.net + .com + .biz advice required

[artyfaharty]

I need some advice on the vexed question of domain names.
We are starting a web based shop as an extension of our shop based business, and our favoured domain name already has the .com and .co.uk domains registered. Neither are in use, one is registered to a company in the states who has at least 5000 other names, the .co.uk name is registered to an individual in the UK, we have her name but no other details via whois.com. The .co.uk name is out of registration in August after two years.

My questions I suppose are:
1. If the .co.uk name is not re-registered immediately it expires can we nick it by registering it or is there a period of grace?
2. If that's not possible what does the team think of a .biz or .net name bearing in mind the site will be selling upmarket household items?

Many thanks
AF

[Greenbank]

1. If the .co.uk name is not re-registered immediately it expires can we nick it by registering it or is there a period of grace?

The grace period is implemented by the domain registrar, in that they will reregister the domain in their own name if it expires without renewal. There are also other companies that specialise in auto-registering domains that have recently expired, holding them to ransom. It'd definitely be a gamble to rely on grabbing an expired domain.

2. If that's not possible what does the team think of a .biz or .net name bearing in mind the site will be selling upmarket household items?

If you can't get the .co.uk then the .biz is going to be more suitable (IMHO) than .net.

It's worth just starting with one and, if the .co.uk becomes available, grabbing that too and forwarding everything from one to the other.

[Jaded]

There's a grace period, I forget how long it is. will tell you.
If the name is key, I'd consider approaching the owner of the .co.uk Either through Nominet or her registration/hosting company - depending on who they are, some are more ethical than others!

I've never seen the fascination with .com domains, unless the business is US or global.

[Woofage]

Personally, I think .biz looks cheesy. Is there another .co.uk or .com you can choose? Don't give up on your ideal .co.uk. If the owner is not using it they might sell.

On your .com issue, the .com version of our .co.uk domain name has been held by one of those domain grabbing companies for a few years. I made them an offer but heard nothing.

[vorsprung]

Suppose your business is called "Hoopy Loops Ltd"

You might want "hoopyloop.com" and "hoopyloops.com" and the same in .co.uk

If they are taken then

"hoopy.com", "hoopyonline.com" "hoopyloopsweb.com", "hoopy-loops.com" etc etc may well be available

[Ariadne]

I think .biz looks low-rent. It might be silly but it would put me off buying from you.

You'd be better changing your name slightly, i think - or yes, keeping trying to get what you want in .co.uk or .com.

[pcolbeck]

You want a .com or a .co.uk looks more professional. .net implies you are an ISP or hosting company.

[andygates]

Biz is tacky. Appropriate 2-letter ones, like .tv, can be good.  No hyphens.  If the good names aren't available and the business is new, I'd strongly consider changing my branding.  I spent ages working for Project People, who really should have had projectpeople.com, hyphen-wrangling p-p.com and project-people.co.uk.  P-p.com we bought from Madame Pipi.  No joke.  We kept getting her old clientele.

[pcolbeck]

Don't by a .org. It's nice and short but implies you are a not for profit organisation which isn't what you want for business

[Tim Hall]

What about .ltd.uk? My old company had that. The only drawback was spelling it out to customers from FOREIGN who didn't understand.

[Oaky]

What about .ltd.uk? My old company had that. The only drawback was spelling it out to customers from FOREIGN who didn't understand.

Is that the one that requires you to have the companies house registration for the company name, or was that .com.uk (or a figment of my imagination)?

[Jaded]

Although one reason to buy a .org (and park it) would be to limit the possibility of someone else buying it and using it maliciously.

[inc]

 The .eu top level domain would be suitable for use here and probably available.

[artyfaharty]

What does the team think about .co domains? Freely available on the 21st July.

Incidentally the .com domain we want appears to have expired last week but there is apparently a 75 day grace period. Interesting article here  How to Snatch an Expiring Domain | Mike Industries http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/03/how-to-snatch-an-expiring-domain

[andygates]

What about .ltd.uk? My old company had that. The only drawback was spelling it out to customers from FOREIGN who didn't understand.

I always think about how the domain sounds when spoken:

"dot ell tee dee dot you kay" or "dot limited dot uk"

"dot ell tee, no tee not pee, tee as in telly, dee as in diana, no, not pee!" 

Hm, plenty of room for confusion.  I'm a traditionalist.  .com for big biz, .co.uk for nat biz.  .tv just works.

[Dez]

I was approached (by email) by a whole stack of con-artists telling me they could guarantee me success in getting bigreddesign.com when it expired. They contacted me because I already had bigreddesign.co.uk.

My solution was to maintain radio silence, set a reminder in iCal for the end of the grace period, then register it myself the moment it became available via my normal hosting provider. It worked and I didn't end up paying hundreds of pounds to do it.

Given that you have at least as much chance of capturing the domain as anyone else (probably more if you care about it) I'd recommend that for anything that's about to expire.

As far as "novelty" TLDs go, I'd avoid them unless you come up with a really good domain hack and even then I'd have a .com as well. Use anything other than .com or .co.uk and people start to get confused.