General rules for .AU domains
.AU is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) representing Australia.
At the moment, it is not possible to register directly a top-level .AU domain at Namecheap (such as mycompany.au).
Opened second-level domains (available for the public) that you can register with Namecheap are:
.COM.AU - commercial entities
.NET.AU - registered companies
.ORG.AU - associations and non-profit organizations
Other opened domains are:
.ID.AU - Australian citizens (individuals) only
.ASN.AU - associations, political parties and clubs
Closed second-level domains (restricted to certain sectors):
.EDU.AU - educational institutions (see third-level domains below)
.GOV.AU - governments and their departments
.CSIRO.AU - CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization)
**.AU domain names can contain up to 63 characters, with a minimum of two characters. These characters can be letters (a to z), numbers (0 to 9) and hyphens (except at the beginning or the end of a domain name; double hyphens are not allowed as well). Also, you cannot register domain names with special characters such as & and #.
You can register **.AU domain names for 1-5 years.
This extension is available only for Australian registrants.
The newly registered .AU domain might take up to 48 hours to appear in the account. You will receive an email notification once the registration order is completed.
You can cancel your .AU domain name with no refund at any time and will have two calendar days to restore it for an additional fee if you change your mind.
How to add & save extended attributes for .AU domains
1. First of all, check the contact information you are going to use for the domain registration.
If you wish to use the default contact details, log into your Namecheap account, go to the Profile section and click on Manage for All Addresses:
Find a Default contact there and click on Edit for it:
Make sure that the Organization and Job Title fields are
filled in with the corresponding details, and the option This is a company address is selected (otherwise, the Registry
will reject the order if these fields are left empty).
If you would like to specify new contact details for the domain registration, go to your Shopping Cart and click on the Confirm Order button. Choose Add new contact from the drop-down and enter your contact information:
Make sure to fill in the Company Name and Job Title fields by putting the check-mark next to I'm registering on behalf of a company:
If these details are not specified correctly, the following error will appear:
2. Once it is done, scroll down the page to the Extended Attributes section. You will be requested to enter an ID number depending on the selected registrant type (ID type):
- ABN (Australian Business Number) - format: 11 digits without spaces, hyphens, etc.
- ACN (Australian Company Number) - should be entered without spaces.
- TM (Trademark Number).
3. To proceed with the checkout, click on Continue and select the payment method you would like to use.
4. You may set up default values of the extended attributes. For that, choose the
Tools option under
Profile >
Advanced >
Manage for
Domain Contacts Presets.
Then, scroll down to the
Alternative Domain Contacts section to configure the
Extended Attributes that will be used during the checkout. You can use the detailed "
What are the domain's extended attributes?" guide while making the changes.
Registration rules of .COM.AU and .NET.AU domains with AustralianTM
If you are using an AustralianTM for .COM.AU or .NET.AU domain registration, you will need to choose the domain which will be an exact match to the words in your trademark. The domain name must include all the words in the order in which they appear in the Australian Trade Mark, excluding:
- DNS identifiers such as com.au;
- Punctuation marks such as an exclamation point or an apostrophe;
- Articles such as "a", "the", "and" or "of";
- Ampersands.
If your domain name is not an exact match of the words in the trademark, you will not be eligible to hold this domain.
Registration rules of .COM.AU and .NET.AU domains with ABN/ACN
If you are registering a .COM.AU or .NET.AU domain using the ABN/ACN, make sure it is entered
without spaces and the
Organization name and
Job Title fields are not empty. You can check the ABN status using the
lookup tool at
http://abr.business.gov.au
Registration rules of .ORG.AU domains
Due to eligibility rule changes of the .AU registry, all registrants of .ORG.AU domain names must be a non-profit organization.
Before registering a .ORG.AU domain:
2. Make sure your domain is a match or synonym for one of the following:
- A service you provide;
- A program you administer;
- An event you register or sponsor;
- An activity that you facilitate, teach, or train;
- The premises you operate in;
- An occupation that your members practice.
OR your domain is one of the following:
- Match your legal name, business or statutory name or the name of the unincorporated association;
- An acronym of your legal name, business name, or statutory name;
- A match of your Australian Trade Mark;
- Match the name of a trust of which you are a trustee.
Registrants who would like to use an
unincorporated association as the basis for eligibility for the .ORG.AU domain and who also aren’t registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (
ACNC), must:
- Check if you meet another category for not-for-profit.
- Change the organization’s legal structure.
If you are a not-for-profit organization or charitable association, you must have your domain registered with an ABN, issued by the
ACNC.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Support Team.
