I just read an interesting article about the UAE (i.e. Dubai) domain market. Seems as though the authorities have opened up .ae domain ownership this August. previously I think it was very cumbersome to own any of these .ae extentions.

I was speaking to one of the registrars recently it seems as their is a almighty rush for registrations happeing at the moment. I did some brief checks and found that all the really good generics have gone although there may still be some specific niches left.

The secondary market seems to have gone through the roof on this. For example

tv.ae sold for $8000
apartments.ae sold for $7000
cruise.ae sold for $3000

I know its still a lot less than other TLD for other countries for the same generics BUT that makes it all the more exciting I guess.

I am beginning to think its a great market to be in at the moment, considering that its devalued..Dubai as you all probably know has a lot going for it a large expat community population around the 5 million mark and growing rapidly spiralling internet use and an unbelievable property market (incidentally all the good property generic domains have gone).

Would love to know what others think. As i am considering going into this space.

Hi seeplain and welcome to INForum.

Can you let us know what was done to open up the .ae space?

Also, I can't seem to find any authentication for the apartments.ae and cruise.ae sales. How did you find out about these?

The tv.ae sale is an old one that happened two years ago.

Hi Jeff,

Here are a couple of links explaining the changes that happened on the 3rd of August this year. I think previously it was cumbersome to acquire .ae domains you had to be in Dubai and fill out manual forms which took a while to process plus the fees were about $200 per domain. Also only the national telecoms companies were allowed to register names for you and if I am not mistaken there were additional requirements such as a Dubai Trading License etc.


http://www.dngist.com/uae-domains-gets-boost-as-tra-accredits-registrars-for-domain-names/

http://www.gulfnews.com/technology/internet/10236670.html

I think now they have removed much of this and reduced the fees by over 70% thats why theres a surge in registrations and aftersales.

As for the sales figures I got them from SEDO when I spoke to one of the reps that I usually deal with . Incidentally where were you looking to verify these sales ?

Cruises.ae and also cruise.ae sold this year both for 2,500 euros. Also there was booking.ae for 2800 euros that he told me about with sales also going through or being not completed after bids for voip.ae (which had a bid of 3000 usd rejected) similarly for casions.ae and taxis.ae. The apartments.ae sale I was told of by one of the registrars that happened last couple of weeks..

Also during my research I have made offers for some really good names only for the offers to be rejected outright by the owners. I offered 1,500 USD for investments.ae and rentals.ae which were both rejected. I also offered 2,000 for businesses.ae again no success.

What do you think am I barking up the wrong tree or is there something worthwhile here.?? Would love to know what others think

Thanks for the update seeplain.

DNJournal.

Probably too early to say. At this point it sound very highly speculative, but worth keeping an eye on.

I think there is huge potential in these names, I think if you can get some great keywords and hold them for a little while, you wont be sorry. Dubai and the UAE will be back to its booming best soon and thats when you will benefit. I am in the process of speaking to a friend of mine about getting a couple of my names developed.


Good luck

where can you register .ae domains?

__________________
dotIN.in | The Future Is Near.

Instra.com is the best/cheapest I could find (AU $40 per name) The name can take up to 3 days to appear in your account, but most take around 5 minutes.

__________________
Golf.ae - Clubs.ae - Weather.ae - Pets.ae - Pizza.ae - Flights.ae - Resorts.ae - Cosmetics.ae - Clothing.ae - Wealth.ae - Medicine.ae - Fitness.ae - Dining.ae - SolarPower.ae - DubaiJobs.ae - SolarPanels.ae

gilescoley - do you get any type in traffic on your .ae domains?

Hi Jeff, I was getting a little traffic on Golf, SolarPanels and SolarPower, but nothing really significant. I have stopped parking them now and I am going to start developing them

__________________
Golf.ae - Clubs.ae - Weather.ae - Pets.ae - Pizza.ae - Flights.ae - Resorts.ae - Cosmetics.ae - Clothing.ae - Wealth.ae - Medicine.ae - Fitness.ae - Dining.ae - SolarPower.ae - DubaiJobs.ae - SolarPanels.ae