auDA have introduced new policies that allow for registrants to buy and sell .au domain names subject to certain conditions.The changes, introduced on June 1, are sensible and mean that some domain names currently registered, and not being productively used, can be sold and transferred to a registrant who may have better use for the domain name.The changes have come about following a Names Policy Panel that looked at a number of domain name registration policies last year and made several recommendations to the auDA board..au domain names can be sold via a private sale or domain name auction site such as Sedo, for example.However there are several restrictions. These are:
- a domain name cannot be registered for the sole purpose of resale or transfer to a third party
- domain names cannot be transferred to a third party within the first six months of registration and following this period the domain name can be offered for sale by any means
- all registrants, buyers and the seller originally, must adhere to .au registration rules regarding eligibility
- transfers will be processed by the registrar of record using a standard transfer form, and the registrar may charge a transfer fee.
auDA have produced a short brochure on the new policies that is available to download from www.auda.org.au/news-archive/auda-31052008. The new policy, Transfers (Change of Registrant) Policy (2008-08), is available from www.auda.org.au/policies/auda-2008-08.