Pre-order new .au extension for Australia
Published by Peter Armstrong on March 10th, 2022
The new .au extension launches on 24 March 2022. Australians will be able to register an .au name for the first time!! 🇦🇺
Until now there have been several second-level domain extensions: .com.au and .net.au for Australian companies/businesses, .org.au for organisations & non-profit associations, and .id.au for individuals.
But let’s be honest, there is little demand for .net.au and .org.au names, the .id.au extension has never been popular, and frankly Aussies have registered many more .com names!
The new .au extension could change all that. This is the long overdue liberalisation of the .au extension. Finally individuals will be able to register names without unnecessary complexity.
Our price is pretty sweet too! A$16 per year for .com.au and .au names. That’s one of the most competitive prices in Australia!
RELEASED IN THREE PHASES
The .new .au name will launch in three phrases:
– Â Pre-order phase (10 March 2022)
Existing clients of Spiral Hosting can pre-order .au names from 10th March and the orders will be submitted to the .au registry on 24th March.
Companies/businesses that have registered .com.au names will be eligible to order the .au equivalent. For example if you own HarveyNorman.com.au you’ll be entitled to the equivalent name HarveyNorman.au
There are some exceptions. Some names may have multiple competing claims and the .au registry will oversee the competition process. If you want to check your entitlement, you can type your existing domain name into the web form here: Priority Status Tool
If you’re an existing client with Spiral Hosting, send our sales team a quick message with a list of the names you want to pre-order. If your pre-order is not successful we will refund you.
– Launch phase (24 March 2022)
The .au extension will launch and Australians can register an .au name providing it is not on the hold list.
The “hold list” consists of millions of names reserved for the owner of the equivalent second-level extension (.com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .id.au). The registry refer to this as “priority hold”. The hold list will stay in place until 20 September 2022 to give the owners of .com.au names sufficient time to apply for their .au equivalent. For example our company “Spiral Hosting Pty. Limited” has already registered SpiralHosting.com.au and therefore the name SpiralHosting.au will be on the hold list for us (although we’ll apply for our .au name as early as possible so we can start using it!).
– General release (20 September 2022)
Anyone with an Australian presence can place an order for any .au name on a first-come, first-served basis. The names that were on the hold list between 24 March and 20 September will be released.
AUSTRALIAN PRESENCE REQUIREMENT
The only registration requirement for the new .au extension is an Australian presence. Any individual or organisation with an Australian presence may register any available .au domain.
Note: Unlike .com.au names, there is no requirement for .au names to match the registrant’s name or entity name.
The following are considered Australian presence:
- An Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident visa holder.
- A company, organisation, association, co-operative, partnership, political party, trust, government entity, charity, educational institution, or partnership registered in Australia. See the auDA licensing rules for a complete list of eligible entities.
- The applicant or owner of an Australian trademark, where the domain name is an exact match of the Australian trademark application or registration.
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* T&C’s apply. This promotion is operated by Spiral Hosting Pty. Limited, ABN 57 615 483 899
We register .au names through OpenSRS, an accredited auDA registrar trading as Tucows (Australia) Pty Limited, ABN 38 144 482 002