.CO Domain Purchase Questions
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Hi All!,
I have a new issue I have run into regarding buying a new domain for another website I would like to purchase and set aside for awhile until I get some of my other sites up and running. I will probably need a staff member for this who is familiar with domain purchase/registration on this platform.
Over the last month or two I have purchased 3 new domains here on WordPress.com: ziine.co (a general post whatever site), oalist.co (an attempt to start a local business directory), and dtpix.co (for my amatuer photography).
I had zero issues with purchasing and setting up these websites to get started (other than some block settings issue that got resolved thanks to Nigel – Thanks again Nigel!!), and I’ve been working on these new sites just fine with no further issues with the sites themselves, or the setup of the domains.
So over this weekend I am trying to purchase another .co domain for a curated news blog, to attach as primary domain to dtpad.wordpress.com, and I keep getting a message that says “Sorry, tcwn.co is a premium domain. We don’t support purchasing this premium domain on WordPress.com”. Also the “Buy” button turns into “Unavailable”, yet the domain shows up in search every time I run a search here on this platform for a custom domain.
I am confused on why this is happening considering that just recently I’ve been buying .co domains here for my most recent new websites.
I have checked 3rd party registration sites (name.com, godaddy, namecheap, instantdomainsearch) which shows the domain, tcwn.co to be available.
I even checked whois.com to see if by chance someone may already own the domain, and maybe for some reason all the domain name search engines, including the one here on WordPress.com is not catching that. That is not the case that I am seeing, but for some reason, I’m unable to purchase tcwn.co here on WordPress.com.
So questions:
What is going on with this? Why am I (and I’m guessing others as well) able to buy .co domains here on WordPress.com, but unable to buy others?
Is there perhaps something about some .co domains versus other ones that determine “Premium” and “unsupported” here on WordPress.com? I wouldn’t think so. A .co domain is a .co domain right?
Could there be a flaw in wordpress.com’s domain search tool that is causing this to happen?
Side note: I’ve noticed this happens with .xyz domains here as well.
Another side note: All this is doing is saving me from spending more money here unless I go with a different domain extension lol.
Thanks for your help!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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I know that WordPress.com don’t allow (these days anyway) people to register subdomains (those ending in .wordpress.com) that comprise of 4 letters or less. Perhaps Colombia is the same and 4 letter domains are reserved. But have you tried purchasing that custom domain elsewhere? Once you own a domain you can point it to a site here in future.
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I have not tried purchasing it elsewhere it is more expensive that way, and while I’m sure it could be directed a site here, I prefer all of my domains to be natively located here in the WordPress.com ecosystem. I didn’t think about the number of characters of the domain being a possible factor for this issue, but I have in the past purchased a 4 letter .com here, and still own it (I think lol – I have so many). Also I have seen that an alternative extension of the same domain I’m trying to purchase would be available to buy, so with that said, I’m not sure if this being a 4 letter domain is the issue with the .co extension.
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Hi there!
WordPress.com supports premium domains for a limited selection of TLDs. (TLDs refer to the end of a domain, like .com, .net, .blog, .co, etc.)
You can see the complete list of TLDs available for premium domains here:
WordPress.com supports premium domains. These are special domains because they are short and memorable and sold for a price higher than a standard domain. We offer premium domains for the following domain extensions: Select your currency: AUDBRLCADCHFCZKDKKEURGBPHKDHUFIDRILSINRJPYMXNNOKNZDPHPPLNRUBSEKSGDTHBTRYTWDUSD.academy.accountants.actor.agency.airforce.apartments.army.associates.attornYou’ll notice that the .co extension is not listed there, that’s because we don’t yet support premium domains for .co TLDs. When you search for a domain, we will show it if it’s available, but we’ll check to see if it’s a premium domain when you select it. If that particular premium domain is from an unsupported TLD, it won’t be possible to register it with us.
As for what makes a domain premium domain, that’s up to the organizations or companies that own those TLDs. They determine what domains are considered premium and what domains are regular, and the pricing is adjusted accordingly. Not all premium domains cost the same, and it’s certainly not just based on the number of letters in the domain (though that may be a factor).
As tcwn.co is a premium domain from .co, I’m afraid it’s not possible to register it on WordPress.com.
However, once you’ve registered it with another registrar that supports it, you’ll be able to connect it to your WordPress.com site and make it primary. You don’t need to register the domain on WordPress.com to be able to use it on a WordPress.com site.
I hope that clarifies things. Feel free to let us know if you have more questions.
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@aisajib The OP has already purchased some .co domains. Which is why I wondered out loud if it was the matter of 4 letters rather than using a domain address made up of 5 or 6 that was the issue. If you look at my screenshot for this link I see Colombia domains available:-
This page lists the domain extensions (also known as top-level domains or TLDs) available on WordPress.com and their prices. Search for your domain here! Standard Domain Registration and Renewal Pricing The current price for one year of domain registration for standard-priced domains is listed below. When you purchase any annual or multi-year WordPress.com plan, the first year of the domai -
Not all .co domains are premium. A domain can be considered premium for a number of factors, not always just the number of letters. And it’s not us who determines what domain is premium or not. That’s up to the TLD owner/provider.
You can find out more about premium domains from the company that offers .CO domains: https://www.go.co/faqs/premium-domains
As for your screenshot, we do offer .co domain registrations, just not the .co premium ones. A domain with more than four letters can also be premium so that alone isn’t an indicator of a premium domain. The OP’s other .co domains are not premium, so they were able to register them.
Hope that clarifies things.
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Wow @aisajib, some really good information here. Thank you!
It got me wondering more about what the .co domain extension actually is, or generally used for. I’ve just been buying them because they were short and I found some relatively short letters to make a web address with, but didn’t know their history. I searched on Google and found this: “While originally designated in the early 1990s, for websites and businesses associated with Colombia, .co is now widely used by businesses and individuals around the world. Recognizing the global interest in .co, from companies and corporations, the Colombian government decided to change how the TLD was managed.”
So that must mean that the country of Columbia is basically who determines the difference between a premium and non-premium .co domain… but I wonder how so quickly… unless by chance someone before me has attempted to get the address I was trying to get, and it got assigned as “premium” that way.
Anyway, I have learned something and have a little better understanding why some domains are not available with certain extensions.
I went back and did another domain search for something else that is still short on letters (5) with the .co extension I could get that is showing as available for purchase if I want it. I also see that the “tcwn” is available with the .me extension… I’m not sure about that one for a curated news site, although it would be sort of a personal curated site based off of my interests…. So it could possibly work. The name of the news site I want to start is sort of generic as The Curated Web & News or TCWN for short… so I the .me extension could possibly work for me and I would still get the really short domain. I have a lot of thinking to do on which way to go.
Everyone thank you very much for your input and information. This was very helpful!!
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One more update to come back and say that I settled on dtcwn.co that I was able to buy for the domain on this new website (just one letter extra that still works).
So now I can push forward to start building the website. Thanks again for all the help!!
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That’s great news!
Thank you for letting us know.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need further assistance.
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