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    • .sc

    Country-code top-level domainsIDNDNSSEC

    Overview

    .sc is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to Seychelles. Managed by VCS (Pty) Limited, it is used by entities connected with Seychelles but is also available internationally and has been used for domain hacks and region-targeted marketing.

    History

    • Introduced: 9 May 1997.
    • Registry / Sponsor: VCS (Pty) Limited (operates the nic.sc registry).
    • Technical/policy details listed by the registry include DNSSEC support and use of the UDRP for dispute resolution.
    • The extension was at times marketed to audiences in Scotland and the U.S. state of South Carolina; a company called SCregistrars targeted Scottish sites but has since closed.
    • .sc registrations are available via the Afilias Global platform and various international registrars for second-level registrations.

    Usage and Audience

    • Primary intended use: entities connected with Seychelles.
    • Actual use: a mix of sites — some related to Seychelles and others unrelated.
    • Also used for domain hacks and branding that leverage the letters "SC".

    Registration Rules

    • Registration structure:

      • Registrations are accepted directly at the second level (example: example.sc) or at third level beneath designated second-level labels (see list below).
      • Common third-level zones and intended uses:
        • com.sc — commercial, for-profit organisations
        • net.sc — network infrastructure and service providers
        • edu.sc — educational institutions
        • gov.sc — governmental institutions
        • org.sc — non-profit or miscellaneous organisations

    • Eligibility and restrictions:

      • Priority is given to Seychelles-based entities; third-level registrations may have varying restrictions.
      • Names that include trademarks of others or words not permitted in business names are not registered unless the applicant is legally entitled to use them.
      • Offensive, obscene, confusing, or grossly misleading names are not accepted.

    • Allowed characters and formatting:

      • Recommended short names (no more than 10 characters is recommended).
      • Permitted characters: letters a–z, digits 0–9, and the dash (-).
      • Names must not begin or end with a dash, and must not consist of a single character.
      • Hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants are treated as separate names (e.g., abc-def.sc vs abcdef.sc).

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • .sc is a country-code TLD for Seychelles; domains are subject to Seychelles registry rules regardless of any third-party marketing.
    • The extension has been marketed to sectors outside Seychelles (notably Scotland and South Carolina), and it has seen use for domain hacks, which can be used for concise branding (example: SoundCloud's use of "SC").
    • No specific search-engine ranking behavior or trustworthiness statements are provided by the registry documentation included here.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • SoundCloud used .sc for domain hacks (for example, exit.sc was used to track traffic leaving its site).
    • SCregistrars was a company that marketed .sc to Scottish sites; that company has since closed.

    Operator

    VCS Pty Ltd

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       SC

organisation: VCS Pty Ltd
address:      P.O. Box 1000
address:      Victoria Mahe
address:      Seychelles

contact:      administrative
name:         Arnold A. Chetty
organisation: VCS Pty Ltd
address:      P.O. Box 1000
address:      Victoria Mahe
address:      Seychelles
phone:        +248 2521188
fax-no:       +248 4324056
e-mail:       arnold.chetty@gmail.com

contact:      technical
name:         Marc Houareau
organisation: VCS Pty Ltd
address:      P.O. Box 1000
address:      Victoria Mahe
address:      Seychelles
phone:        +248 2513532
fax-no:       +248 4324056
e-mail:       marchouareau@gmail.com

nserver:      A0.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.INFO 199.254.59.1 2001:500:25:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      A2.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.INFO 199.249.116.1 2001:500:44:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      B0.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.ORG 199.254.60.1 2001:500:26:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      B2.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.ORG 199.249.124.1 2001:500:4c:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      C0.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.INFO 199.254.61.1 2001:500:27:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      D0.CCTLD.AFILIAS-NST.ORG 199.254.62.1 2001:500:28:0:0:0:0:1
nserver:      NS1.NIC.SC 41.86.57.54
ds-rdata:     2539 8 2 8293fa3ac08be770a400dde4f250dc6bf1046f34430be12e65c15bf2f482b26c

whois:        whois.nic.sc

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.sc

created:      1997-05-09
changed:      2024-04-29
source:       IANA

    Registrars