Know what you’re getting, and that .cn is the most popular choice.
Recently, a domain investor asked me to comment on the differences between .cn.com and .com.cn names, their marketability, sales potential, and trends.
Note that I use the term “names” here to avoid the confusion between domain and subdomain. For example, cn.com is a domain but Alibaba.cn.com is a subdomain or third level domain.
CentralNic runs .Cn.com and its home page indicates that .cn.com names can be registered via registrars such as Network Solutions, eNom, Key Systems, 123Reg, and ResellerClub.
It’s essential to understand what’s going on here. The owner of the domain name cn.com is selling domain names at the third level. This is an unregulated practice, and these domains should not be confused with China’s country code domains under .cn. CentralNic has closed down similar extensions in the past, resulting in registrants having to switch their web addresses.
A Baidu search on “site:.cn.com” returned 33 million search results, showing Chinese companies such as BZT.cn.com, Huber.cn.com, and Xurui.cn.com. Google returns over 1 million results for this search.
.com.cn, on the other hand, is a subdomain of China’s country code .cn. .Com.cn was introduced in 1990 and .cn in 2003. The following table clearly shows that .cn is the leader of the two
Year | .cn names | .com.cn names | cn/com.cn ratio |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | 11,729,750 | 2,405,969 | 4.88 |
2016 | 15,044,749 | 2,803,714 | 5.37 |
2017 | 16,727,922 | 2,360,535 | 7.07 |
2018 | 18,569,565 | 2,135,978 | 8.69 |
2019 | 19,668,268 | 2,188,326 | 8.99 |
Between the two, it seems wise to bet on .cn over .com.cn. And before you think about registering example.cn.com, understand what you are getting.
Jun says
But is it when a country’s NIC forgets its own extension?
Mali’s defunct NIC-ML, which was operated by a company called SOTELMA, had extensions like .com.ml, .gouv.ml (for French government) and .presse.ml (for French press).
The .presse.ml extension has been overlooked and is currently operated on the same business model as CentralNIC, however .presse.ml is an official country extension, is listed on the PSL in the ICANN suffix section and has a network of vendors and former resellers such as 101 Domain, BB Online, 1 Africa and etc …
In this case, what is your opinion?
Links:
https://publicsuffix.org/list/public_suffix_list.dat
https://www.bb-online.com/tldinformation/presse.ml.shtml
https://www.owexxhosting.com/domain/presse_ml
http://www.rwgusa.com/domain_information_presse_ml.htm
https://administrator.no/kunde/cart.php?a=add&pid=31&language=portuguese-br
https://web.archive.org/web/20151222113218/http://www.aftld.org/bk/cairo2007/docs/ML_ccTLD.pdf
Kassey Lee says
Sorry, it’s outside my knowledge to make any comment.
Mo says
Love reading your posts but heading is a bit confusing. com.cn versus .cn.com versus .cn and not just com.cn versus .cn.com
So basically .cn.com is a joke I guess.
And .cn is better than .com.cn
However if .cn is held by the registry and not allowed to be registered, I guess the .com.cn is just as good.
Kassey Lee says
Good point. Agreed. .com.cn was launched first and it was the only choice. Direct .cn registration was not available until 2003.
keith says
Never trust centralnic they closed down kr.com and did not give a toss about the registrants they are a company that claims to be trustworthy but then turn off their subdomains at will
Kassey Lee says
Agreed. I find investing in subdomains risky and I never touch them.