If you’ve been fortunate to spend time traveling to other countries, you’ll quickly learn that .com is less important to businesses in some countries. In European countries, local businesses tend to use their own ccTLD extensions. I’ve enjoyed visits to many countries in Europe, and while the biggest – global brands or brands with global aspirations – use .com, the smaller businesses frequently use their local extension.
I was recently doing some outbound marketing on a two word .com domain name. There were numerous businesses that incorporated these two words in their brands, and one operated on the .com.au extension. I thought this Australian company might have an interest in my .com domain name to show its global reach. I was wrong. The CEO of the company told me there was no interest in acquiring my domain name:
“we are an Australian based business. We have no interest in .com domains”
I doubt this is the universal feeling about .com domain names in Australia, but it was pretty surprising to see. Mind you, I mentioned the $40k USD price in the email, so that might have also been an issue for the prospective buyer. I didn’t really have a rebuttal to this beyond mentioning that someone else with global aspirations will probably buy the domain name. That has not happened yet.
When doing outbound marketing, businesses operating on the ccTLD extension might appear to be the best prospective buyers. Some of these businesses operating on .com.something, and being able to remove that extra period and extension seems like it would be a no brainer if the price is right.
This is not a universal feeling though. I recently sold a one word .com to a business operating on the matching .DE domain name. It took a while to reach an agreement, but the .com now forwards to the company’s website. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that reversed, but I don’t know enough about their business or aspirations to know their future plans.
I have been going to Australia every year for the Australian Open in Melbourne.
It is called Aussie Pride
He will tell you he doesn’t want the dot com but in his conscience he really wants the dot com.
Oui Oui Oui 😂 🤣 😂
How about Domainer Pride? “I’ve got the domain and I can ask anything I want for it, and if you want if you’ve gotta pay my asking price.”
Many end users (who MAY still want the .com but at a more reasonable price) will say to that “You keep it, or go sell to someone else” and they are actually happy with that. They are happy to walk away, often forever.
Remember, it’s a 2 way street – YOU hold the domain they (might?) want but THEY hold the money that you want, but may not be willing to part with coz it’s too much. Food for thought…
In Europe ccTLDs have always more value than the corresponding .com domains
What about a German company, operating in a .DE domain name, that also does business in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal?
not always, I wanted to say often, sorry
BullS!!!!!!!! yes!!!! Oui Oui Oui!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍😍😂😂😂😂😂
Many or most European businesses start with their national ccTLD domain. But loyalty has a cost, as intra-European rivalries often remain strong. Swedes, for example, dislike explicitly using the .no of Norway. The .com is preferable. Same often for Japan using the .kr of Korea (and vice versa). Depending on the industry and nationality, disapproval and prejudice is sometimes tinged with contempt (traditional agricultural nations can struggle as homes for high-tech). Companies expanding operations beyond domestic borders must consider how much they wish to draw attention to home office location – and what that costs…
Many or most European businesses begin operations using their national ccTLD domain. But loyalty has a cost, as intra-European rivalries often remain strong. Swedes, for example, dislike explicitly using the .no of Norway. The .com is preferable. Same often for Japan using the .kr of Korea (and vice versa). Depending on the industry and nationality, disapproval and prejudice is sometimes tinged with contempt (traditional agricultural nations can struggle to redefine as high-tech). Companies expanding operations beyond domestic borders must consider how much they wish to draw attention to home office location – and what that costs…
In Spain, major global brands use .com, as do other countries with the .ES extension. There are also regional domain extensions; in Catalonia, actors and small businesses often use .CAT, which makes them appear more Catalan. It’s more of a linguistic and political issue.
In India. .IN and .CO.IN are catching up to .COM in usage. With only 4 million .IN domains regd, Indian business have lot more options to chose from .