How much did .Com renewal cost before 2000?

[atinc]

Hi There,

I know there are people on nP who had registered .com domains before 2000.

I would like to know how much did it cost back than.

Especially in the early 90s.

Please post your experience and the approximate timeline for the renewal cost.

 

[viniproject09]

I have registered domains at $5-$9 in 90.s and Renewal were almost $9 most of the time.

 

[martbele]

http://www.iaps.com/internet-history-october-1990.html

 

[atinc]

http://www.iaps.com/internet-history-october-1990.html

Thank you very much. I have searched this content but couldn't came up with a good source as you shared above.

So in 1995 renewals was $50 per year.

I heard from someone like he paid $75 renewal for a dot com domain back in 90s, but I guess the renewal cost differed from country to country back than.

When is the other significant price change happened anyone remembers it?

 

[atinc]

I have registered domains at $5-$9 in 90.s and Renewal were almost $9 most of the time.

Should be around 1999 I guess.

In 1999, a few registrars entered the market and the NSI monopoly effectively ended.

 

[Kate]

In 1999, a few registrars entered the market and the NSI monopoly effectively ended. At that time I bought .com/.net for just $6.
In the early days, the process was less automated, NSI used to screen registrations, refused or balked at some types of registrations, and even deleted some offensive names. Example: https://www.cnet.com/news/nsi-lets-a-bad-word-slip/

 

[atinc]

90s was really interesting than.

It was free back in 1990 and it changed to $50-$75 around 1995 and than down to $6-$9 in 1999. What a decade

 

[Kate]

Some background info: http://www.historyofdomainnames.com/ (long read)

 

[frank-germany]

.com was $140 USD for 2 years to reg
and $70 USD renew

at networksolutions.com

in the late 90s

 

[BaileyUK]

As Frank states above. when Network Solutions had the monopoly on .com/net/org registrations it was $70 a year. I've occasionally stated $75 & $79 in error.

I believe competing registrars were allowed from around mid/late 1998, which started the discounting which we still have today. The prices never fell to todays level immediately. Most of the new registrars tried to keep prices up to maximise their profits, so it was a slow process at first

ICANN still only receive about 45 cents per registration

 

[offthehandle]

Some background info: http://www.historyofdomainnames.com/ (long read)

Thanks @Kate, that’s a really interesting site, and noticed what appears to be the first major 12000 name registrant before NSL existed then the drop way back in 1992. Then an old thread by him here in 2011 on NP’s.

http://www.historyofdomainnames.com/phil-drops-domains/

https://www.namepros.com/threads/i-made-history.738205/

 

[Mister Funsky]

Yep...the old netsol for me with same numbers as Frank shows above (wish I still had a fourth of those old names today).

The mind boggling thing is that I found a site that states: "At the end of 1985, there were a whopping total of six domain names registered in the world."

LOL...on a good day I reg that many...my how times have changed!

 

[forge]

Plenty of misinformation here, and I hope not to add to that.

I began registering domains in very early 1999 and know that I paid $35 per year for .com, however a minimum of two years registration was required, so effectively it was $70. As far as I can recall, Network Solutions and Register.com were the only registrars initially.

(I know without a doubt that it was not $140, because if that was the case I never would have started registering domains.)

@Kate mentions 1999, and it would be interesting to know when $6 registrations were first possible. I certainly wasn't aware of it, unfortunately.

 

[forge]

Here's an interesting article from the archives. And it backs up my claims as above.

https://adage.com/article/news/doma...s-tough-battle-giant-network-solutions/61077/

"Network Solutions currently charges $70 for two years for a Web address only and $119 for two years for a Web address and one Web page; Register.com charges $70 for two years for a Web address and $35 for each year after that."

But what's quite embarrassing for me is realizing that in 2003 I was still paying $35/yr to Register.com for some of my domains...

 

[offthehandle]

I had a subdomain website online in 95’ and later registered my first domain w Netsol in 96, it was expensive like those prices mentioned.

 

[Kate]

@Kate mentions 1999, and it would be interesting to know when $6 registrations were first possible. I certainly wasn't aware of it, unfortunately.

If I remember well it was at Namebargain, then an offshot of register.com, which was one of the first alternative registrars. But that must have been some kind of more or less extended promotion.

 

[~ The 34 Year Buzz!!]

Plenty of misinformation here, and I hope not to add to that.

I began registering domains in very early 1999 and know that I paid $35 per year for .com, however a minimum of two years registration was required, so effectively it was $70...

You have my "vote" since I remember $35/year very clearly.

The first alternative discount I knew of was Godaddy at ~$8/year:

Times change:

 

[forge]

More stuff...

https://mashable.com/2014/03/10/domain-names-history/

At some point registration costs were $50/yr, though legend has it that initially they (domains) could be had for free.

 

[Mister Funsky]

From register dot com website in 1998:

"At register.com we will provide you with free domain name registration services. No money is required to secure your own International Identification. This service is being provided at no charge because this site is totally advertiser supported."

I sent them an email requesting my free domain but no response yet!!!

 

[offthehandle]

Interesting. Wish I knew that back then.

Screenshot from Namebargain.com October 18th, 2000.

“Domain name registrations for $9.99 per year. No hidden fees!”

https://web.archive.org/web/20001018000039/http://namebargain.com:80/


Stayed for years with Net sol, Earliest archived screenshot I see is Dec 3, 1998 from networksolutions.com:

“Cost

Web Address registration costs $119 (which includes a $70 fee paid to the InterNIC).

If you do not have an Internet Service Provider or hosting information and would like to register a Web Address, you can reserve it with Network Solutions for no additional charge.”


https://web.archive.org/web/19981203055057/http://networksolutions.com:80/HELP/docs/step1.html

 

[branding]

I can't exactly remember when but back in the day there were multiple companies giving free .com registrations like domainzero if I recall correctly.

You couldn't use your own DNS and they would load your website in an iframe while displaying advertising on the top of the frame. But hey, it was free!

Needless to say there were plenty of ways to block the advertising from showing

 

[ultradog]

That $119 price surprises me, I never ran into that. In 1997 new registrations were $100 for 2 years. You could not register for a shorter period. These earliest invoices said Internic.
The price was lowered later, to $70 for 2 years.

 

[Fancy.domains]

Plenty of misinformation here, and I hope not to add to that.

I began registering domains in very early 1999 and know that I paid $35 per year for .com, however a minimum of two years registration was required, so effectively it was $70. As far as I can recall, Network Solutions and Register.com were the only registrars initially.

(I know without a doubt that it was not $140, because if that was the case I never would have started registering domains.)

@Kate mentions 1999, and it would be interesting to know when $6 registrations were first possible. I certainly wasn't aware of it, unfortunately.

Yep, I also paid $35 for my first names, as I later on transferred to GoDaddy. I also paid extra for a (kind of stupid) certificate showing that I was the owner. It was on my wall for a few years.

 

[jmcc]

Hi There,

I know there are people on nP who had registered .com domains before 2000.

I would like to know how much did it cost back than.

Free up to 1995. Then NSI started charging. The initial charge was $100 for two years. This also included some kind of tax. On renewal, the tax had been dropped so that, I think, the cost for the two year renewal was $70. NSI even sent out tax refund cheques when the tax was stopped and people had paid it unnecessarily. There was also a fixed time for domain name deletions and it was a lot easier to catch the dropping domain names.

When the Networks Solutions monopoly ended (it had been the only registrar for COM/NET/ORG), the cost on registrations dropped to around $7 per year with renewals being the same. Some of the ccTLD registries were still being run out of university Computing Science departments at the time and their registration costs were much higher. The .IE was about $125 per year at the time.

Regards...jmcc

 

[lock]

I used to pay about $70 a year at internic and network solutions before they halved it to $35 a year then moving to registerfly approx $15 tried to salvage what i could over to godaddy for around same money. I got a gTLD domain at $500 and a few at a hundred a year at the moment so what good old days lol. Wish I did more when Greatdomains was a great site.