.au Domains are now available!

You may have heard that .au domains are being made available, but what does this mean? Let’s take a bit of time to answer a few questions you might have.

What is a .au domain?

All this talk is actually about your domain suffix. When registering a domain, it usually ends with a .com or .com.au these are a kind of domain suffix. Recently auDA (who handles all Australian domain registration) has announced that businesses can register for priority allocation.

This means if your business URL is something like mybusiness.com.au, you could now have mybusiness.au

Who can apply?

From Thursday 24th of March people who can demonstrate they or their business have a connection to Australia will be able to purchase a .AU domain.

Currently to apply and purchase a .com.au you need an ABN. Whilst the new .au registration will open up the parameters it will also aim to provide greater protection to companies by being managed by auDA, meaning people can lodge a complaint if someone tries to buy a domain not relevant to them.

What if another business has a similar domain to mine?

Firstly an application is submitted, secondly it is approved and the domain becomes registered. There can be complications if a conflict of eligibility between multiple businesses arises. If this is the case then the domain is allocated based on the existing domain license date.

For example:

• Mary has owned mybusiness.com.au since March 2014
• Brian has owned mybusiness.net.au since January 2010

Both are eligible for mybusiness.au, and if they both apply; Brian will be allocated the new domain.

Already have a com.au URL?

Businesses that already have a .com.au domain name or a similar will have priority status to register the corresponding .au domain in the six months after the launch.

To register a new .au domain name, under this structure, your ABN must be current and registered to your current .com.au domain name.

What if my ABN is no longer associated with my .com.au?

That is ok too, a domain name transfer would be required, however, first this is up to date, before progressing with the new .au domain.

Is the .au important?

Good question; time will tell, however if, .au is the way of the future for URL’s, as it is in some other countries and follows the shortening of URL’s

(remember when you used to have to type in www. or HTTP://), then the .au could become standard practice.

How much?

.au pricing is in line with .com and .com.au domains, however like .com domains, they are renewed annually. Domains can vary depending on providers; Myadd’s rate is $32.50 + GST for the first year.  Once we have secured the .au URL, we can direct this to your current website, with the usual $75+ admin and tracking applied.

What do I need to do?

Simply advise one of the team at Myadd that you would like to secure the .au domain and that is it. We will run a quick cross reference of the ABN and advise if this needs to be updated.