Aussie Domain Names 

 Aussie Domain Name Buying Guide 

.com.au licences are for 2 years - no more, no less. Do not register for more than two years, for prices will not go up, but could go down substantially before your two year term is up.

Register Your Domain Now !

.com.au .net.au .org.au .id.au .asn.au .com .net .org .info .biz ------------- Search All

Hostess - $25, cheapest there is - transfers need to order hosting
Cheap Domains - $38, very cheap
NetRegistry $44.95 - have been in trouble with the Australian Domain Name Administrator
NameScout $45.95
Smarty Host $49.95
Discount Domains $59
UltraServe $62
Cheap Domain AU $59 - run by Primus
Secure Domains $69
Aussie Domain Names $69
Yahoo - $69.95
Aust Domains $84
Go Domains $98
TPP $99
Melbourne IT - the main registrar $140
Instra $121
Domain Registration Services - $127
WebExpress $180-$230
DomainReg $195+

Bigger comparison here

 Who should I choose? 

I use NameScout, purely based on price, and they have been very good.

Melbourne IT was once the only place you could get .com.au domains from - they are certainly not going to go bankrupt. Many of the other registrars don't appeal to me, because they failed to drop their prices when their base cost halved mid 2002. Will they still be around in 2 years time?

 How does it work? 

You can own a generic .com domain name in a matter of minutes, but a .com.au domain can not be registered by just anyone - they are restricted to legitimate Australian businesses. Because the names are approved manually this procedure takes time and costs much more.

.com.au

Registrants must be:

a) an Australian registered company; or

b) trading under a registered business name in any Australian State or
Territory; or

c) an Australian partnership or sole trader; or

d) a foreign company licensed to trade in Australia; or

e) an owner of an Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

f) an applicant for an Australian Registered Trade Mark(1); or

g) an association incorporated in any Australian State or Territory; or

h) an Australian commercial statutory body.

Domain names must:

a) exactly match:

(i) the registrant's company, business, trading, association or statutory body name; or
(ii) the words comprising the registrant’s Australian Registered Trade Mark or application for an
Australian Registered Trade Mark; or

b) be an acronym or abbreviation of 2a) (i) or (ii); or

c) be otherwise closely and substantially connected to the registrant, because the domain name refers to.
(i) a product that the registrant manufactures or sells; or
(ii) a service that the registrant provides; or
(iii) an event that the registrant organises or sponsors; or
(iv) an activity that the registrant facilitates, teaches or trains; or
(v) a venue that the registrant operates; or
(vi) a profession that the registrant's employees practise.

The above is from the .au Domain Administration website.

 Then why would I want a .com.au domain name? 

Well, if the name you want is already taken as a regular .com, then .com.au is an alternative option.

It also identifies your site as being Australian. Internet users are now realising that there are few rip-off/scam/pornographic web sites that end in .com.au. They are legitimate business sites.

You should try to get your domain sooner rather than later, for they are selling fast. As of June 2003 there were 347,000 .com.au domain names, an increase of 24% in a year.

 Other .au extensions

.org.au - organisations
.gov.au - federal, state and local government bodies
.net.au - network infrastructure and ISPs
.asn.au - associations
.edu.au - educational institutions
.id.au - individual people - $30 for 2 years, includes an email service. Very worthwhile. Get your name first!
.conf.au - for conferences and events requiring a temporary domain name

• More of these, as well as their individual rules, can be found at http://www.aunic.net
• Buy your id.au, org.au & asn.au from NameScout - great prices and service

 Need to register a business name? 

It's okay to be a foreign person or business, but you need a physical Australian address (a PO Box will not be good enough).

To see if the name you want is available, do a search at the ASIC National Name Database

Then apply to the appropriate office for you state:

 An alternative 

There also exists the .au.com sub-domain. When you consider that it costs them almost nothing to provide these sub-domains (just like Yahoo can set up mail.yahoo.com, news.yahoo.com) - they are very expensive. They are also confusing, and I do not recommend them (unless you cannot legally acquire a .com.au).