Co.uk question

[peace800]

I know that Co.uk is the most popular and most used extension for the uk market but my question is if you have a co.uk domain do you have to have a .uk extension too?

The .uk extension really hasn't taken off and more and more companies in the uk are buying and using the Co.uk extension. Would it be ok not to buy the .uk extension if you have the Co.uk version particularly if you have many Co.uk domains and then you would have to buy the .uk extension? Would there be any disadvantage?

 

[Kate]

If you sell .co.uk domains but do not have the matching .uk domains this is not a problem as long as your .co.uk have .uk rights. You (or your buyer) have until 2019 to register them.

 

[davidthornton]

I know that Co.uk is the most popular and most used extension for the uk market but my question is if you have a co.uk domain do you have to have a .uk extension too?

No, you don't have to. You might want to but it's your prerogative.

The .uk extension really hasn't taken off and more and more companies in the uk are buying and using the Co.uk extension. Would it be ok not to buy the .uk extension if you have the Co.uk version particularly if you have many Co.uk domains and then you would have to buy the .uk extension? Would there be any disadvantage?

Disadvantage is if your .co.uk registrations do not have the .uk ROFR because they were registered after the cut off date, you risk someone else registering them.

If you sell .co.uk domains but do not have the matching .uk domains this is not a problem as long as your .co.uk have .uk rights. You (or your buyer) have until 2019 to register them.

Rights only exist if .co.uk registered before the cut off date and has been continually renewed since. If registered after that date the .uk was available FCFS as of launch date (mid June 2014) or became available as soon as the .co.uk with ROFR was deleted due to non renewal. If ROFR has been exercised then the .uk needs to be renewed or will eventually be deleted.

 

[peace800]

Thanks.

As a follow up question if you had a really good or premium Co.uk name but didn't have the .uk version and the.uk version wasn't registered or was registered by someone else would this impact the sale price or devalue your Co.uk premium name that you have put for sale?

Would it put off a potential buyer or company that they don't have or won't be able to have the matching .uk version?

Assuming the Co.uk name that you are selling didn't have.uk rights.

 

[davidthornton]

Thanks.

As a follow up question if you had a really good or premium Co.uk name but didn't have the .uk version and the.uk version wasn't registered or was registered by someone else would this impact the sale price or devalue your Co.uk premium name that you have put for sale?

Would it put off a potential buyer or company that they don't have or won't be able to have the matching .uk version?

Assuming the Co.uk name that you are selling didn't have.uk rights.

Might depend who you were selling to and whether they even knew about the existence of .uk, because some buyers don't know.

Incidentally there is nothing preventing you exercising a ROFR yourself and retaining the .uk or selling the two seperately. Just make sure you're upfront with whatever you do, especially if you're thinking about exercising a .uk ROFR so you can retain the .uk yourself *after* receiving an inquiry about the matching .co.uk.

If you're selling to people in the domain name industry they might be more concerned about not receiving either the .uk ROFR or the matching registered .uk.

 

[peace800]

I have quite a few co.uk domains bought after the.uk rights cut off date. I didn't buy the .uk version as by all accounts the .uk extension hasn't taken off and looks like will never take off. I really don't want to spend more money now buying the .uk versions of my Co.uk domain names.

Is not giving a domain investor buyer the.uk version or not having the.uk a deal breaker?

 

[davidthornton]

I have quite a few co.uk domains bought after the.uk rights cut off date. I didn't buy the .uk version as by all accounts the .uk extension hasn't taken off and looks like will never take off.

Things take a long time to become established. Given than .uk is a shortened version of .co.uk and not something completely and utterly different it may simply take time before registrants gradually change over.

I really don't want to spend more money now buying the .uk versions of my Co.uk domain names.

Luckily you don't have to.

Is not giving a domain investor buyer the.uk version or not having the.uk a deal breaker?

Depends on who it is and how badly they want a particular .co.uk of yours. If they really want it and the .uk is sitting there FTR they'll likely pick that up before you because you won't be able to stop them.

 

[peace800]

Depends on who it is and how badly they want a particular .co.uk of yours. If they really want it and the .uk is sitting there FTR they'll likely pick that up before you because you won't be able to stop them.

But will that devalue the price of my Co.uk?

 

[Rick Ace]

I just don't understand why they didn't allow all .co.uk to transfer to .uk for 5 years and then spin off .co.uk as separate. This is getting to be confusing.

 

[davidthornton]

I just don't understand why they didn't allow all .co.uk to transfer to .uk for 5 years and then spin off .co.uk as separate. This is getting to be confusing.

All .co.uk registered prior to the cut off date received rights to the matching .uk until June 2019. Rights uptake is happening but slowly. Otherwise .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk and .uk are separate extensions and offer registrants choice.

 

[davidthornton]

But will that devalue the price of my Co.uk?

Depends on whether the buyer cares. It might do. There is no hard and fast rule like you seem to want.

 

[Haykay2005]

Please can anyone from any part of the world register a .co.uk extension? Am outside the UK and seeing some good names to register. Hope I won't be stuck along the line. Am seeing contradictory views everywhere

 

[Wannabean]

Please can anyone from any part of the world register a .co.uk extension? Am outside the UK and seeing some good names to register. Hope I won't be stuck along the line. Am seeing contradictory views everywhere

I'll save you the trouble. There aren't any good .co.uk names available to register. You might find some borderline stuff but that's it.

 

[Haykay2005]

I'll save you the trouble. There aren't any good .co.uk names available to register. You might find some borderline stuff but that's it.

You mean I can never think or come across a good name that can sell in .co.uk extension?

 

[Wannabean]

You mean I can never think or come across a good name that can sell in .co.uk extension?

I'd stop short of saying never but I'd be extremely surprised if you could hand reg something good in .co.uk and convert it in to a sale.

 

[GoKaizen]

Depending on the word or terms I would want both. Do most end users not care at this point David?

Why didn't Nominet start off with .UK to begin with?

Things take a long time to become established. Given than .uk is a shortened version of .co.uk and not something completely and utterly different it may simply take time before registrants gradually change over.



Luckily you don't have to.



Depends on who it is and how badly they want a particular .co.uk of yours. If they really want it and the .uk is sitting there FTR they'll likely pick that up before you because you won't be able to stop them.

 

[davidthornton]

Please can anyone from any part of the world register a .co.uk extension? Am outside the UK and seeing some good names to register. Hope I won't be stuck along the line. Am seeing contradictory views everywhere

Yes. There are no registrant geographical restrictions on .co.uk domain names. Second level .uk domain names registered to registrants located outside of the UK need an additional contact called a "address for service". Many registrars will offer this.

 

[GoKaizen]

http://domainincite.com/20717-most-businesses-dont-care-about-uk-domains

 

[davidthornton]

http://domainincite.com/20717-most-businesses-dont-care-about-uk-domains

Feel free to watch the webcast with the data the above article was composed from, online at Youtube, here.

 

[slader23]

I'd stop short of saying never but I'd be extremely surprised if you could hand reg something good in .co.uk and convert it in to a sale.

I just hand regged tellers.co.uk yesterday, and although I haven't sold it yet, I think its a damn good domain.