I have noticed an increase in people sending me spam, wanting to sell me .nz domain names. These are domains that appear to be registered by overseas people recently, to make a quick profit by onselling it. Anyone know if there are there any rules about doing this? eg is it against the terms of owning a .nz domain.
Zeon: Domain squatters really piss me off. Wonder if we should ask the Domain Commission for comment?
Much though I loathe squatters (Sedo needs to die in an actual fire) it's not against the .nz registration agreement to buy domains for the sole purpose of being a douche. Oh, sorry, I mean onselling them.
I used to get the odd one too over the years, but they appear to have really picked up this year. It possibly has something to do with the cost coming down a lot, and there now isn't a huge difference in price between a .com and a .nz, where with .nz domains there are still a lot more options available. Had an email just today from someone trying to sell me a .net.nz domain for $5000US , and it was being falsely advertised, as Malaysia. One of the problems is possibly that anyone in the world can register them, you don't have to prove that you are a NZer or NZ business, like you do for .au domains, which I think devalues the .nz domain. It means that any website in the world, even scammer websites selling cheap electronics, can get a .nz domain, and it makes it appear they have some association with New Zealand.
mattwnz: I used to get the odd one too over the years, but they appear to have really picked up this year. It possibly has something to do with the cost coming down a lot, and there now isn't a huge difference in price between a .com and a .nz, where with .nz domains there are still a lot more options available. Had an email just today from someone trying to sell me a .net.nz domain for $5000US , and it was being falsely advertised, as Malaysia. One of the problems is possibly that anyone in the world can register them, you don't have to prove that you are a NZer or NZ business, like you do for .au domains, which I think devalues the .nz domain. It means that any website in the world, even scammer websites selling cheap electronics, can get a .nz domain, and it makes it appear they have some association with New Zealand.
Actually, .NZ names are still quite expensive at wholesale. Anyone selling you one for less than $18 is actually making a loss, as the fee charged by the DNC/InternetNZ to the registrars is $1.50 per month per domain name. You could always suggest to the DNC if you don't like the whole overseas people buying domains for resale (and incidentally, I despise that practice, I think companies and individuals that practice it should be burned at the stake with ticket scalpers and marmite trademe-ers).
Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly
to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.
Trusted
ID Verified
