Cats, dogs and TLDs

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

This question assumes that “cat” and “dog” are equally strong domain keywords. (I’ve no idea whether they are, but it seems likely.)

My question then is how (as a seller) you would rank these three scenarios, from best to worst:

A. You own cat.co.uk AND cat.uk (and NO dog domains).

B. You own cat.co.uk AND dog.co.uk (and NO .uk domains).

C. You own cat.uk AND dog.uk (and NO .co.uk domains).

I think most of us here would rank B ahead of C, but where does A go?

In other words, is the order of preference ABC, BAC or BCA?

All thoughts gratefully received!

Admin · Nov 11, 2019

For me, BCA....maybe BAC

p.s welcome to the forum

boxfish · Nov 11, 2019

BCA

Owning both the .co.uk and .uk is pretty pointless in reality, it's just really a combination potential future-proofing and brand protection

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

Admin said:
For me, BCA....maybe BAC

p.s welcome to the forum

Thank you!

dee · Nov 11, 2019

BCA , potentially longer term CBA

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

dee said:
BCA , potentially longer term CBA

Thank you – and glad I'm not alone in hoping .uk might eventually overtake .co.uk!

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

boxfish said:
BCA

Owning both the .co.uk and .uk is pretty pointless in reality, it's just really a combination potential future-proofing and brand protection

Thanks for this too – which leads me onto a slightly different question…

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

Let’s say you own cat.co.uk and cat.uk. The natural thing to do seems to be to sell them together as a package (on the basis that would most end-users would prefer to have both than just one).

However, on the basis of BCA, might it make better sense only to sell one and hold the other one back for a future sale?

Perhaps the answer is that the buyer will know you own both TLDs and not want to buy .co.uk from you if he knows you’re holding the .uk back – or could there be other considerations that I’ve overlooked?

Murray · Nov 11, 2019

Just for the purpose of selling, currently, BAC

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

Murray said:
Just for the purpose of selling, currently, BAC

Thanks Murray. I assume the reason you say "currently" is that in the longer term .uk might pick up value and move up the scale (leading to BCA) ... in which case we seem to be getting a fair bit of unanimity here

boxfish · Nov 11, 2019

Richard K said:
Let’s say you own cat.co.uk and cat.uk. The natural thing to do seems to be to sell them together as a package (on the basis that would most end-users would prefer to have both than just one).

However, on the basis of BCA, might it make better sense only to sell one and hold the other one back for a future sale?

Perhaps the answer is that the buyer will know you own both TLDs and not want to buy .co.uk from you if he knows you’re holding the .uk back – or could there be other considerations that I’ve overlooked?

I would say so. Holiday .co.uk and .uk were just sold separately for £23k and £16k (iirc). I doubt if they were sold together they would have gone for £39k

Siusaidh · Nov 11, 2019

BAC in most cases.

In a minority of cases .uk may outstrip .co.uk (for example, I think the .co.uk ending seems less appropriate for some religious domains than, say, jesus.uk - because the commercial undertone of .co.uk jars with some religious content).

But given your example, you'll get more for the two .co.uk names than the other options. So B comes first.

You're then left comparing 2 .uk's (C) with a .co.uk with the very convenient coupled .uk (A).

I think in most cases, it's a no-brainer that A will be worth more than C.

* * * * *

Personally, I like to have the coupled domains (matching .co.uk and .uk) but that's from a developer/end user's point of view.

Nevertheless, in terms of actual sales at auction sites, I think the two .co.uk's will raise more.

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

boxfish said:
I would say so. Holiday .co.uk and .uk were just sold separately for £23k and £16k (iirc). I doubt if they were sold together they would have gone for £39k

Good point – thank you. I did notice recently that a high-end domain seller was marketing the .co.uk and .uk versions of the same names separately. (More to my surprise, they were asking for the same prices for both TLDs!).

Richard K · Nov 11, 2019

Siusaidh said:
BAC in most cases.

In a minority of cases .uk may outstrip .co.uk (for example, I think the .co.uk ending seems less appropriate for some religious domains than, say, jesus.uk - because the commercial undertone of .co.uk jars with some religious content).

But given your example, you'll get more for the two .co.uk names than the other options. So B comes first.

You're then left comparing 2 .uk's (C) with a .co.uk with the very convenient coupled .uk (A).

I think in most cases, it's a no-brainer that A will be worth more than C.

* * * * *

Personally, I like to have the coupled domains (matching .co.uk and .uk) but that's from a developer/end user's point of view.

Nevertheless, in terms of actual sales at auction sites, I think the two .co.uk's will raise more.

Thanks and noted – I particularly agree that .uk beats .co.uk in certain specific cases. Definitely where there's a religious or public service element to it, but also I would expect names like visit.uk, property.uk or democracy.uk (each of which have a natural meaning of their own) to be worth more than their .co.uk counterparts.