According to the .TOP registry the biggest IT/E-commerce company in China, Alibaba.com, together with the second biggest Chinese TV Station Hunan TV, (second to only CCTV) combined to launch a website on a .Top domain name for its new B2C website, 嗨淘全球, which targets female customers aged between 18 to 35 with imported cosmetics and mother & baby products.
The sublinks of their .com website are all redirected to .top links. According to the .Top registry this is the biggest company using .top domain so far we know and shows more big companies start to use new gTLDs.
The website is Hitao.top
The website already has an Alexa ranking of 2 Million worldwide.
The domain name was simply registered by Alibaba on November 17th, 2014, the date of .Top GA; with regular pricing so it was not a premium domain nor a domain given to Alibaba by the registry.
And since when are .top websites allowed in China?
Websites need to be licensed by MIIT to use servers in China.
.top got that license on 27th April 2015.
Apple, Baidu, Google and Yahoo paid 12500 CNY for apple.top, baidu.top gmail.top, google.top, yahoo.top respectively. All but Baidu did so via MarkMonitor.
The most expensive .top so far were L.TOP in the range of 500k to 600k CNY according to the sources close to the registry.
And as of today, because .TOP registry has published its premium sales, they top the new gTLD league: http://dnpric.es/stats/stats-by-tld/?newgtld
Do you know if all of these sales have renewal rates at the same level, or do some premium GTLD domains have a high initial registration fee followed by the regular renewal rate for nonpremiums?
The answer to this question is that it varies from registry to registry and from TLD to TLD. There is no generic rule no there is any regulation in place. ICANN has only imposed $0.18 fee – that’s it.
But the logo is using hitao.com?
Chinese Registry
I wonder why the Chinese are considering .top to be a valuable extension. Anyone know?
I know something and hope could be helpful to explain:
1. From primary school to university, English, Chinese and Maths are the three most and same important subjects in China. English language element is prevalent there, let along a simple word “top”.
2. In Chinese culture, being top is highly pursued. So we see the fastest trains, biggest square, biggest dam etc are built there. There is a new saying reflecting the shopping attitude of middle class Chinese, “don’t buy the right stuff, just buy the most expensive”.
3. These are the only MIIT licensed letter TLD in China so far: .cn, .ren, .wang .citic. .top.
Users of .cn/China were hurt by the registry’s policy years ago, although the situation has changed and gets better, it still is like a burnt child dreads the fire.
.ren/Person really isn’t popular as seen from registration numbers.
.wang/King/Net is also very popular among Chinese.
.citic is only a internal TLD with in CITIC company.
Interesting. Thank you.
good spot will the logo change i wonder ?.
still big move from .com
This collaboration will definitely shake up China because the two partners are leaders in their respective niches.
I wonder what makes the .top extension valuable in China. Anyone know?
yes why is it so special?
.TOP Registry located in China.
it’s the .Top Level Domain