Geographic .au domains ballot

A large number of previously restricted domain names are currently being released for the first time.

Current .au (Australia) domain policy has meant a number of potentially very useful domain names have been unable to be registered. Many names that matched the names of geographic locations in Australia have been blocked from registration for a number of years.

The auDA Commercial Geographic Domain Names Ballot opened on 1 June 2005. Applications are now closed. Applications closed at 17:00 Sydney time on Sunday 31 July 2005.

The geographic ballot has now been drawn and winning applicants have been notified. First round winners have until 24 September to pay for their winning entries.

Thank you for your participation and interest in the ballot. If you missed out applying for the names you want in the ballot, note that some names are very likely become available in future months if there were not bid for by anyone in the ballot, however these are likely to be only the less populated geographic areas and less "commercially interesting" domain names.

• Georaphic Names Ballot FAQ
• Terms and Conditions of the Ballot (PDF, 228 Kb)

Excellent domains to be released

The domain names becoming available include some of the capital cities including perth.com.au, darwin.com.au and canberra.com.au.

There's also a number of popular large cities and towns such as cairns.com.au, broome.com.au, margaretriver.com.au and portdouglas.com.au about to become available.

• Complete list of COM.AU geographic ballot domain names (Excel XLS file, 2.3 MB)
• Complete list of NET.AU geographic ballot domain names (Excel XLS file, 2.3 MB)

Potential uses of geographic names

We believe geographic names thus have a wide market and may be put to one or more of the following uses:

• launch community-based sites full of relevant information for your local area (or to other areas around Australia)
• clearly identify your business as belonging to a particular suburb or sales region
• register domains that match your business names or trademarks in cases where they have been previously restricted
• potential future value if it becomes possible to sell the domains or associated businesses to someone else in the future

How will the domains be released?

The geographic domains will be released by way of a ballot process commencing on the 1st of June 2005.

Applications will remain open until the 31st of July 2005. There will be no incentive to apply early or more than once for the same names. It is expected that the "first round" ballot will be drawn between the 7th of August and the 21st of August 2005.

In cases where there is exactly one applicant for a domain, that applicant will be the "winner" of the ballot process. If there are multiple applicants for the same name, one applicant will be selected randomly by the registry and be given the opportunity to register the names.

If there are no applicants for a particular name, it will remain reserved by auDA until further notice.

Exactly which domains are being released?

You can search for specific domains or place names via our geographic domains search facility.

The complete lists of domains in the ballot are also available for download:

• Complete list of COM.AU geographic ballot domain names (Excel XLS file, 2.3 MB)
• Complete list of NET.AU geographic ballot domain names (Excel XLS file, 2.3 MB)

com.au and net.au available separately

The com.au and net.au versions of domains will entered into the ballot separately, where the domains are available for registration.

So for example there will be a separate ballot for bondi.com.au and bondi.net.au.

Hyphenated names also available in some cases

In the cases of place names with more than one word, the ballot will will also include the hyphenated versions of the domains.

So for example in the case of a place name like "Bondi Beach" there will be separate ballot entries for bondibeach.com.au, bondibeach.net.au, bondi-beach.com.au and bondi-beach.net.au.

What is the cost of a geograhpic domain?

If you are successful in winning a particular geographic domain name in the ballot, the cost of the domain name is $825 auDA domain release fee plus $174 for the initial two year license for the domain name.

The total fee payable is thus $999 per domain. This price is in Australian Dollars and includes GST.

We accept a wide range of payment methods including BPAY, electronic funds transfer, cheques, money orders, Pay-It-At-Post (in person at Australia Post outlets), BillExpress (at participating newsagents and Coles Supermarkets), as well as all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, Diners, American Express and JCB cards.

When will the ballot run?

The ballot will open on 1 June 2005. Unlike some other "landrush" domain name launches, there is no first-in first-served policy with these geographic names.

The ballot will remain open for two months, until 31 July 2005.

It is intended that "first round" ballots will take place between 7 August 2005 and 21 August 2005. auDA may amend these dates from time to time.

Only the first application you make for any particular bundle will be valid, so it is not possible to apply for the same domain through different registrars or apply more than once for the same bundle using the same registrant information.

.EU EUROPEAN DOMAINS ALSO COMING SOON

Europe is getting its own domain ending very soon now. Instead of registering separately in the many countries of the EU it will soon be possible to register directly in .eu giving an immediate Europe-wide presence.

JustNet's wholly owned subsidiary GoDomains Ltd is among the first .eu accredited registrars in the world. European trademark holders and others with established European operations will have priority, followed by a general release of all remaining domains later this year.