SexToys.com.au Fetches £15,395 as .XXX Heads to Arbitration

A record deal was made yesterday when sextoys.com.au sold for £15,395 ($25,000 USD). The seller originally paid under £92 ($150 USD) for it.

Earlier, mortgage.net.au sold for a whopping £8,313 ($13,500 USD).

The .au market has taken off since auDA, the organization responsible for managing the Australian TLD, lifted a long-standing ban on domain sales.

On the other side of the globe, ICM Registry announced that its .XXX domain proposal will be heard by arbitrators in September. The company has been trying for years to get an adult TLD, but has failed three times. At one point ICANN did approve a proposal, but reversed its decision after receiving pressure from the Department of Commerce under the Bush administration.

ICM Registry has spent more than £1.8 million in legal fees so far, but is determined to win its case. It claims more than 100,000 pre-reseverations for the TLD have made.

Photo: Flickr

New gTLDs Available for Preorder, Customers Being Misled

Registrars Pool.com and Quintaris made news today with their new joint preorder program for gTLDs under the auspice of ICANN’s new policy, which allows the creation of additional domain extensions by businesses and organizations

The names are being registered at a rate of 10,000 per day. The extensions available include .nyc, .berlin, .xxx, .blog, .news, .radio, .dallas, .sucks, .futbol, .family, .arab, .health, .golf, .resort, and .quebec.

Only a name and email address is required to reserve a domain. The preorder site is available here. No fees have to be paid until the domain is approved and registered.
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