Hi guys

I just read up about the launch of .co domain names which I am real excited about, because there are going to be a lot of exciting names come up when it is fully launched.

My question is, I am thinking of pre-ordering a domain with Landrush (LCN.COM) but need to know wether I will get my money back if I do not get the domain I want. I am prepared to pay the price for the domain I want but not prepared to lose over £200 GBP if I do not get the domain.

Does anyone have any info on this?

Thanks

.co domain launch???? this domain is a cctld assigned to colombia,

I believe Colombia is in the process of jumping on the "pretend-ccTLD" bandwagon.

After the .uk.co fiasco a few years ago I wouldn't touch Colombian domains with a bargepole.

Hi guys

I just read up about the launch of .co domain names which I am real excited about, because there are going to be a lot of exciting names come up when it is fully launched.

My question is, I am thinking of pre-ordering a domain with Landrush (LCN.COM) but need to know wether I will get my money back if I do not get the domain I want. I am prepared to pay the price for the domain I want but not prepared to lose over £200 GBP if I do not get the domain.

Does anyone have any info on this?

Thanks


Sunrise for trade mark holders starts on April the 26th

We're going to see a lot of typo domains being registered, like webhostingtalk.co and it will get a few hits for people who forgot to type the m :P

Nothing good in that as Google gives preference to .com or .net or sometimes .org....While there are many other TLD's, you do not get any boost in search engines for them even after making huge efforts....

Sounds perfect for a company domain name.

My question is, I am thinking of pre-ordering a domain with Landrush (LCN.COM) but need to know wether I will get my money back if I do not get the domain I want.

It would depend on the registrar you choose for this, but most of the time you are charged a small fee if you don't get the domain and then you get back the rest of your money.

I'm pretty confident .CO domains will be quite popular. :)

.CO domains no longer have any connection to Columbia, I believe ICANN recognise it as a genuine top level domain.

I have had loads of ideas for 3 or 4 letter premium / vanity domain names, also .co gives great potential for many smart little domain hacks like morroc.co, im sure you can think of many others.

Its funny stocky1606 mentioned LCN.com, as they seem to be the only registrar who are already taking pre-orders for all 3 stages in the UK.

I have quite a few on general availability pre-order and a couple of Landrush with them.
Personally I think its a pretty good investment, and if I dont get my chosen domains on general availability, I wont get charged, so no risk.

.CO domains no longer have any connection to Columbia, I believe ICANN recognise it as a genuine top level domain.

It is still a ccTLD and of course it is connected to Colombia, as .ME is connected to Montenegro, but I get your point: it will go global, somewhat similar to what happened in the case of .ME.

And ICANN has nothing to do with it.

By the way, it's been confirmed that the 39th ICANN meeting will be held in Cartagena (Colombia), which is a beautiful city. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartagena,_Colombia

http://www.colombia.travel/en/international-tourist/where-to-go/cartagena-history

.CO domains no longer have any connection to Columbia, I believe ICANN recognise it as a genuine top level domain.

This statement is entirely incorrect.

First of all, it's not actually up to ICANN to recognise country codes, country codes are allocated by ISO and the domain name world just uses the two-letter codes allocated by ISO.

Secondly, fact is that the IANA database (maintained by ICANN) lists .co as the country code for Colombia and nothing else.

It's a pretend-GTLD, just like .tv and .me. CO is and always will be the country code for Colombia, no matter what any clever marketing people try to tell you. And if the government of Colombia should one day decide that it doesn't want its country code to be used for a pretend-GTLD any more then there is nothing anyone can do about it.

Laos (.la) took its country code back after allowing someone to market it as "the cool new domain for Los Angeles" (they're now allowing someone else to market it as the cool new domain for Los Angeles). There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing over .md (Moldova, not "Medical Doctor"). And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, there was a previous attempt to market .co as something it isn't (more specifically, to market .uk.co as "the cool new alternative to .co.uk"). That didn't last either.

If people want to register domains in exotic countries - fine, why not? But you should go into it with your eyes open. No amount of clever marketing will turn a ccTLD into GTLD, and ultimately it's always up to the country concerned what it wants to do with its country code.

WOW seems it has turned into quite an argumentative thread lol, IMO though I am not a huge domainer I think .co will open up a whole new world with domains, it is not all about SEO these days it is about if the domain is memorable or 'guessable'

One problem these days is computer illiterate people do not know what extensions mean, I personally have heard many people refer to Google as Google.co in the past few years, so it will benefit much more people actually having that TLD, because obviously Google will have already acquired that particular domain, same as all the other website gods out there with their brands, so it will make it easier for the less knowledgeable folk to find websites.

Another thing is there is now going to be millions of short 3 and 4 letter .co domains available, they will probably be swallowed up within a month but we have a chance to grab some great domains. I personally have a few good ones in mind and have already contacted .CoMmunity about their partnership program and approached them with my idea for a domain.

It's all about risk.

It would have sucked if you owned a company in Cuba when they (Cuba) decided they would prefer to own "your" company (and all "your" company's physical assets in Cuba) instead of you.

I see this .co domain as the same level of risk. Sure, you might think "you" own that nifty .co domain... but if one day some Columbian government official decides they might want to take ownership of "your" .co domain name...

.. what are you going to do about it? Sue them? Haha. It's their country and their domain ccTLD.

Good luck!

Apolo I was in topic, I reinforced what mrzippy said. They are corrupt and can change anytime. Since the ccTLD we're talking is in their ownership, it's untrustful.

I'd be offtopic and talk about politic if I've said ASFARC members work as Brasil government employees, being paid by PeTralha party to support them using money from our tax. That, would be offtopic :P

But just to make it clear, I also don't trust .br too: O Comitê Gestor do Ponto e seus desmandos (http://hikari.ws/critica/511/o-comite-gestor-do-ponto-e-seus-desmandos/).

Now back to topic, I just say I'd not trust governments from Colombia, Bolívia, Venezuela, Brasil and others to be responsible for a domain that's important to me. They can be used temporary or for some unreliable use, but not for something that would hurt me if I'd lose the domain.

And of course, .co is an ugly name, I'd not wanna use it on a domain of mine. Cuba's .cu at least is funny for an humor oriented site.

For those interested in .CO domains, I was able to obtain some quick presentations from COinternet.co, the official .CO Registry.

More on their web site:

http://www.cointernet.co/

The US is fairly friendly with Columbia as I recall -- they've got military bases there and do joint anti-drug ops with their government, fighting FARC, etc. Also, Columbia beefs with Venezuela, which the US obviously beefs with, so Columbia (at least geopolitically) has good reason to work with US interests... anyone have any idea if that translates to good interweb relations? :D

lol nhnn :D

What I meant is exactally that, today they are "friendly", but are also influenced by Venezuela and Bolívia. Someday a nacionalist president may be elected, and take all domains back, in the same way they like to nationalize multinational companies, and give them back to colimbianos.

I agree when multinationals come charge expensive prices for basic services and in pratice steal our work, paying little salaries and sending all profit away. But in this case, we who register .co domains pay expensive charges for it, and it's not secure to rely on a domain and then lose it when a new president arises.

I have seen this domain name was launced for the registration. But I'm not sure if that is good domain name. some vocabulary words are good but others - no.

@Lubeca

.LA wasn't taken back by the country itself. An individual has a deal with Laos to market the ccTLD.

A few years back, the registry backend + some marketing was provided by Afilias and then around 2006 it moved to CentralNic - who I believe specifically opened an LA office in order to market this extension better.


With respect to .CO: Who knows where this will head. I tend to agree with Lubeca that it is always risky to register a domain that is being marketed as something different that was it really is. The only exception I see to this is .ME, as .ME is backed by three major organizations that are well known.

With respect to .CO: Who knows where this will head. I tend to agree with Lubeca that it is always risky to register a domain that is being marketed as something different that was it really is. The only exception I see to this is .ME, as .ME is backed by three major organizations that are well known.

I believe Neustar, which participates in this venture, is a major organization in the domain names' world as well.

@Apolo, yes you are absolutely right.

I believe the difference however is, that Neustar is simply providing the backend for .CO as a trusted registry operator.

With .ME all three companies have a stake in .ME ...

I believe the difference however is, that Neustar is simply providing the backend for .CO as a trusted registry operator.

They are much more involved. ;)

.CO Internet S.A.S. is a new company formed by Arcelandia S.A., a wholly-owned Colombian company, and the U.S. company Neustar, Inc, for the purpose of developing and operating the .CO Internet registry. This new partnership will be responsible for the promotion, administration, and technical operation of the .CO TLD.

http://www.cointernet.co/domain/faqs

@Apolo, thanks for this info. I wasn't aware that they had formed a JV.

I was just watching Tekzilla and found out about the release of this TLD. A lot of good ones will be coming soon. However, about that company, I have no information. Sorry. =/

name.com is offering .co for $28. I would rather use .com since its much cheaper.

http://blog.name.com/2010/05/co-buzz/