ccTLD - Registrars Increasing Fees

[Zona]

Has a country (or thier domain agency) ever dramatically increased a ccTLD renewal fee without notice?

For example (and this is not a good example), what would prevent Canada's registry from increasing their renewal fees to $50.00 or selectively choosing keywords and increasing their renewal fees?

 

[Coopey]

Yes, .sc did recently. Most registrars used to offer them for about $35pa, now it's more like $95pa
There's nothing really stopping any registry for increasing its fees on registered domains, or making some unregistered domains 'premium' and charging higher prices for those (e.g. .tv & .ws).

A lot of countries will have laws preventing already registered names having a higher fee imposed (i.e. a larger increase on already registered keywords than on other names), but I bet some would be able to get away with it (.la?).

 

[Kate]

Usually registries are bound by some management contract with the government.
Also, some registries like Nominet are non-profit and less likely to jack up the prices.
On the other hand some registries are more interventionist than others.
Neustar is a prime example: if you register a .us name which contains any of the so-called seven dirty words your name could be frozen forever... censorship is a bigger issue than prices I believe.

 

[Malaysia]

well not sure bout others but .my did not in the past few years.hopefull they dun
=)

 

[ssamriga]

I think it's more often that they reduce renewal fees.
.LV for example was around 30$ since 2008 it's only 20$

 

[Timewarp]

Im sure the administrators of these ccTLDs all had their pricing strategy worked out before launch, its unlikely it would help their business plan to suddenly raise prices and P.O. their entire customer and user base. As mentioned, cuts in price after the initial hype and landrush are more likely. .ca has also come down from around $40 to $25 to $10

Wouldn't be surprised to see prices on all extensions rising gradually with inflation but nothing too drastic.

 

[hey.co.uk]

Usually registries are bound by some management contract with the government.
Also, some registries like Nominet are non-profit and less likely to jack up the prices.

Nominet the company is a members based organisation and does not have the power to raise (or lower!) prices, that power currently rests with the membership and would require a 75% vote to change it

 

[mwzd]

.in has recently, right after the promo where prices had been slashed to 25%.

Its not a good idea, ccTLDs are as it is struggling to compete globally with gTLDs, pricing them too high is totally counter productive.

Just my 0.02

 

[Corey]

.sc renewal cost me $95....still recovering from that one...lol