A business’s website is part of its brand and intellectual property. This makes it valuable and worthy of protection. You may have had your current .com.au business address for years, decades even. Once the web gained mainstream popularity in the late 90s, all businesses, corporations and governments learnt that online presence was essential. This also meant droves of opportunists went about buying up multiple domain names at large, then selling them off to the highest bidder seeking that exact domain name match.
If you haven’t heard, auDA, the organisation responsible for managing Australian domains, is now allowing Australians to purchase .au domains. As of March 24, 2022, these can be purchased for existing businesses who wish to shorten their current URL, or any Australian resident wanting to create a new website with a .au address. At the time of writing, over 3 and half-million .au sites have already been registered. For many business owners who are tired of internet cowboy bulk buyers who ‘squat’ on names in order to onsell them at a premium, this is good news.
evologic.com.au has been our domain for 20 years, so naturally, we wanted to secure that .au address so no one is able to launch an alternative site using our namesake. We don’t want potential visitors going to evologic.au only to find a different, or worse, competitor company operating at that address. That’s why we’ve wasted no time in registering our evologic.au domain. Here’s why you should do the same with your trusted IT services provider.
Who can register a new .au address?
Unlike .com.au registrations, you do not need to have an Australian Business Number (ABN) to claim the domain – just have a connection to Australia such as being an Australian resident. The biggest worry for many businesses is that someone else will secure the name matched .au of their business, and they either won’t be able to use it or will have to pay a premium to the buyer that secures it first.
Thankfully, auDA has pre-empted this problem by implementing a temporary priority process that will also curb the bulk-purchasing efforts of domain cowboys. Businesses that already have a domain registered as .com.au will have priority status to register the corresponding .au website in the six months following the launch. This gives you until the 24th of September, 2022, to take advantage of priority status to register your name-matched .au domain. In another attempt to make national domain purchasing fairer for all, auDA is also accepting complaints against anyone that tries to purchase a domain that has no relevance to them or their business.
What happens if a business with a similar name tries to register the same .au domain?
AuDA has proposed implementation rules and processes that acknowledge the priority of domain name creation through business registration and filing dates to determine who can register that name. Essentially, the earlier you file to register the .au name, the better chance you have of securing it. Because registrars will also review eligibility requirements for the qualifying domain name registration, make sure your current domain contact information and payments are up to date. If your current com.au domain name expires and can’t be recovered before the September cut-off, it could be taken by an unrelated third party. You can view a full set of auDA’s licensing rules and policies here.
Where can you register your .au address?
To ensure you are registering your new .au address with a legitimate registrar, we recommend going through Evologic or auDA’s list of accredited registrars who must show that the organisation meets the corporate, operational and security-related requirements. As auDA notes on its official website, “auDA regularly conducts website checks on all accredited registrars and selected resellers to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice.” You can view a list of auDA’s accredited registrars and resellers here.
Reserve your domain through Evologic
If you are wanting to reserve your .au domain, please contact sales@evologic.com.au. The application fee is $75, which includes your first year of registration if successful. Please note – if your application is unsuccessful, this fee is non-refundable. Contact sales@evologic.com.au.
