Rick Latona

Island Vacation ccTLDs – Just a Sunday random thought and a few Saint Lucia domains

After a long week of working on the TRAFFIC Dublin Conference and gathering great names for the Latona’s Auction which will be held there….I feel like I need a vacation.

Vacations, unfortunately, are so 2008 for me.  So I decided instead to take a look at some of the great island vacation spots’ ccTLDs to invest in.

So much time and money is spent investing in the big countries, but there is a whole world out there of desirable places to visit and even live; maybe there is a gem of a ccTLD hidden on an island beach. But just like when planning a trip somewhere, be careful and take your time.

First, I looked at investing in .bs which is the Bahamas. Crystal clear waters, great fishing, one of the most beautiful hotels in the world Atlantis; the Bahamas seem like a good investment. I wrote on domain hacks before, and they are not as valuable as one would think but they are fun to own. But looking into it, having fun with .bs can be very expensive and I’d probably end up messing with silly terms. Some prices I saw were over $500 to register a domain. Unfortunately for the Bahamas, their ccTLD the prices are too high. I will not be buying any of these domains.

Having lived in the Netherlands, I cannot help but be partial to the Dutch. So why would I not want to invest in the Netherlands Antilles? There are a two short answers to this question: Price and the uncertainty of the country. The prices were similar to that of .bs. And, The Netherlands Antilles are set to dissolve October 10, 2010.

The third time was a charm, I finally found an Island ccTLD in which I would invest in. The beautiful island of Saint Lucia, a very popular cruise and golf destination. Low registration prices, domainer friendly registry, even pushing “Limited Company (example company.lc)” as a selling point on the registries’ homepage. .lc seems like a home run to me.   As with any investment, .lc will be a risk and there is no foreseeable outcome of when they will become popular, even in Saint Lucia. All that negativity aside, I bought three names for a total of $108, Golf.lc, Cruise.lc and Cruises.lc.

It’s amazing what’s still available to hand register in the ccTLD market.

Tags: Domains