Registering .au (Australian) domain name

These are just some tips (from personal experience) on how to register Australian .com.au
domain names.

1. Business name

Having an ABN (Australian Business Number) is sufficient to register .au domain name. The
reason why I mention this is because I was under the impression you need to spend $70 (or
whatever it is now) on registering ABR. So, just apply for ABN through ATO website which
doesn't cost anything, and once you've got it you can register .au domain name.

Also, your domain name does not necessarily have to be derived from your business name as
long as you can come up with a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, you can always contact the
ATO and ask them to add another name to your ABN. For example: if your business name is ABC
plumbing and you want to register domain xyzcarpenting.com.au you can call the ATO and ask
them to add XYZ Carpeting name to your ABN (this works when you are a sole trader, not sure
what happens when you have a company).

2. Things to look for

* cost - try to find the cheapest one. This looks like an obvious thing to do but if it was
Melbourne IT would've been out of business (I will explain why in one of the following
paragraphs)

* zone file - it's always good to have the flexibility of being able to manage the zone file
for your domain. For those who do not know what zone file is, it gives you the ability to
assign a TCP/IP address to your domain. Most of the registrars charge for this service but
some provide it for free

* last but not least - customer service. Some registrars provide better service than the
others, some provide none; it would be logical to avoid the later

3. Some of the Australian registrars

Here's a list of Australian domain registrars I've dealt with, listed in the order of better
first:

* RegistrarsAsia - they are no longer registering domains, they are now a wholesaler. I
thought I would mention them because they provided the best customer service. They didn't
have an online tool for zone editing but whenever I called them the changes that I was asking
for would be applied immediately and free of charge.

* tppinternet.com.au - if you register as Wholesale Partner you get free zone editing. I only
register / transfer a domain to them if I need to be able to manage the zone file for that
domain, otherwise you can find cheaper prices somewhere else (look at the next one). Also,
I've been getting some annoying newsletters which I kept unsubscribing myself from but it
never worked, I then raised a support request (with a harsh message) through their website
and newsletters stopped.

* namescout.com - reasonable prices, although they charge in USD. I like their domain
management console, it's easy to use, you can sort domains in order of expiration (useful
when you have a lot of domains) and it's easy to renew. They used to have an email alias for
domain contact which was a good protection from spam, but I don't think it's available any
more. No zone file editing unfortunately.

* netregistry.com.au - good prices (at the moment) but I'd rather not deal with these guys.
Annoying newsletters, which are impossible to unsubscribe from, are coming whenever they fill
like pissing me off. Emails I sent to them were left without response. Also their management
console is as friendly as their sales / support staff. I once contacted them about giving me
access to the zone files if I transfer all my .au domains to them, for the price they offered
me (for a single zone file) I could get web hosting for five sites. The sales person main
argument was - "but you will get premium service from a well known Australian registrar"...
yeah right.

* and last (and I mean last) is Melbourne IT. Prices are about 4 or 5 times everyone else is
offering, no free zone file editing and customer service is next to none. They also send some
promotional emails, not as frequently as netregistry though.


If you know of some other registrars to add to this list, please fill free to reply to this
post.