Why do .ie domain names cost so much???

Eoin

I suppose there needs to be a balance between not allowing a free-for-all registration and a system that's too inflexible.

I don't know what other source the IEDR can use than the CRO, so maybe it's the CRO that should be doing more to consider the validity of trading and company names.

jmcc

ionix5891 wrote: »

and fail to see where the "quality" that is spoken about in this thread is

The quality wouldn't be immediately apparent to users but it is visible to search engine operators and people who work with domains. The reality is that the the lower the price of a domain, the less likely it is to be used. People register domains on a whim, think about developing them or selling them for millions and just over a year later, the domain drops. The website utilisation figure (the percentage of active and unique content websites) for a junk extension like .eu ccTLD was around 13.37%. The .com would be slightly higher but most low cost TLDs like com/net/org/biz/info would have website utilisation figures between 11 and 20%. The ccTLDs tend to fare better in that they are more highly focused and there is a better incentive to develop them. However in parallel with that development comes the Buy To Park market were domains are bought for the value of their keywords and then parked with adverts. The users type the domain into their browser thinking that there will be a website on it. This market really developed over the last five years or so and there are more parked domains in some TLDs than there are actively used domains.

The level of cybersquatting in .ie ccTLD would be comparatively low even by ccTLD standards. The main problem was the EUBROWSER.COM cybersquatters who had registered many high profile trademark domains in .ie ccTLD. These characters were the target of most of the dispute actions in the last few years in .ie as a result.

The .ie ccTLD is starting to grow rapidly and that growth has been sustained over the last year or so. Approximately 125K .ie domains are registered at the moment. Around 100K of these are on Irish hosters. The number of .com domains on Irish hosters is approximately 100937. In terms of quality, .ie ccTLD is more effective at targeting the Irish market than .com as almost every TV and magazine advert carries a .ie URL.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

ionix5891 wrote: »

come of it (yes i do own .ie domains) domain squating is a huge issue but having the price so high is not an answer, most of the domainsquating in .com and other main domains is done by the registrars themselves such as Network Solutions "tasting" domains for free > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting

There is a difference between domain tasting and cybersquatting. Domain tasting is where massive numbers of domains are registered, tested with PPC advertising and those that do not provide any revenue are deleted within a sort of five day "change of mind" period that the registries allow for such deletions. Last year, the registry that runs .com and .net introduced what is in effect a restocking fee where the fee that would not have been paid previously is paid on all domains deleted during this five day period. This move effectively nuked domain tasting in .com and .net. The .org registry (PIR) had introduced a similar measure in 2007 with proportionately similar effects. Cybersquatting is where a domain is registered with the intent of profiting from the intellectual property or trademark of another.

Regards...jmcc