.uk - Useless?

Hi,

I have had a few end user enquiries lately and when I am offering the .uk with the sale of the .co.uk here is a couple of replies I am getting:

"The .uk one is useless to us (second tier domains rarely do as well as top tier) - how much for the .co.uk?"

"I would only want .co.uk and ideally .com but not interested in .uk"

Looks like it may take a while for .uk to become acceptable.

Anyone else have any similar issues?

Thanks
Mark

 

Looks very short-sighted to me, and they seem to happy to lay themselves open to unnecessary competition unless they take the .uk. So I'm assuming they mean they actually want both in the deal?

 

Have you increased the price of the co.uk because it has rights to the .uk ?

 

I have already registered both and offered them together for the same price.

 

No,seems they are not interested in .uk at all and don't realise what might happen in the future.

 

Sell them the .co.uk. Keep the .uk. Wait for them to come back for the .uk. Sell them the .uk.

Not going to be unusual. So long as you're transparent about it not a problem.

 

Yep agreed, all you can do is give them the choice, then its up to them.

 

So you have created the situation yourself by offering an additional domain after the initial enquiry.

You have to ask the question now, if someone wants my co.uk do I offer them my info or net domain. If the answer is NO why should I offer an already registered .uk domain.

Just playing devils advocate.

 

Yes indeed! If you've already offered both, and the .uk isn't wanted, then I'd not mention it again and just move forward with the .co.uk negotiations. 'Can't take a horse to water...'.

 

From what I can see so far, .uk has not done anybody any favours. I can see that many decent pairs of .co.uk and .uk are going to end up in different hands and it's going to be a right old mess.

 

Just had an offer for another .co.uk, (nothing special) and he offered me £150 and as I have already registered both I offered the buyer the .uk for just £25 extra.

Response back:

"Just the co.uk please"

 

If you get a decent stream of enquiries, you could do a test...

Try a landing page that also talks about the .uk
Then try a landing page that doesn't mention it at all

See which one leads to more enquiries/sales.

(NOTE: Personally, I would sell the .uk right with the .co.uk even if it's not explicitly discussed - mentally consider it "a pair" even if you don't present it as such - but your mileage may vary)

 

Agreed, will definitely give .uk rights to all .co.uk domains that had been registered before 10th June but its just that these recent enquiries are for domains that I have had to register the .uk after the 10th June to protect .co.uk domains bought in the last couple of weeks.

 

What does that even mean?

 

Personally, I'd exercise my right at the first sign of any interest. They're not "pairs" at that stage Edwin, they are different entities. A lot of this depends on which spectrum of the market you're dealing with. Someone paying £150 for the .co.uk has no idea at this stage of the corresponding value of the .uk - and why should they?

On the other hand, someone doing a £10k deal for like e.g. Murray's 'rabbit' isn't going to be so crass.

So my advice is to avoid the 'pair with rights' conundrum and fork out the pittance for the .uk. Then you have two distinct entities, not some cumbersome entitlement scenario that you have explain to Mr & Mrs Punter.

Edit: This is more complicated for names regged after rights date etc., I know.

 

As Tifosi says, I think you need to be transparent if you own both to give them the option, then the balls in their court.

 

There's nothing cumbersome to explain. In fact, there's no need to explain anything at all so long as you leave the "right" intact.

By effectively selling the pair (more accurately: the .co.uk + the RIGHT to the .uk) without telling the buyer you're selling the pair, you're giving them 5 years to get educated about the .uk. If they still haven't heard about it at all during that time, .uk is probably a lame duck and dead in the water anyway.

If they learn of the .uk later you don't have to worry about them coming back to you and saying "hey, how come I don't get the .uk when you sold me the .co.uk".

And if they already know about .uk right now, and think they're pulling a "fast one" by picking it up for the price of the .co.uk, well that's great too since you've already mentally pencilled in the loss of the "pair" in the price you're asking for the .co.uk.

 

Has probably been advised by his web person who hasn't a clue what they are talking about.

 

In other words, if you're finding that the .uk discussion risks "jinxing" the chance of a sale at this early stage in .uk's existence, then don't register the .uk, don't mention it at all (unless proactively asked by the potential buyer, in which case you can say "yes, OF COURSE the .uk right is included") and sell the .co.uk with the rights intact but nudge your price upward by however much you feel you need to add to compensate for not having the chance of owning the .uk.

 

He has made it clear it's a post June 10 registration and he's registered the .uk also.
These are now separate entities and should be treated like com net or info biz
someone enquires about one the other is a separate domain.

Different to when the .uk has not been registered.