Australian
Domain Buying Guide .com.au licences are for 2 years - no more, no
less. Do not register for more than two years, for prices will not go up, but
could go down substantially before your two year term is up. NameScout
$45.95
Cheap Domain AU $66
Secure Domains
$69
Aust Domains $78
Discount
Domains $59
Go Domains
$98.88
Aussie Domain
Names $99
TPP $99
Melbourne
IT - the main registrar $140
Instra
$121
Domain Registration Services
- $127
WebExpress
$180
DomainReg
$165+
JustNet
$220
Bigger comparison here Where
should I buy it? I use NameScout, purely based on price,
and they have been very good. Melbourne IT was once the only place you
could get .com.au domains from - they are certainly not going to go bankrupt.
Many of the other registrars don't appeal to me, because they failed to drop their
prices when their base cost halved mid 2002. Will they still be around in 2 years
time? How does it work? You can own a generic .com
domain name in a matter of minutes, but a .com.au domain can not be registered
by just anyone - they are restricted to legitimate Australian businesses. Because
the names are approved manually this procedure takes time and costs much more.
.com.au Registrants
must be:
a) an Australian registered company; or
b) trading
under a registered business name in any Australian State or
Territory; or
c) an Australian partnership or sole trader; or
d) a foreign company
licensed to trade in Australia; or
e) an owner of an Australian Registered
Trade Mark; or
f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark(1);
or
g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory;
or
h) an Australian commercial statutory body.
Domain names
must:
a) exactly match:
(i) the registrant's company,
business, trading, association or statutory body name; or
(ii) the words comprising
the registrant’s Australian Registered Trade Mark or application for an
Australian Registered Trade Mark; or b) be an acronym or abbreviation of
2a) (i) or (ii); or c) be otherwise closely and substantially connected
to the registrant, because the domain name refers to.
(i) a product that the
registrant manufactures or sells; or
(ii) a service that the registrant provides;
or
(iii) an event that the registrant organises or sponsors; or
(iv) an
activity that the registrant facilitates, teaches or trains; or
(v) a venue
that the registrant operates; or
(vi) a profession that the registrant's employees
practise.
The above is from the .au
Domain Administration website.
Then why would I want a .com.au
domain name? Well, if the name you want is already taken as a regular
.com, then .com.au is an alternative option. It also identifies your site
as being Australian. Internet users are now realising that there are few rip-off/scam/pornographic
web sites that end in .com.au. They are legitimate business sites. You
should try to get your domain sooner rather than later, for they are selling fast.
As of June 2003 there were 347,000 .com.au domain names, an increase of 24% in
a year. Other .au extensions .org.au - organisations
.gov.au - federal, state and local government bodies
.net.au - network
infrastructure and ISPs
.asn.au - associations
.edu.au - educational
institutions
.id.au - individual people
- $30 for 2 years, includes an email service. Very worthwhile. Get your name first!
.conf.au - for conferences and events requiring a temporary domain name
- More of these, as well as their individual rules, can be found at http://www.aunic.net
- Buy your id.au, org.au & asn.au from NameScout
- great prices and service
Need to register a business name?
It's okay to be a foreign person or business, but you need a physical
Australian address (a PO Box will not be good enough). To see if the name
you want is available, do a search at the ASIC
National Name Database Then apply to the appropriate office for you
state:
| NSW | Application
fee $122.00 covers 3 years
Renewal fee $94.00 for each 3 years thereafter |
| ACT | Application
fee $114.00 covers 3 years
Renewal fee $93.00 for each 3 years thereafter |
| VIC | $70
for 3 years | | QLD | $101.80
for the first year | | SA | $114
for 3 years | | WA | $103
for 3 years | | TAS | $105
for 3 years | | NT | No
fees except if you change details later | Try this service
if you wish to form a corporation: Incorporator.com.au
Another alternative There also exists the .au.com
sub-domain. When you consider that it costs them almost nothing to provide these
sub-domains (just like Yahoo can set up mail.yahoo.com, news.yahoo.com) - they
are very expensive. They are also confusing, and I do
not recommend them. | 
