Chinese Domain Names

[TwistingMyMelon]

We had the Chinese domain name scam email through, in that someone kindly wanted to do us a favor and check that we didn't want to buy our domain .cn name before another company does....no doubt if we say we want it, it will be very pricey!

We have a few far eastern clients and china is a big emerging place, is it worth us buying the .cn of our .com?

I'm thinking its worth buying just in case, does anyone recommend any .cn registers? https://www.marcaria.com/ and https://www.101domain.com/ seem reasonable?

We own several different .tlds of our domain already so got most angles covered.
Cheers

[LDN]

If you ever think you'll have any business there then yes; may be worth it. For a global brand, the .com will remain the goto and unless you have specific business in the region; it might not be worth it.

[WinstonWolf]

In your case I'd say it was worth buying, if only to keep squatters/imposters away. In the great majority of cases however it isn't worth the registration fee.

[rich888]

I wouldn't bother, they email thousands upon thousands of companies with the same message that your domain name 'might' get registered, well let them, there are millions upon millions of domain names to be had, if they register every one it will cost them a small fortune in year on year renewal fees if no one falls for the ploy. Besides which, if you have the co.uk or com domain then most visitors won't even bother looking at a .cn website which is unlikely to get highly ranked in any case on the major search engines unless it has genuine content.

[carreauchompeur]

The only angle I'd consider is SEO... Obviously since most people in China cannot use Google then, do the Chinese search engines prefer .cn addresses?

[TwistingMyMelon]

Cheers for the responses, I already own about 50 domains linked to the company and some not linked .coms we bought speculatively back in the mid 90s when anything .com was available!

I know the email is a scam, but bought the domain anyway as Gandi (register) had it for 20 euros and you never know how the future pans out etc etc