.uk - Useless?

[arkvard]

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.

Your very right, that owning both at this early stage (when probably 99% of end users have not got a clue what .uk is) is just making a sale more complicated when offering both and they do not understand that even if you give it to them for FREE, they are just thinking why do I need both.

To be honest from my experiences the last 2 weeks I am seriously thinking of not registering both unless they are brandable or premium domains as double costs can really mount up.

 

[aZooZa]

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.

I believe it IS a cumbersome issue Edwin, as evidenced by this and countless other threads and posts on this forum.

I don't agree with you at all (very unusual actually) on any of the points you make above. I think you're being a little too philanthropic about it.

I notice you haven't committed to any policy on this (no mention even) on your website where you are selling circa 6,000 domains; the vast majority of which will have rights. Or have I missed it?

I think the whole issue boils down to an individual's business model, not his/her ethics.

 

[Edwin]

I notice you haven't committed to any policy on this (no mention even) on your website where you are selling circa 6,000 domains; the vast majority of which will have rights. Or have I missed it?

Zero buyers hit our main site. They all hit one or other of our 6,000 customised sales pages, because the domains in question direct straight to them and not to our central site.

Until a couple of hours ago, our sales lander (see for example http://www.marzipan.co.uk/ ) carried the following as the first bullet point:
"Comes with the exclusive right to register the new, shorter .uk domain"

However, after this thread I decided to take my own advice and do a bit of testing so I've removed that bullet for now to see if we get more enquiries without the "confusing bit" about the .uk (I agree with the assertion that the vast majority of people are not YET aware of it).

We will continue to sell .co.uk domains with unexercised rights, and we have no plans to "split the pair". I have stated as much in several threads on Acorn over the past couple of weeks or so. No change of policy. We also have no post-10 June 2014 .co.uk registrations to contend with.

Once it's clear that A) it makes no difference having that bullet there or not and/or B) it's clear that word of the .uk is spreading, I plan to put the notice back on our site.