I’m Mostapha. I buy and sell names from Morocco. I have registered a .ma because the .com was taken, then tried to sell the .ma to a buyer in the United States. They typed the .com and left. A country code is the door locals already know. It is not a consolation prize. The .ae version of this argument is already written: when a .ae name is the right buy. This page is the rest of the map, including .ma, which is the one I actually live next to.
Who types it without thinking
A bakery in Casablanca. A lawyer in Rabat. A school that puts the name on a gate. They expect .ma. The registry side of that habit is registre.ma (ANRT). A shop in Dubai expects .ae. A German insurer expects .de DENIC is the operator, not a trend report. The full list of endings is IANA’s root zone database, not a blog’s “top ccTLDs 2026.”
If you cannot name the city and the buyer, you are collecting suffixes. The checker still reads the letters first: Domain Value Checker. How we score. A stuffed phrase on .ma is still a leftover. Extension choice, when the buyer already has a habit: what they already type.
Paste the string with the ending you mean. riyadhhomes.ae can be a local product. best-ai-tools-online.com does not become one by moving the junk to .ma. Three pastes on .com: live valuations.
What I will hold, and what I will not
- .ma only if the buyer is in Morocco and would print it. I do not stockpile .ma “because I live here.”
- .ae same rule, different country. That page already says it. Do not buy it as a cheap .com.
- .de / .uk / .fr same test. Nominet’s .uk is a market, not a coupon. If you have no buyer in that country, you are a tourist.
- .io, .ai, and new gTLDs a bet on a club, not a country product. Already said: a new extension is a bet.
Rules differ. Some ccTLDs want a local presence, a company, or a trustee. Read the registry before you bid, not after the invoice. WHOIS still tells you who holds it: ICANN Lookup (coverage is uneven on ccTLDs; the registry’s own lookup is the second door).
Pricing without a fairy tale
There is no Voice.com of .ma. Comps are thinner. NameBio filtered to that ending, or nothing how to read a comp. A thin tape means you are guessing. Guess small. Wholesale to another investor in that country is the floor. Retail is a company you can name: two rooms.
History and marks do not vanish because the ending is local. Snapshots: history first. A local brand collision is still a complaint: UDRP plus the country’s own mark office. Renew only if you would buy it today: drop vs renew.
Decision
Name the city. If you cannot, do not register the country code. If you can, score the letters, check the registry’s rules, then one ask. A ccTLD is a neighborhood. It is not a discount bin for the .com you lost. Keep the Google row.