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Is registering .uk on non-premiums a waste of money?

Discussion in 'Domain Research' started by DaveP, Jan 17, 2015.

?

Habba dabba babba

  1. Yes

    15 vote(s)
    62.5%
  2. No

    9 vote(s)
    37.5%
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  1. DaveP United Kingdom

    DaveP Well-Known Member

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    Seeing some recent sales threads (where the .uk isn't even registered) has got me thinking, are we just wasting our money registering .uk domains? I mean for those of us who may sometimes catch/register 20-30 domains a month, is that extra cost for .uk worth it (20 domains is like an extra £90 or so)? I ask because even with domains I've sold to end users, not one of them even asks or cares about the .uk. This is more for domains with expected low £xxx value or less really.
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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  3. foz

    foz Well-Known Member

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    Just a nuisance, doubles the holding costs.

    The public aren't demanding .uk yet.

    Whether that changes over the coming years is the gamble on acquiring them now (or not).
     
  4. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    Complete disaster if you ask me, catching both has become almost as difficult as catching one, but there is still a desire with domainers to own the pair, just in case.
     
  5. deluxedomains

    deluxedomains Well-Known Member

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    still always better to have the pair in my opinion guess we all just have to wait to see if the .uk will take off.

    as has been said in earlier threads when/if the big players ie.bbc etc change then the public may start taking notice but it is going to be a long road I feel.
     
  6. Sam

    Sam Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Yes at this current time not many endusers want the .UK but maybe in time things will change but none of my clients want .UK
     
  7. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    You register 30 domains a month? :eek:
     
  8. Skinner

    Skinner Well-Known Member

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    Out of the last dozen enquires (this dozen is excluding domainers) only 2 have specifically asked about the .UK. One of those 2 materialised into an sale, and the .uk was registered and setup within days.

    The other one, which I think is the more typical case.

    The enquiry concerned keyword.uk, where their business was called Keyword UK and they operated off keyword.tld (where tld was non-uk) and they wanted to move to keyword.uk.

    Aside from that, I think another year with minimal push from nom and no big players. I'll stop getting .uk's for now its defensive.
     
  9. bluerock United Kingdom

    bluerock Well-Known Member

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    Unless its a very good .co.uk I dont bother now with .uk.

    Extra expense and probably only about 1/30 end users ask for it.
    Its only handy if your going to flip to domainers as most end users still don't know it exists.
     
  10. Leeroy United Kingdom

    Leeroy Active Member

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    We pick up around 200 .co.uk a month and its a bitch having to catch the .uk too. I am going to give it 2 years then forget the .uk. since the .uk was realised for registration, we have sold 79 .co.uk domain names and of those 79 only 3 took the .uk.
     
  11. Retired_Member38

    Retired_Member38 Banned

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    I think if you're looking at it thinking the .uk isn't worth an extra fiver for, then the .co.uk wasn't worth registering in the first place.
     
  12. websaway United Kingdom

    websaway Well-Known Member

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    Exactly !
     
  13. stellar73 United Kingdom

    stellar73 Active Member

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    Totally agree!

    I'm hardly registering anything now. When I do it's always hand reg drops and I always take both.
     
  14. Leeroy United Kingdom

    Leeroy Active Member

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    Not really, like i said, sold a bunch of .co.uk's with only a few takers of .uk. I know it's early days but if it's like this in 2 years time i will be dumping .uk domains.
     
  15. anthony United Kingdom

    anthony Well-Known Member

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    You'd be better trimming down the shit .co.uk domains, and using the money saved to protect the good ones with their .uk matches.
     
  16. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    Unfortunately there isn't a universally accepted definition of a "shit" .co.uk domain name. Opinions vary widely. Unless one applies metrics to each and every domain name registration, opinion is subjective. A good example from yesterday. Some people clearly like the domain name but others, such as I, may think that it's just okay and could think of many other similar alternatives that might be just as good. You'll notice that most of the comments were of the "...sounds good to me...", "Really like this name..." and "...I think this does have some potential." but with actually no real analysis about why *this domain name* is particularly fantastic in comparison to so many others of similar ilk. Ultimately the statements are opinions based on nothing more than a hunch and in my opinion this is often how many speculative registrants base their reasoning for making registrations in the first place.
     
  17. Mgx

    Mgx Banned

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    For me at the moment it's a no for non premium domains. As Invisible mentioned it's very subjective and depends on many factors. Maybe once i see more evidence in the reseller market and from end users will i start to register more.
     
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2015
  18. monaghan United Kingdom

    monaghan Well-Known Member

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    The problem is the drop pattern leaves both the .co.uk and .uk available, so when catching you really need to go for both to stop someone else getting it. For renewals, I've not bothered with the .uk for anything yet as I can keep the .uk secure for another 4 1/2 years, perhaps by then the market will have sorted itself out.
     
  19. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    At the previous Nominet AGM I did make a suggestion in respect of existing 3LD's that were to be deleted by the registry after several members raised concerns about it here. The suggestion was to reserve the matching 2LD for a short amount of time and allow the 3LD that had the right prior to its deletion to register the 2LD before it became available FCFS. Should this issue be raised again with Nominet?
     
  20. monaghan United Kingdom

    monaghan Well-Known Member

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    Interesting concept, as a drop catcher, it would certainly be useful to know I could bag the .uk as well regardless of the competition :)

    How long do you retain the .UK rights for though, unless it is until the same 5 year cut off as the rest of us, then you still have decide unless you already have a buyer for it.
     
  21. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    The suggestion last year was to briefly reserve the .uk 2LD for a short period of time in the event that the 3LD with the right was deleted by the registry. The 2LD might become available to register FCFS by anyone 48 hours after the 3LD with the right had been deleted. During the first 48 hours the new registrant of the 3LD that formally had the right of registration until June 2019 would have a brief 48 hour window to register the 2LD.
     
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