discuss Call out to all Registry and Registrar Representatives...Where are you on this forum???

[brindle123]

This is a call out to all Registry representatives to show yourselves on this forum and help us domainers with the problems and issues we have with the registries.

If there are any reps from the registries that are regulars on this forum or pop in from time to time, we need your help to clear up some pricing problems that we see as a hindrance to the industry.

It seems like there is disconnect between the registry, registrar, and the registrant.

If there is a price change, is that being relayed from the registry all the way down to the registrant?

Can or will registries change domain pricing from non-premium to premium pricing?

Can registrants renew at the current renewal rates if given notice? Is at least a 30 day notice being given to domain registrants prior to any pricing changes?

I welcome all Registry and Registrar reps to participate in this thread and discussion. Please help us. This will only help your business too! All domainers are also encouraged to discuss these questions that I posed to the registries and registrars. Let's clear up the grey areas.

 

[eenmakkie]

I would like to know more about this issue that Michael had. I read all the other comments and nothing more was really said about the outcome. It started out with 20 domains for him then he found 5 more that were premium. I would like Mind&Machines to come on here and give their side of the story. I know Michael covered most of it in the blog though.

I would also like to know if there is anything in the contract with the registries and ICANN that covers non-premium to premium changes, if there is anything in the contract at all that covers that issue.

The point about Michael just sitting on the domains doesn't fly, because there are 1000's of gtld domains held back by the registries that are not developed. Keeping them priced at $55,000 per year will keep them sitting on the shelf too! I would be very worried about buying a domain for $55,000 per year if the renewal could go up to $75,000 without any notice. Even with notice, if you own a domain with $55,000 renewal fees, and you want to beat a price hike and register it for 10yrs, you would have to come up with $550,000 before the price hike.

These are some major worries that people have about the new gtlds and the registries pricing on them. If I buy a gtld for $20 and the renewal goes up to $30, where could a $55,000 domain renewal go to? I think that could be scaring off investors and developers from the new gtld market.

Plus as a seller and buyer within the aftermarket, I need to know the renewal price on every single domain that has variable pricing within each gtld. Not having a standard renewal fee for a gtld is a huge problem for the aftermarket! All these problems need to be worked out by the registry, registrar, and registrants or the new gtlds will fail or take forever to come into favor with the general public.

I wanted to buy a domain in the aftermarket last month, but didn't know if it had a "premium" renewal pricing attached to it. That got me thinking about what a huge issue this is for the aftermarket. Gtlds with regular renewal pricing across the board don't have this problem. I couldn't contact the buyer due to the private whois. Plus that would go against my strategy of showing interest in the domain. There was nothing in the description about the renewal costs either. I couldn't ask the seller a question on the aftermarket site without first putting in an offer. The domain had a minimum offer amount of only $100, but could have had a $500 a year renewal fee. I got frustrated and decided not to pursue the domain.
Moral of that story is I lost a domain, the seller lost a sale, the aftermarket site, lost a sale, and the registry looks bad for having crazy pricing structures for different domains within a gtld.

I'm used to weird things in the market, but if the general public gets surprised by irregular pricing within a gltd, then they will lose faith in the gtld market, domainers, and registries/registrars.

I'm just trying to point out problems that I've already seen with the roll-out of the new gtlds. There are some really good gtlds and there are some horrible ones. The pricing structures, policies, and renewal pricing really needs to be looked at and discussed between all of us or we will all be having some serious problems soon.

So let's work out the kinks without getting personal. Let's point out the problems and concerns we have so that the registries and registrars can fix things so we all can make some money and keep this industry moving forward.

Thanks for your hard work, I want the same questions answered. Registry and registrar offering me help because of the threat is not what I am looking for. I have to many domains, and each new year the same can happen. They won't help in the future. I want the knowledge to know it as first and not as last sitting on a bunch of domains renewing them each year for thousands of dollars but nobody that want to buy them anymore.
Don't forget, there is a sort of gambling strategy, a loser changing his investment and doesn't want to cut losses. Same goes with the renewals each year. What gets stronger how longer you keep renewing the same domain.
A domain name one is asking 5000 or 10000$ as sale price with suddenly a renewal rate of 500$ and the risk of even higher will not be worth that much anymore. At max 1500$ why taking the risk of renewing it and not finding a buyer....

I thank you for asking the right questions, now we need to find they answer them to. But if what we think is the truth, they will not answer and just shifting the focus on helping a poor guy or telling it was a software glitch or a support guy that didn't know what he was telling. But I am afraid he did tell how it exactly is.
And we might been looking at a crash in this market in the future if this news gets out to much.

 

[brindle123]

and I do dare and challenge that OP bright now to fess up that he is a very close co-hort of that name's seller. and probably gets %.

Calm down. I think you are talking about 4 different things in one thread. Please stick to this threads topics and not rant on about other threads and stuff that no one knows what you are talking about.

Buy real TLDs .COM, .Net etc and your renewals will only increase about $1 annually.

That is a great selling point for dot com.

Renewal prices going higher scares me away from reg'n too many gtlds. If they want their numbers to be high, they need to keep renewal costs down to something realistic and affordable. Selling them for $1 then going up to $30 means people will try to flip them or drop them before renewals come up. People will get tired of having to flip their portfolio every year just to not have to renew them at such a high price, especially compared to dot com renewal fees.

I still see many "premium" domains available. I don't think they are selling as well as the reg thought they would. I was just looking at some .rentals domains. Car.rentals is reserved and not even listed for sale! WTF? Why is it not even listed for sale? Automobile.rentals is for sale for $249.99 and that is not even selling. It's just sitting there and no one wants it for $249.99. You would think a rental company would buy it but nope it's just sitting on the shelf.

The gtld market is flawed and needs work starting with how the registries are pricing them and their renewals.

At least the .ws registry retooled their renewal pricing for the 2L, 3L, and 2N-4N .ws domains. It only took them 10 years to figure it out that no one liked the pricing. Everyone would rather pay upfront for a better domain then different pricing within a gtld.

Any info sent to the registrars for a gtld that namecheap carries would be available via their api. You could write a program to check all your names daily and report any increase in renewal fees or change to premium status.

I wish I could write a program like that. I also wish I didn't have to have a program like that. If you can write that program, there might be some money to be made on it.

I'll take a hit of whatever this guy's on, please and thank you...

I'll take one too! Two if I like it.

 

[SiteMachine]

I wish I could write a program like that. I also wish I didn't have to have a program like that. If you can write that program, there might be some money to be made on it.

I actually just whipped it up, pretty simple. I can create a web interface for it. Tested it out with premiums that are available and not available and also non-premiums available and not. Their api documentation is outdated so it doesn't tell you it returns all that data but it tells you if it is available, if it is premium, and if it is premium what the premium reg price is, premium renewal price, premium restore fee, and premium transfer price.

 

[brindle123]

I actually just whipped it up, pretty simple. I can create a web interface for it. Tested it out with premiums that are available and not available and also non-premiums available and not. Their api documentation is outdated so it doesn't tell you it returns all that data but it tells you if it is available, if it is premium, and if it is premium what the premium reg price is, premium renewal price, premium restore fee, and premium transfer price.

Man you are fast.
Can you let us know if you are checking things and notice anything weird? I'm not sure if you would need to check it everyday though. It would be nice if you could get an alert or some kind of notice if a change occurred.
Thanks

 

[SiteMachine]

I'm not sure if you would need to check it everyday though. It would be nice if you could get an alert or some kind of notice if a change occurred.

I was thinking I'd let people sign up for a couple bucks per month for ~100domains and it would check once a week on a day and time they could select.

 

[ZapNano]

companies will always put the fault by the other. I do not know who did do the increase in price, other that it was real and no error, as the support guy told me that. I asked him many time to check it as it could not be possible and needed to be an error.
Also for sure there are laws protecting my purchase.
But it seems I did not bought anything, I am just renting a domain name. As you rent a flat or house.
After the contract, the owner can increase the rates as he wishes. Some laws do protect you for certain times. But once finished those times, it is out the house or pay what I tell you to pay.

At times of registering the many new TLD's, I have seen big price differences between registrars. What only tells that some registrars are slower as others by adapting the rates.

The most important of all this for all is: can it happen again? Not will they do it, NO, can they do it?

If they can by law and they are short of cash in the future when the next .newTLD crash comes, then they will use all tricks to find money if it is legal. I don't want to wait for that if it is legally possible.

I don't think you can compared domain property to land and houses properties. Real estate are real properties. Domains properties are more risky investments than houses and land. You can put a price tag on a domain; however, it's not guarantee you can sell that domain at that price you are wishing. Registrars, registries or icann, whoever decided to adopt this kind of business model. Analizing: using prediction, such as this item is going to be hot; so we should raise the price for this item. Comparisons: Sales data of domains that were sold at high prices from 10-15 years ago; it is called that was before. And I don't believed that kind of sales is going to repeat. This is because of the tons of new TDN being produced. There is much choice now than before.
So therefore, this kind of business model is unreasonable and it is not fair.
Note: even if you have a so called rare domain or one of a kind; you know, I know and everyone knows; that it is not guarantee you can sell that domain at that price you think and predict. But instead you called a name a premium or high price piece. To get your share first, before a domain can even be sold. Or if ever get sold..
Just my opinion..

 

[robaireg]

quote- Calm down. I think you are talking about 4 different things in one thread.​

HA you are correct, I haven't logged in until today and missed this thread entirely. and good work on that one .

 

[robaireg]

There are 4 different prices for .horse listed on his blog. When he goes to sell those, he has to list the different pricing for each one.

dang. dot-horse seemed to have such functionality.
and then .... dot-car came along !!! ruined everything.

 

[robaireg]

I don't think you can compared domain property to land and houses properties.

I should say not. for one thing, land and house lets you sleep dry and out of the rain but with domain you get wet and windy. other things also.

 

[ZapNano]

I should say not. for one thing, land and house lets you sleep dry and out of the rain but with domain you get wet and windy. other things also.

Standar uses vs expanded uses.

 

[SiteMachine]

I should say not. for one thing, land and house lets you sleep dry and out of the rain but with domain you get wet and windy. other things also.

You cry about the rules applying differently to you yet you TRIPLE post just to get this gem in.

What wisdom

I see the meth hasn't worn off yet from last night.

 

[brindle123]

Still waiting on the registries to come on and say they "CAN'T" change domains to premium status!

I'm pretty sure they won't say that they can't.
Just because a registry says they have no plans to do it, doesn't mean that they can't do it.
This is something that needs to be in the contracts between everyone involved.

Does ICANN have a representative on this forum? I don't think I've ever seen a post from an ICANN rep.

Does anyone have a link to the contract agreement between ICANN and the registries. It would be interesting to read thru to try to find whether or not the registries can change a domains status from non-premium to premium since no on will come out and say if it can be done.

The registries not saying that it can't be done makes me think that it can be changed. If it can be changed, then that is one hell of a bombshell that will be the nail in the coffin of new gtlds.

I'm just trying to get to the bottom of things.

 

[Kate]

G Kirikos has raised the issue with icann several times in the past, but that just fell on deaf ears. I think Icann are uninterested in regulating the market, just like they are uninterested in policing rogue registrars like those that spam.
Actually, I am even thinking the organized chaos is set up to justify their existence.

 

[brindle123]

We’re posting to this thread in order to provide information about Rightside’s domain pricing.

We have never moved a registered standard domain to a premium price tier or raised the price of a registered premium domain. This type of activity is not part of our business model and therefore we have no plans to do so now or in the future.

Rightside also maintains a set of high-value premium domains that we call Platinums. These domains are available for negotiated prices. Our Registrar partners handle these domains in different ways. Some of them provide a ‘Make an offer’ option, others show a high retail price (greater than $55,000/yr) and some show them as unavailable. The WHOIS information for these domains will include the following info: “This premium domain is available for purchase. If you would like to make an offer, please contact platinums @rightside.co.”

You joined the forum to make one post?

Registries should be all over this forum helping the people that pay your bills and put money in your pockets.

So can you change a domains status from non-premium to premium???????????

It's great that you at least had the balls to say what you've said so far, but just answer the above question.

We don't care if you don't have plans to do, we want to know if you can make that change!

Put some confidence back into the gtld market. Put this issue to bed.

If it can be done, it will be done. That's what I think.

Show me where it says that a domain can not be changed from non-premium to premium.

 

[davidthornton]

Of course registries can revise how they catagorise an unregistered domain name if they wish. They can also privately sell off unregistered names they've reserved and make names available for registration that they had previously marked as reserved.

If registries ever selectively tried to increase the price of already registered domain names, rather than uniformly increase the price of the entire gTLD, they would likely have big problems. I don't believe this would ever be permissible. On what basis could it be justified by any registry?

Obviously if a hypothetical uniform increase were very significant, such as 500%, it might kill interest in the respective gTLD to almost all registrants, both existing and prospective. I do not believe a registry would get away with doing that either because such an increase would probably be considered excessive and unfair.

 

[davidthornton]

2.10 Pricing for Registry Services. (available from page 5 of this link)

(a) With respect to initial domain name registrations, Registry Operator shall provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry- registrar agreement for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars, unless such refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs are of a limited duration that is clearly and conspicuously disclosed to the registrar when offered) of no less than thirty (30) calendar days. Registry Operator shall offer registrars the option to obtain initial domain name registrations for periods of one (1) to ten (10) years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten (10) years.

(b) With respect to renewal of domain name registrations, Registry Operator shall provide ICANN and each ICANN accredited registrar that has executed the registry-registrar agreement for the TLD advance written notice of any price increase (including as a result of the elimination of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying, Qualified Marketing Programs or other programs which had the effect of reducing the price charged to registrars) of no less than one hundred eighty (180) calendar days. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, with respect to renewal of domain name registrations: (i) Registry Operator need only provide thirty (30) calendar days notice of any price increase if the resulting price is less than or equal to (A) for the period beginning on the Effective Date and ending twelve (12) months following the Effective Date, the initial price charged for registrations in the TLD, or (B) for subsequent periods, a price for which Registry Operator provided a notice pursuant to the first sentence of this Section 2.10(b) within the twelve (12) month period preceding the effective date of the proposed price increase; and (ii) Registry Operator need not provide notice of any price increase for the imposition of the Variable Registry-Level Fee set forth in Section 6.3. Registry Operator shall offer registrars the option to obtain domain name registration renewals at the current price (i.e., the price in place prior to any noticed increase) for periods of one (1) to ten (10) years at the discretion of the registrar, but no greater than ten (10) years.

(c) In addition, Registry Operator must have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (“Renewal Pricing”). For the purposes of determining Renewal Pricing, the price for each domain registration renewal must be identical to the price of all other domain name registration renewals in place at the time of such renewal, and such price must take into account universal application of any refunds, rebates, discounts, product tying or other programs in place at the time of renewal. The foregoing requirements of this Section 2.10(c) shall not apply for (i) purposes of determining Renewal Pricing if the registrar has provided Registry Operator with documentation that demonstrates that the applicable registrant expressly agreed in its registration agreement with registrar to higher Renewal Pricing at the time of the initial registration of the domain name following clear and conspicuous disclosure of such Renewal Pricing to such registrant, and (ii) discounted Renewal Pricing pursuant to a Qualified Marketing Program (as defined below). The parties acknowledge that the purpose of this Section 2.10(c) is to prohibit abusive and/or discriminatory Renewal Pricing practices imposed by Registry Operator without the written consent of the applicable registrant at the time of the initial registration of the domain and this Section 2.10(c) will be interpreted broadly to prohibit such practices. For purposes of this Section 2.10(c), a “Qualified Marketing Program” is a marketing program pursuant to which Registry Operator offers discounted Renewal Pricing, provided that each of the following criteria is satisfied: (i) the program and related discounts are offered for a period of time not to exceed one hundred eighty (180) calendar days (with consecutive substantially similar programs aggregated for purposes of determining the number of calendar days of the program), (ii) all ICANN accredited registrars are provided the same opportunity to qualify for such discounted Renewal Pricing; and (iii) the intent or effect of the program is not to exclude any particular class(es) of registrations (e.g., registrations held by large corporations) or increase the renewal price of any particular class(es) of registrations. Nothing in this Section 2.10(c) shall limit Registry Operator’s obligations pursuant to Section 2.10(b).

(d) Registry Operator shall provide public query-based DNS lookup service for the TLD (that is, operate the Registry TLD zone servers) at its sole expense.

 

[brindle123]

Thank you David.

Funny, I'm on ICANN's website and just finished reading that section. That is an agreement between ICANN, the registry, and the registrar, not an agreement with the registrant.

One thing that did stand out so far in the "New GTLD Agreement" was:

2.10 Pricing for Registry Services.
(c) In addition, Registry Operator must have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (“Renewal Pricing”).

Does this go against all the different renewal pricing? Does the registries charging different renewals for diff. domains within a gtld go against this policy? To me "Uniform pricing" means they all have to be priced the same.

It's hard to read all this legal jargon. It's even harder to understand all of it.

I'm less than half way through the GTLD agreement. I started reading some of the "Registrant Rights" I will post any findings that pertain to this issue.

I don't believe this would ever be permissible. On what basis could it be justified by any registry?

That's what I"m looking for. The justification in the case of Michael Berkens was an "Oopsy". Sorry Mr. Berkens there was a pricing discrepancy between the registry and the registrar.

That seemed to be justification enough for the M&M registry to re-price his domains.

Obviously if a hypothetical uniform increase were very significant, such as 500%, it might kill interest in the respective gTLD to almost all registrants, both existing and prospective. I do not believe a registry would get away with doing that either because such an increase would probably be considered excessive and unfair.

M&M didn't care about a customer who admits he's invested about $500K in new gtlds.

The increase in price doesn't have to be 500% to make the domain unattractive to the domain holder. I have not read anything about a price cap or anything about a domain not being reclassified to premium.

The registry has to give the registrar notice of a price increase. What that increase is or can be is not listed in the agreement anywhere. Non-premium and premium classification is not really discussed in the agreement to any length.

I have alot more reading to do. It would be nice if a registry rep or ICANN rep could just clear this up, but if you notice, they aren't saying anything. All's quiet.

 

[davidthornton]

Thank you David.

Funny, I'm on ICANN's website and just finished reading that section. That is an agreement between ICANN, the registry, and the registrar, not an agreement with the registrant.

Correct. As we are all likely aware registrars can charge customers what they like and registrants are free to transfer domain names away or register them elsewhere. I, myself, am on very close terms with the registrar where I keep most of my premium domain names and so anticipate being informed of changes by registries if/when any changes are implemented. I realise that many registrants may not be on such favourable terms with the registrars they select but I think it makes sense to select ones registrar accordingly when dealing with high value/high cost domain name registrations.

One thing that did stand out so far in the "New GTLD Agreement" was:

2.10 Pricing for Registry Services.
(c) In addition, Registry Operator must have uniform pricing for renewals of domain name registrations (“Renewal Pricing”).

Does this go against all the different renewal pricing? Does the registries charging different renewals for diff. domains within a gtld go against this policy? To me "Uniform pricing" means they all have to be priced the same.

Further on the following is then stated:

"The foregoing requirements of this Section 2.10(c) shall not apply for (i) purposes of determining Renewal Pricing if the registrar has provided Registry Operator with documentation that demonstrates that the applicable registrant expressly agreed in its registration agreement with registrar to higher Renewal Pricing at the time of the initial registration of the domain name following clear and conspicuous disclosure of such Renewal Pricing to such registrant..."

This appears to negate the uniform renewal pricing element.

The justification in the case of Michael Berkens was an "Oopsy". Sorry Mr. Berkens there was a pricing discrepancy between the registry and the registrar.

That seemed to be justification enough for the M&M registry to re-price his domains.

It is known that some registrars made errors when changing for the registration of some Minds and Machines ("MMX") domain names. Some of those registrars may have absorbed the errors, which may have been the case with the registrant you are referring to, and appeared to increase the prices on renewal. Others may have informed the registrant immediately and asked for the difference. I have no personal experience of this.

M&M didn't care about a customer who admits he's invested about $500K in new golds.

Was it the fault of MMX or the registrar?

The increase in price doesn't have to be 500% to make the domain unattractive to the domain holder. I have not read anything about a price cap or anything about a domain not being reclassified to premium.

I think when we discuss this we should clearly differentiate between currently unregistered domain names and currently registered domain names.

The registry has to give the registrar notice of a price increase. What that increase is or can be is not listed in the agreement anywhere. Non-premium and premium classification is not really discussed in the agreement to any length.

Correct. This might be because the RRA was written before such pricing was common.

 

[robaireg]

Still waiting on the registries to come on and say they "CAN'T" change domains to premium status!

appears as though they cannot change pricing legally ... so -- they have taken the route of doing ''creative'' TOS (term of service agreement with checkbox) saying that they are allowed to ... (make arbitrary changes to the sales agreement) ..

... which gives them an alibi for the attempt. and if the customer capitulates then they won.

the TOS looks like a binding agreement but probably is not according to the actual law in place in the given country. the problem is where you have to sign the wrong TOS to buy their product. . but maybe that purchase is not something you really want to make anyway- that is the silver lining in all of it. I've got research going in a different direction on this.

 

[brindle123]

appears as though they cannot change pricing legally

I haven't seen anything that says they can't change pricing. Everything that I read says that pricing can change as long as notice is given.

As we are all likely aware registrars can charge customers what they like and registrants are free to transfer domain names away or register them elsewhere.

That won't do you any good if the price structure coming from the registry has changed your domain to premium. The registrar will have to charge you a higher amount. I'm still looking for something that says that this cannot happen.

Further on the following is then stated:

Correct, but if you read your TOS, you agreed that prices can change without notice. That is in the TOS, so you are bound to that agreement.

No one agrees to raising their renewal willingly. Otherwise renewal fees would never increase! No one really reads the TOS and when you click that little box, you just agreed to higher renewal prices!
mwg3kpc and I fought this out in another thread about renewal price increases. I went back and re-read the TOS and it stated the prices can change at anytime. I can't remember if it said anything about having to be given notice of the increase.

The price increase notice is in the "GTLD Agreement" between ICANN/Registry and Registrar. I don't think notice has to be given to the registrant.

You can not buy a domain name without agreeing to the TOS, thus you agree to any price changes. The "Clear and conspicuous disclosure" pretty much means if you read the TOS you will see it there in black and white, which it is.

It seems like most domainers on this forum don't care about the legal aspect of their domain purchases and would rather show off their new purchases in the "Reg of the day" threads. This doesn't help that there are only a couple people on the forum that get into these discussions where we actually try to get to the bottom of things. It's not easy to find the answers and read all the stuff needed to find it.

There has to be someone from ICANN that is on the forum that could clear things up very easily, but it seems like they don't want to step forward and spill the beans.

If I'm wrong about any of this, then a registry/registrar rep should just say that I'm wrong.

Still waiting.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Call out to all Registry and Registrar Representatives...Where are you on this forum???

For reference and convenience: https://www.namepros.com/members/?type=reps

 

[brindle123]

It's surprising that the only one to respond to this thread was Rightside. Then when I got specific on their policy, they shut up.

I would think that the registries/registrars would be on the forum a little more to help their main customers. There are alot of them that have very few messages. I realize that you can contact them all through their support contacts on their websites, but they don't seem to make many posts on the forum other than to promote a sale that they are having.

I just wish they would step up to the plate and help domainers when there is a problem or issue with a specific registry/registrar.

 

[ZapNano]

I think raising prices of a domain or domains because your domains become premium is not FAIR & REASONABLE. Registrars, registries and ICANN did not make the secondary name; the person who purchased the domain did! He or she invented that name!

Extension alone does make your a business useful!!

Another example, you developed a website for that name, you work hard, put enormous time for it to be profitable.

Now registrars, registries or ICANN, see that your name is making progress. So they want to make that name premium and raise the price!

You plant, then you harvest; but you didn't plant! Why would you want the fruits if you don't work for it? Just a sincere opinion.

 

[namesilo]

I just wanted to weigh in and give the registrar's perspective of this topic. I was actually personally tasked with writing a support article for our web site explaining premium nTLD renewal pricing and ended up on this thread during my research. I can probably speak for other registrars in that the current policies are extremely frustrating as it is typically the registrar that needs to explain to customers what the policies are. Unfortunately, as has been covered at length in this thread, there appear to be no policies that registries provide which can tell Registrants the cost of premium domain renewals in the future in most cases. We probably get 20-30 inquiries a week from people all asking this same question which we only wish we had a better answer for. I'd say that 90% (conservatively) of those people reject buying a premium nTLD once we tell them we cannot give them an answer regarding how much next year's renewal will be. We don't blame anybody for this decision. Buying a domain without knowing the cost of future renewals is a risky proposition that, from our experience, very few people are willing to entertain.

I can also possibly shed some light on how the process works technically between registries and registrars which may help answer some other questions raised within this thread. Registrars have the ability to query registries to get pricing information for domains. When these queries are made from the registrar, the registry responds with the registration, renewal and transfer price (along with other information) for that domain at that moment in time as well as signifying if the domain is a premium, and, if so, what level premium it is. It is then up to each individual registrar to decide how that information is used. I assume most do as we do which is to adjust the price of the domain as well as notify the end user that they are pursuing a premium domain which may be handled differently than a non-premium. Registrars can of course charge anything they like, and I would not be terribly surprised if some kept track of previous searches and adjusted their pricing accordingly if searched for again (we do not do this).

Finally, and for whatever it's worth, our opinion is that the current system is deeply flawed. We believe that Registrants should be entitled to understand the full scope of everything having to do with their domains, including the knowledge of what future renewals will be if the price will be beyond a typical wholesale price increase of a dollar or so. The fact that this information is not available results in a lot of unhappy customer interactions for us as registrars and I'm sure other registrars would report the same.

 

[TRY]

For cash flow i recently decided to list some domain names for sale at uniregistry.
Question is
When I visit the manage domain section some of the admin emails belong to other parties. I checked whois to make sure my admin was correct which it is.
I'm wondering if these emails belong to the brokers?