Registration fees going up for .com and .net - geek/talk: Signature-free discourse for serious web publishers

**Larwee** · 04-11-2008, 07:07 PM

Very late in the year of 2006, ICANN gave VeriSign a monopoly with the .com and .net domains. For the second consecutive year VeriSign is raising the price registrars must pay them for .com and .net domains.

The .com fee will increase by 44 cents and the .net fee will increase by 38 cents, effective on October 1, 2008. Those increases are the 7 percent maximum allowed. It is expected that registrars will pass the price increase on to customers.

The VeriSign contract ends in 2012 and there is every reason to believe that they will continue the 7 percent annual increases.

Under the agreement VeriSign has with ICANN, VeriSign must give six months advance notice of a price increase.

Here are a few articles about the increase:

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_VeriS...ins_15719.html

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-in-a-row.html

AdamAGB · 04-12-2008, 01:34 AM

It's pretty upsetting that VeriSign has a monopoly and can increase prices without justification, especially as bandwidth/internet costs decline.

However, to play devil's advocate, more expensive domain names mean fewer squatters. I think the big problem with domain names isn't cost, it's that so many great names are sitting around, never to be used, because they're practically free to grab. So cheap that if they have even a few visitors/day of type-in traffic, the owners can break even off Adsense.

Daisy · 04-12-2008, 11:13 AM

I just recently found about VeriSigns monopoly. I wonder what possesed ICANN to make such a move? One of my registrars already increased the prices on his own and of course there will be a further increase from October; I now pay $8.99 for a .com as opposed to $6.99 a couple of months ago. I am currently removing all my (+/-200) domains from this registrar. Although I am not a big player, I feel that should be the only response.

nixwebo · 04-13-2008, 03:19 PM

It still amazes me that network solutions www.netsol.com can still get 34.95 for a .com for 1 year. Doesn't make a difference how much it actually costs a registrar if people will still pay crazy prices like this..

**Larwee** · 04-13-2008, 04:40 PM

I remember way back in 1995 when I registered my first domain name it was with Network Solutions because they were the only choice people had then and it remained that way for a while.

Eventually there was competition and many people went with those other choices. I know I long ago stopped dealing with them. However a lot of people who registered with them continue to renew with them and in some cases it is because there are some people who don't want to bother with trying to transfer to another registrar.

There are also some people who want to think that they are getting more because they are paying a higher price.

There are millions upon millions of people who do not use them. Their registrars with competitive prices that are much lower are going to be paying higher fees and many of them are going to pass those higher fees along to their customers. Therefore it is going to make a difference to millions of people around the world.

04-11-2008, 07:07 PM	#1
Larwee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: St. Louis, Missouri USA Posts: 3,015	Registration fees going up for .com and .net Very late in the year of 2006, ICANN gave VeriSign a monopoly with the .com and .net domains. For the second consecutive year VeriSign is raising the price registrars must pay them for .com and .net domains. The .com fee will increase by 44 cents and the .net fee will increase by 38 cents, effective on October 1, 2008. Those increases are the 7 percent maximum allowed. It is expected that registrars will pass the price increase on to customers. The VeriSign contract ends in 2012 and there is every reason to believe that they will continue the 7 percent annual increases. Under the agreement VeriSign has with ICANN, VeriSign must give six months advance notice of a price increase. Here are a few articles about the increase: http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_VeriS...ins_15719.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...-in-a-row.html

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04-12-2008, 01:34 AM	#2
AdamAGB Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 13	It's pretty upsetting that VeriSign has a monopoly and can increase prices without justification, especially as bandwidth/internet costs decline. However, to play devil's advocate, more expensive domain names mean fewer squatters. I think the big problem with domain names isn't cost, it's that so many great names are sitting around, never to be used, because they're practically free to grab. So cheap that if they have even a few visitors/day of type-in traffic, the owners can break even off Adsense.

04-12-2008, 11:13 AM	#3
Daisy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 24	I just recently found about VeriSigns monopoly. I wonder what possesed ICANN to make such a move? One of my registrars already increased the prices on his own and of course there will be a further increase from October; I now pay $8.99 for a .com as opposed to $6.99 a couple of months ago. I am currently removing all my (+/-200) domains from this registrar. Although I am not a big player, I feel that should be the only response.

04-13-2008, 03:19 PM	#4
nixwebo Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 77	It still amazes me that network solutions www.netsol.com can still get 34.95 for a .com for 1 year. Doesn't make a difference how much it actually costs a registrar if people will still pay crazy prices like this..

04-13-2008, 04:40 PM	#5
Larwee Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: St. Louis, Missouri USA Posts: 3,015	I remember way back in 1995 when I registered my first domain name it was with Network Solutions because they were the only choice people had then and it remained that way for a while. Eventually there was competition and many people went with those other choices. I know I long ago stopped dealing with them. However a lot of people who registered with them continue to renew with them and in some cases it is because there are some people who don't want to bother with trying to transfer to another registrar. There are also some people who want to think that they are getting more because they are paying a higher price. There are millions upon millions of people who do not use them. Their registrars with competitive prices that are much lower are going to be paying higher fees and many of them are going to pass those higher fees along to their customers. Therefore it is going to make a difference to millions of people around the world.