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Did you know that there are new policy changes regarding the sale of .au domain names, that will come into effect on 1st June 2008.

How does this affect me? 

The policy changes effectively mean the ban on consumers purchasing .au domain names and selling them to the highest bidder will end. Consequently the risk of competitors registering .au domain names associated with your online brand will increase significantly.  

If you haven’t registered the com.au and net.au domain names for your business or product name, in the future you may have to bid for them from auction sites against other prospective purchasers.

To assist our customers in protecting their online brand we suggest you register your domains now via SM2's dotOffice Domains.

This maybe your last opportunity to secure your .au domain names from competitors and cyber squatters.From 1 June 2008, a .au domain name can be marketed and sold to an eligible third party by its current license holder.

Key features of the new policy are as follows:

• it will not be allowable to register a domain name for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a third party
• registrants will not be able to transfer their domain name for the first 6 months after the initial registration (this does not apply to domain names that have been renewed or previously transferred)
• after 6 months, registrants will be able to offer their domain name for sale/transfer by any means (eg. by listing the domain name for sale on a domain brokerage website, advertising the domain name for sale in a newspaper, or contacting a prospective buyer directly)
• the new registrant must comply with normal eligibility and allocation rules
• registrant transfers will be processed by the registrar of record using a standard transfer form, and the registrar may charge a transfer fee
• parties to a transfer will be asked to disclose the sale method and price, on a voluntary and confidential basis, so that auDA may collect aggregated statistical data to improve access to market information for buyers and sellers.