Online retailer Buy Kiwi has found that 84% of New Zealanders have been misled into purchasing from foreign companies that falsely present themselves as New Zealand businesses by using the .co.nz domain.
In a survey of over a thousand consumers, 85% of respondents expressed resentment towards the deceptive use of the .co.nz domain address and believed it should be exclusively reserved for New Zealand-owned businesses.
Buy Kiwi managing director Jamie Farmer said New Zealand’s local domain name is accessible to companies worldwide, which poses challenges for local retailers already struggling with economic pressures.
“We are being duped by foreign-owned .co.nz websites,” Farmer said.
“Most of us rightfully believe it means the company is based in New Zealand, but many of those are based overseas.”
Farmer emphasised that this practice reduces the revenue potential of New Zealand businesses. He stated that “if every Kiwi household diverted just $50 per week from overseas companies to New Zealand-owned businesses, it would inject more than $5 billion per year back into our local economy.”
Meanwhile, Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young noted that the process for regulating the use of local domains in New Zealand is “quite complex”, especially when compared to Australia, where businesses must provide an Australian Business Number (ABN) to register a .com.au domain.
In a conversation with The Post, Domain Name commissioner Barbara Pearse said domain names are allocated on a “first-come, first-served basis” and are “subject to certain requirements.” Failing to meet the requirements will prompt the Domain Name Commission (DNC) to suspend the .nz domain name.
Holders of .nz domains are not required to reside in New Zealand. The Domain Name Commission also did not oversee how .nz domains were utilised.
Pearse identified scams and misuse, such as fake e-commerce sites and brand impersonation, as the most pressing challenges for the DNC “while .nz has low levels of abuse compared to some other countries and the top-level domains (like .com), when it does occur, it is generally related to fake webshops/brand impersonation, government, regulatory, and law enforcement impersonation, and phishing.”
Pearse encourages individuals to report any .nz domain names suspected of being linked to fake retailers or other scams directly to the Domain Name Commission.