.LA domains. Erk!

[Kay]

Following on from this thread, where Ken mentioned .LA domains:

http://experienced-people.net/forums...-targeted-EMDs

I pretty much dismissed the idea of getting one. It seems like another .co or .tv kinda thing. Just another gold rush and a way to screw money out of people. Ken also mentioned LA attorneys and restaurants in relation to EMDs and searches so, out of interest, I had a play about with their "buy a domain" tool . Not surprisingly lawyer.LA is gone. I tried attorney.LA. Hey! It's available. Great news. But they want $50k to register it! Apparently it's a "showcase domain". Well, it does seem like a premium domain to me but $50k asking price from the registration company - what? It seems a bit shoddy to me.

Maybe I've got the wrong impression so feel free to correct me but it looks as though they've bought up the good domains themselves and will only let you register the also-rans for $50 a shot.

I think I'll be sticking to NameCheap and .coms in future. NameCheap do some great deals so I am a happy camper about them for the moment.

Is it not a bit cheeky for the .LA registrar to do this or is there more to the story?

Edit to add: good news, restaurant.LA is available and only $25k.

[grynge]

According to the ICANN .la is

Lao People's Democratic Republic

Country code TLD

So they have done what colombia (.co) and soon to be cameroon (.cm) have done and allowed anybody to use it. I gather to cash in on Los Angeles money.

[Fish]

Kay, this pretty much sums up what the registrars and ICANN are about - money grubbers to the end. They take the money from the smart and dumb domainers. Those domainers sell them on to dumb domainers and dumb companies. Rinse and repeat. O.co anyone? Compare the profits here to the usual pennies per domain registrars make, and you can see the temptation. As Bob Parsons said "domaining is a dirty business."