, so sometimes it's not a bad idea to leave the uk out there imo, but always grab both if you think it's a quality domain or you're going to try and sell on domainlore.

 

[GoKaizen]

http://www.domainprices.co.uk
http://seemly.co.uk/domains/prices

 

[platey]

http://www.domainprices.co.uk
http://seemly.co.uk/domains/prices

fantastic data for anyone buying and selling .co.uk or .uk domain names

I've been looking for a list like of .co.uk sold prices for a while

ok so i buy .com preferred bug for ow a few .co.uk

eg profession sectors in .co.uk

 

[DomainGist]

All uk domains need to be transferred through nominet which costs £12, so even if I offered you a domain for free you'd still be out of pocket about $15.

I know this is old, but this isn't true.

If I sell a UK domain hosted at Namecheap and the then Namecheap will just change the tag for me, for example. They are of course a Nominet member so don't have to pay that £12 transfer fee.

Doesn't cost me any money.