# Selling a non-English TLD: who buys it and how the sale runs > For holders of a TLD in a language other than English, or in a non-Latin script: the logical buyers, the argument that works, and what sets this sale apart. Source: https://hush.partners/selling-non-english-tld Category: Selling Published by Hush Partners. --- A TLD in Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, or any other language that is not English sits in a different commercial category from an English-language TLD. The pool of buyers who would naturally want it is smaller. The buyers who are in that pool, however, want it for a precise reason, and they judge it on that precision in a way a broader audience would not. This article is for the holder of such a TLD who wants to understand what kind of organization would buy it, what argument moves them, and what practical differences arise when running the sale. The general mechanics of a sale (mandate, valuation, approach, negotiation, escrow and transfer) are set out in the stages of a file on the page that explains [how it works](/how-it-works). Here the focus stays on what is particular to a non-English or non-Latin TLD. By the end you will be able to map the likely buyers, prepare the right materials, and avoid the mistakes that most often slow or end this kind of transaction. ## What makes a non-English TLD its own category On a registry such as Freename, your TLD exists as a token, and the wallet that holds the token is the one that can issue names under it. The string itself, meaning the characters after the dot, may be a word in a language other than English written in Latin letters, or a word written in another script altogether: Arabic, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Han and others. In the ICANN DNS, a domain in a non-Latin script is called an internationalized domain name, and it is stored in an encoded Latin form that software converts back for display. How an onchain registry stores and compares such a string is a matter for that registry's own documentation, and it is worth reading before a sale. The category distinction that matters commercially is this: a non-English TLD derives its value from linguistic specificity and not from universal legibility. An English sector word such as `.yoursector` can be read by anyone who uses the Latin alphabet. The same sector word in Cyrillic or Arabic is immediately legible only to people who read that script, and the value proposition changes accordingly. This is the first and most important difference from a [trademark TLD](/trademark-tlds). A trademark TLD matches the name of one organization, and the logical buyer is the owner of that mark. A non-English TLD is a word of the language, and it belongs to no single organization: its logical buyers are the organizations that serve the people who read and write that language. The two cases can overlap, when a brand name is also an ordinary word in another language, but they are distinct cases with distinct sets of buyers. If your string matches a mark as well as a common word, treat it first as a trademark question and take advice from your own counsel. There are in fact two sub-types, and they do not sell the same way. A non-English word in Latin letters travels fairly well: it can be typed on any keyboard and read, if not understood, by anyone. A word in a non-Latin script is closed to people who do not read the script, which makes it both narrower and more distinctive. The rest of this article applies to both, and says so where the script changes the answer. ## A smaller pool of buyers who value it more The natural buyer for a non-English TLD is an organization that works in the language in question as a primary or strategic channel, and not occasionally. That organization already understands the linguistic market. It does not need to be convinced that the language matters. It needs to be convinced that this TLD is the right instrument for what it wants to do. The pool is smaller because the TLD is irrelevant to any organization that does not engage with that language community. An English sector word can interest organizations in many countries. The same concept in a language spoken by one regional population interests only those who serve that population. This is a structural feature and not a flaw, because it concentrates the interest. The buyers who belong in the pool are not comparing your TLD with the whole namespace. They are looking for the specific word, in the specific script, that their audience uses. You can form a first view of the pool yourself, before approaching anyone. Write down the sectors in which the word is used in ordinary speech, then the kinds of organization in each sector that address the public in that language. A short list that keeps returning to the same two or three kinds of organization tells you the pool is concentrated, and that the sale will be a small number of careful conversations. A long list of small candidates tells you the opposite: many possible buyers, each with a modest reason. The two situations call for different expectations on price and on time, and a [private valuation](/private-valuation) request is the place to test your reading against a second opinion. ### The four types of buyer and what drives them The table below describes the four types of organization most likely to acquire a non-English or non-Latin script TLD, what each one is trying to achieve, and how they tend to move once a conversation starts. | Who buys a non-English TLD | What it wants from the word | How quickly it tends to move | |---|---|---| | Regional media or content platform | A namespace in the language of its audience | Moderate; depends on internal sign-off | | Brand or retailer entering a new language market | A native-language identity for a market entry | Faster when its own launch date is fixed | | Payment or fintech operator | Names its users can read and type in their own script | Slow; legal and compliance review adds time | | Namespace investor or operator | A naming business in one linguistic segment | Variable; quick on conviction, slow on due diligence | Each type requires a different opening argument, and each is sensitive to a different risk. A media platform cares about audience recognition. A brand entering a new market cares about how the word will sit next to its own name in that language. A payment operator cares about whether names under the TLD resolve in the wallets its users hold. A namespace investor cares about realistic demand for names, and will test any projection you give. An [operator](/operators), meaning someone who runs a market TLD as a namespace and issues names to third parties, will grasp the opportunity faster if it already works in that linguistic market. If your TLD sits in a language where you know of no one running such a namespace, say so in the opening materials as an observation, and let the buyer draw its own conclusion. ## The markets where the word is the natural one The commercial case for a non-English TLD rests on the same foundation as any sector TLD: the string has to be the word a community naturally reaches for. The difference is that linguistic communities are concentrated, by geography or by diaspora, in a way that the audience of an English sector word is not. This concentration cuts two ways. It narrows the buyer pool. It also means that a buyer who is already committed to that community has few substitutes: a Latin-alphabet approximation does not serve the same audience as well. Test the word before you rely on it. Many languages have several words for one sector, a formal one and an everyday one, or different words in different countries that share the language. A word that is natural in one country can sound foreign, old-fashioned or even comic in another. Ask native speakers from each market you intend to name in your materials, and record what they say. A buyer from that market will know within seconds whether the word is the one people use, and no document repairs a word that is slightly off. The case, where the word passes that test, is built around fit. The word in that script is the word those users type. It is the form their contacts will recognize and remember. A transliteration, meaning the same word spelled out in the letters of another alphabet, carries the sound and loses the familiarity. This is where the comparison with the traditional DNS has to be made honestly. In the ICANN DNS, top-level domains in non-Latin scripts exist and open in standard browsers, because they sit inside the ICANN root. An onchain TLD in a non-Latin script does not have that reach, and for a buyer whose only need is a website that opens everywhere in its own script, the DNS is simply the better tool. A serious buyer will raise the point. The answer requires care, and it is the subject of the next section. ## Script and resolution: what wallets and browsers actually do This is the part that sellers of non-Latin TLDs most often get wrong, and getting it wrong damages trust with technically literate buyers. Start with the general limit. An onchain name is not part of the ICANN DNS root, so a standard browser needs added support before it can open one. For Freename names, that support exists in Bitcoin.com Wallet, in MetaMask by way of Freename's resolver, and on desktop browsers that have the Freename Web3 extension installed. The coverage is partial and it changes over time. No seller should promise universal browser or wallet resolution, and no buyer should accept such a promise. For a non-Latin script TLD, the question has two more layers. The first is input. A user who wants to type `name.yoursector` in Arabic or Devanagari needs a keyboard that produces those characters, which is normally the case on a device set up for that language. The second is handling: the wallet or browser has to accept the native-script string, display it correctly (including right-to-left scripts) and resolve it. Do not assume that support for a registry's names means identical behavior for every script. Test your own TLD, with a name issued under it, in each supported wallet and browser, and write down exactly what happened. ### Transliteration is a separate asset A buyer may ask why you do not also hold the Latin-alphabet version of the same word, to cover users who type in Latin letters. It is a reasonable question, but the Latin version is a separate asset. The Latin version and the native-script version are not the same namespace. They have different audiences and different demand, and each should be valued on its own. Transliteration is also rarely unique. Many languages have more than one accepted way to write a word in Latin letters, so there may be several Latin candidates and no obvious winner. A buyer who wants a Latin form as well should acquire it as a distinct transaction. Folding the two into one negotiation usually blurs what is being priced. Put the results of your tests in writing: which wallets and browsers resolve names under this TLD, under what conditions, and what the buyer would need to do to reach its own users. A buyer's technical team will check every line, so write only what you observed. ## Finding the right intermediary: culture and language Most of the mistakes in selling a non-English TLD happen at the approach stage, not in the terms. An approach in the wrong language, addressed to the wrong function within an organization, or framed in a way that does not match the buyer's commercial culture, will be set aside before the substance is read. The right intermediary for this kind of sale understands three things: the onchain namespace market, the commercial culture of the language community in question, and the way the type of organization being approached makes decisions. These three rarely coexist in one person. A specialist in onchain TLDs who does not speak the language, or who has never seen how organizations in that market decide on an acquisition, will struggle with the approach. This is a reason to choose an intermediary carefully, not a reason to do without one. In practice the three kinds of knowledge are often assembled: a desk that knows how a TLD is valued and transferred, working with someone who reads and writes the language natively and knows the forms of address, the degree of formality and the order in which things are said in a first letter. Ask any intermediary plainly which of the three it covers itself and how it covers the others. A translated pitch document is not an answer. Decide early who signs the first note and in which language it is written. A note in the buyer's language shows respect and competence, provided the language is flawless: a first letter with errors of register does more harm than a clear letter in English that explains why it is in English. Decide also in which language the later exchanges will run, because a negotiation that changes language halfway loses precision at the worst moment. For cross-border sales in particular, the governing law and the language of the transaction documents are practical questions and not formalities. Expectations about representations, warranties and closing mechanics differ from one legal tradition to another, and the rules vary by country. This is for each party's own counsel to resolve. It is raised here so that you account for it in the timeline. ## Fit with the language works, projected volume backfires The argument that works with a strategic buyer is fit: this is the word its audience uses, in the script its audience reads, and the TLD lets it issue names in that form under its own control. State it as a fact about the language and the audience, and support it with what you tested. That argument is strong where it is true, because the buyer can verify it without you. A media organization or a regional payment company that has been thinking about its native-script identity does not need to be taught the value of the word. It needs to see that this TLD is the right asset and that the seller is a credible counterparty. Keep the claim within its limits. Your TLD is the string on the registry where it is recorded. It is not the same string in the ICANN DNS, and it is not the same string on another onchain registry. A buyer's adviser will know this, and a seller who says "the only one anywhere" loses credibility on everything else. Say what the TLD is, where it is recorded and where its names resolve, and stop there. For the same reason, do not present the sale as a closing window or mention other interested parties to hurry a decision. In a small pool, where the organizations often know one another, that kind of pressure travels and it ends conversations. The argument that backfires is the speculative volume argument: the claim that very large numbers of users will register names under this TLD, that the registration fees will produce income for the buyer, and that the TLD is therefore worth far more than its strategic use. A buyer in this category is buying control of a namespace before it is buying an income. The royalty program is real and belongs in the file: Freename pays the holder of a TLD part of every registration fee for names registered under it, a part advertised at up to half and dependent on the registry's current terms and on activation conditions. It is supporting information, and it is not free income either: taking part in the program carries an annual cost set by the registry, which a buyer deducts from any figure you show. When a projection built on it becomes the headline, a careful buyer concludes that the seller has no strategic case to make. ## What weakens the asset before the sale Several things reduce a buyer's interest or shorten the list of buyers willing to proceed at all. **No name ever issued.** A TLD under which no name has ever been issued is harder to assess than one with even modest activity. For a non-Latin TLD, it also means nothing shows how the script behaves in the supported wallets. Issuing a small number of names for your own use before the sale gives you something real to test and to show. **Royalty terms left unread.** If you intend to mention the royalty program, read the registry's current terms and activation conditions first, and say plainly whether the program is active for your TLD. Check also what taking part costs each year, since the registry sets an annual cost for the program; if your TLD was registered under earlier terms that include the program for life, whether those terms pass to a buyer is a point to confirm with the registry before closing. A buyer who finds out later that a condition was not met will reread the rest of your file with less confidence. **Mixed scripts.** A TLD whose string mixes characters from more than one script, Arabic with Latin for example, raises the question of which audience it serves, and it may not be handled the same way everywhere. A clean, single-script string is materially stronger. **An unexplained relationship with the Latin form.** If a Latin-alphabet version of the same word is in use as a namespace, a buyer will ask how the two relate. You do not need to hold both, but you should be able to describe the situation clearly and honestly, including what you do not know. **A wallet you have not checked.** Closing runs through onchain escrow on an aftermarket, and the mechanics are described on the [escrow and transfer](/escrow-and-transfer) page. A seller who has not confirmed which wallet holds the token, who controls that wallet, and that the token can be moved, brings an avoidable risk to the closing. Check this before the first approach, not during the last week. **A word with a second meaning.** A word that is neutral in one country and carries a political, religious or vulgar sense in another is a real weakness for a buyer that operates in both. You cannot remove it, but you can find it before the buyer does and state the markets where the word is safe. ## How long this kind of sale takes A non-English or non-Latin TLD sale usually takes longer than the sale of a comparable English-language TLD. The reasons are structural. First, the buyer pool is smaller, so building a qualified list takes more work per name on it. Second, working in two languages adds time to every exchange: drafting, review by a native reader, and translation of whatever the buyer's counsel needs in its own language. Third, the buyers most likely to acquire this kind of asset, such as regional operators and brands entering a new market, tend to pass the decision through several functions. A naming decision in a new language often involves the local team, the brand team at headquarters and legal, and they do not always agree on the word. The pace is set by three factors: how quickly you can produce materials that are credible to a buyer in that market, how well the approach reaches the person who actually decides, and whether the buyer has a fixed date of its own, such as a product launch or a market entry. That last factor belongs to the buyer. You can ask about it, and plan around it, but you cannot create it and should not try to. Where it exists, the file moves at the buyer's speed. Where it does not, plan for a long process and avoid reading silence as refusal: in many commercial cultures a slow answer is a sign that the question is being taken seriously. No figure is given here for the duration, because none would be honest. The sound approach is to hold the asset in a state where it costs you nothing to wait. On Freename a TLD carries no annual renewal fee, which removes the usual cost of patience; the one recurring cost to watch while you wait is the annual cost of the royalty program, if you take part in it. ## What to prepare before the first approach The materials that support a non-English TLD sale differ in emphasis from those for a trademark TLD or an English sector TLD. The emphasis falls on the language and the market, not on brand recognition or reach across sectors. **A clean technical summary.** Record the script, the exact characters of the string, the registry record, the results of your resolution tests in the supported wallets and browsers, and any names already issued under the TLD. A buyer's technical team will ask for this. Having it ready avoids a delay of days or weeks. The free [TLD Readiness Score](/tld-readiness-score) on this site scores how ready a TLD is to be sold, and it is a quick way to see what is missing. **A market context memo.** This is a short document, neither a prospectus nor a pitch, that describes the language community the TLD serves, the sectors where the word is most used, and the kinds of organization active in those sectors. It contains no number you cannot source. It needs to be accurate, and it needs to exist in the buyer's language, written or reviewed by a native reader. **A clear ownership record.** Ownership is a matter of public record at the registry, and a buyer can look it up on a block explorer without asking you for anything. Give the reference in your summary so that the first due diligence question answers itself. For a non-Latin TLD, confirm that the string in the registry record is made of exactly the characters you intend: two characters can look the same to the eye and be different to software. **Legal readiness.** Your preferred governing law, the form of the transfer agreement and the language of the closing documents should be thought through before a buyer is approached, not after. In a cross-border sale with a counterparty that works in another language, these points carry more weight than in a domestic transaction. Your counsel decides, and you should have a position ready. **A realistic view of value.** Without comparables to cite, value comes from the buyer's use: how central the word is to its market and what it would do with the namespace. The page on [how a valuation is built](/valuation) explains the method. Prepare your reasoning in that form, and expect a buyer to reason the same way. ## The next step for a holder If the word has passed the test with native speakers and the technical summary is written, you are ready to decide how the approach will be made. A holder can make it alone, where it has the language and the standing in that market. A holder can also mandate a desk. Under a [sell-side mandate](/sell-side-mandates), Hush Partners looks for a buyer on the holder's behalf and does not name the seller of the TLD. From the first note in the buyer's language to the closing, the file stays with one named partner, and that closing takes place through onchain escrow on an aftermarket. The fee is a fixed amount charged to the holder who gives the mandate, and never a percentage. The private valuation form mentioned earlier is a way to start before deciding on a mandate. Whichever route you take, do the language work before anything else. It is the part of this sale that cannot be delegated entirely, and the part a buyer notices first. ## Questions people ask ### Does a non-Latin TLD need to be transliterated for use in a wallet? Not in principle: where a wallet or resolver supports the registry and handles the script, it works with the native-script string. In practice, support differs from one product to another and changes over time, so the only reliable answer for your TLD is the one your own tests give. Put that answer in the technical summary. ### Can the buyer issue names under the TLD in a different script from the TLD itself? That depends on what the registry accepts for names, so check its documentation before you answer a buyer. Where it is possible, whether it is sensible is a product question: a name that mixes two scripts on either side of the dot is harder to type and easier to confuse. ### Is a non-Latin TLD exposed to look-alike strings? The ownership model is the same in every script: the wallet that holds the token controls the TLD and the issue of names under it. The UDRP, the dispute policy that binds registrars of ICANN domains, does not extend to onchain TLDs. What differs in non-Latin scripts is the risk of a closely similar string, because characters from different scripts can look alike. This is a known issue with internationalized names in general. A buyer's legal team will ask how the registry treats such strings, and the honest reply is to point to the registry's own rules. ### How does confidentiality work in a cross-border sale? For a sale through the desk, in the same way as for any other file: the [standard mutual NDA](/nda) applies to all exchanges, and the desk does not name the seller of a TLD. Where the buyer sits in a country with different rules or habits on confidentiality, each party's counsel should read the NDA with that in mind before anything is exchanged.