.export
Is .export a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody is chasing .export, as of 7 October 2026. One applicant claimed it and is out. We keep the entry on the record either way.
- Journey To The West
A generic trade keyword few exporters would make their main web address; expect cheap, thin demand rather than serious brand identities.
export/import trading firms, cross-border e-commerce sellers (especially China-based merchants selling abroad), freight forwarders and sourcing agents wanting a keyword address for a trade-facing storefront or microsite
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round. Their catalog line: “Goods made in China, sold to the world.”
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: an open, unowned generic noun/verb for a core commercial activity, sold to any business that self-identifies by that function, so it only works if a broad B2B population will re-badge their primary identity around a trade-function word rather than their own brand.
Same commercial-activity generic in gerund form aimed at firms whose business IS the transaction, but its pull skews toward financial trading rather than the goods-movement buyer .export depends on, narrowing the identity pool.
Also a B2B supply-chain function word with no natural single owner, betting that companies in the goods-flow business will adopt the function as their name; it differs in that supply reads as a service offered while export reads as a regulated cross-border activity with a narrower registrant base.
What a .export domain is
.export is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Commerce. Nobody is chasing .export today. The applicants that claimed it are out.
Is the .export domain extension real yet?
.export is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .export domain?
You can’t yet. A .export name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .export was .trade, delegated on 19 March 2014.
Is .export a real TLD?
Not yet. .export is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because an applicant claimed .export and is no longer in it. We keep the entry, and every entry on this page links to its source.
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
“.export · Trade & Logistics · “Goods made in China, sold to the world.””Journey To The West Corporation
- I place .export in the 10-29 band (vanity/narrow): 'export' names a business function, not a brand, and trading companies overwhelmingly anchor identity on their company name under legacy TLDs, so primary-identity use should stay rare. It is not in the 30-49 band because, by analogy to keyword trade TLDs like .trade — which drew mostly price-driven, low-retention registrations and a thin aftermarket — I see no path to sustained volume or brand signal even at discount pricing; it is above the 1-9 band because a real, identifiable buyer pool (cross-border sellers and trade intermediaries, notably the China-to-world merchant base the applicant's catalog targets) exists and would register some names for campaign or storefront use. The applicant is one of 323 strings in a published portfolio, which by analogy to past portfolio applicants suggests broad registrar distribution rather than deep single-TLD marketing investment. My main market uncertainty: whether China's cross-border e-commerce merchant ecosystem would adopt an English-keyword TLD as storefront identity at meaningful volume, since those sellers mostly live inside marketplace platforms rather than on their own domains.