registrars Important Change: price increase for .COM domains

[lennco]

Just received this from Namesilo,


The registry, Verisign, will be increasing prices for .COM domains starting on September 1, 2021. This means that unfortunately, NameSilo will need to do the same. We are contacting you because you have active or expired .COM domain(s) in your account.

There is still time to take advantage of the current lower prices by renewing your current domains and registering any new .COM names before September 1.


New Prices - our new prices for .COM domain(s) will be as follows:
Registration:
Current price - $8.99 USD/domain
New price - $9.95 USD/domain

Renewal:
Current price - $8.99 USD/year
New price - $9.95 USD/year

Transfer:
Current price - $8.39 USD/domain
New price - $8.99 USD/domain

Mitigation: we are advising you renew all the .COM domain(s) you wish to keep before September 1st in order to renew at the current prices.

 

[bmugford]

The main issue is that it is a no-bid contract. Verisign is not receiving the contract because they won it via some competitive process.

Technology is actually driving the cost of operating a registry (and other things) down. If the contract was put out for a public bid, the registration prices would be going down drastically.

Instead they are able to raise rates 7%, in 4 of 6 years, which is far higher than any historic inflation. They are essentially just maintaining an entry in a database via a non-competitive process.

The are operating a defacto monopoly, via an artificial lack of competition.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I just don't see a valid reason for the company operating the registry (under no-bid contract) to be able to charge an extra 7% (in 4 of 6) years, and an even less valid reason for a registrar to double that fee under the guise of "the registry prices are going up"...yeah far less than your price increase.

Registrars should be making their money from additional sales, not gouging bulk renewals.

There is a reason so many registrars see transfers as loss leaders. Having domains at their registrar allows them to make money on selling additional services like hosting, and making money on sales commissions.

I sold a domain the other day for $25K through GoDaddy. They made a $4,000 commission.
That is a lot more than they would make from me by trying to gouge a little extra on bulk renewals.

The smart registrars know that. The registrars that largely appeal to domain investors should be careful burning bridges with their actions.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

I like how several registrars are using this as an opportunity to raise their margin.

Versign is raising it 50 cents, so we have to raise it close to a dollar...you know because of how much extra work that domain registration takes now vs. in the past.

There is no valid reason for a registrar to need to raise their cost. There is no extra cost to them past the Verisign fee increase.

Brad

 

[Samer]

I posted this in @equity78’s thread.

Added 96 cents to Verisign’s 54 cent hike,

Verisign is hiking prices $7.85 to $8.39

Why is NameSilo adding $0.96??!! (to 9.95!)

4 cents cheaper than Dynadot $1.00 to $9.99
@Kristaps @ NameSilo,
@namesilo,

@Dynadot yet reply in thread ask them “why?” but you can see Dynadot viewing the thread. Look forward their / & ur reply!

Add the incremental difference of 7.85 to 8.39.
Most are using it as excuse to jack up prices.

 

[Mister Funsky]

Those 'superstar' registrars that hike above and beyond the actual increase should and will experience a shift in registrations.

Screw each and every of them that raises their price above the mandatory increase.

 

[Samer]

Those 'superstar' registrars that hike above and beyond the actual increase should and will experience a shift in registrations.

Screw each and every of them that raises their price above the mandatory increase.

Dynadot was reigning NP Registrar of the year.

Still waiting for a response, shame on them

It’s “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Imo.,

 

[bmugford]

But ICANN gets to charge 18 cents per domain, to give themselves a raise! LOL

They charge it now. I am surprised they didn't raise that fee as well.

It is expensive to maintain a bloated bureaucracy that barely does anything.

Six figure salaries, and endless travel to meetings in order to plan your next meeting...It does not come cheap.

Brad

 

[Maximinus]

Dynadot was reigning NP Registrar of the year.

Still waiting for a response, shame on them

It’s “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Imo.,

Hello @Samer

As a domainer I am fully satisfied of Dynadots new pricing:
SuperBulk goes from 8,50$ to 8,99$ for registrations, renewals and transfer.
A 49cents increase compared to the 54cents increase at Verisign.
Dynadots margin is going from 65 to 60cents per domain per year. They are getting even cheaper for domainers with over 500-600 domains!

The fact they increase their regular pricing with more than 54 cents is a marketing decision about smaller clients and is none of my concern as a domainer.

I hope you will get a fair price increase at your registrar!

Greetings

 

[Samer]

The main issue is that it is a no-bid contract. Verisign is not receiving the contract because they won it via some competitive process.

Technology is actually driving the cost of operating a registry own. If the contact was put out for a public bid, the registration prices would be going down drastically.

Instead they are able to raise rates 7%, in 4 of 6 years, which is far higher than any historic inflation. They are essentially just maintaining an entry in a database via a non-competitive process.

Brad

But ICANN gets to charge 18 cents per domain, to give themselves a raise! LOL

 

[Samer]

Hello @Samer

As a domainer I am fully satisfied of Dynadots new pricing:
SuperBulk goes from 8,50$ to 8,99$ for registrations, renewals and transfer.
A 49cents increase compared to the 54cents increase at Verisign.
Dynadots margin is going from 65 to 60cents per domain per year. They are getting even cheaper for domainers with over 500-600 domains!

The fact they increase their regular pricing with more than 54 cents is a marketing decision about smaller clients and is none of my concern as a domainer.

I hope you will get a fair price increase at your registrar!

Greetings

I think the smart Registrars are ones who have yet to say. I pray it’s just a 54 cent hike.

 

[namesilo]

Hello @namesilo

This does not reflect the message in the OP of this thread, where it was all about the Verisign price increase. Why didn't you tell all this in the original message? Of course you may increase your prices all the way you want, but please be fair in how you communicate things to your customers.

Thank you for your feedback and apologies for any confusion or inconvenience caused. In hindsight, we should have sent all this information together on one email but we wanted to get the initial message out quickly so that all our affected customers (and in particular resellers) could coordinate their strategies.

We did mention on that initial email that were planning to increase the discount tiers but we hadn't yet figured out the exact prices at that time. However, this note seems to have gotten lost in the midst of all the craziness, and that is ultimately our responsibility. We will do our best to communicate better in the future.

 

[Samer]

I like how several registrars are using this as an opportunity to raise their margin.

Versign is raising it 50 cents, so we have to raise it close to a dollar...you know because of how much extra work that domain registration takes now vs. in the past.

There is no valid reason for a registrar to need to raise their cost. There is no extra cost to them past the Verisign fee increase.

Brad

We yet to hear from those that added ~0.96-$1

Lucky, NoDaddy’s $18 .com made it negligible.

I’m curious how much they added to GD DC?
Was it quote unquote “fair” per say?

54 cent increase, and it’s been $7.85 long as i can remember. All good things must end.

But they need to up price, in direct correlation.
Not rounding up to the “nearest dollar” Right!

Samer

 

[TheBuyerz]

And this from dynadot:

Dear XXX XXXX,

You might have heard that the central registry (Verisign) is increasing their wholesale cost for .COM domain names soon. In light of this change, our prices will increase as well starting September 1, 2021 00:00 UTC.

Although .COM prices are increasing, we'll continue to offer low and transparent pricing for all pricing tiers:

Regular: $9.99 /year
Bulk: $9.25 /year
Super Bulk: $8.99 /year

Please note the above prices apply to registrations, renewals, and transfers. We encourage you to take advantage of our current prices and register, renew or transfer your .COM domain names before the new prices go into effect September 1, 2021 00:00 UTC.

Thank you for choosing us as your registrar. We're here to help if you have any questions and can be reached at [email protected].

Best Regards,
Team Dynadot

 

[DomainNature]

Also ICANN charges 0.18$ alongside of Verisign fee, so 8.39 + 0.18 = 8.57$ is total, this only if ICANN does not lift their fees, in fact I think that 0.18$ is the actual energy waste for registering a domain name.
Edit: ICANN = 0.18$ > Verisign = 8.39 > Registrars = anything.
Do the math the equation is obvious.

 

[SuperDudePro]

I like how several registrars are using this as an opportunity to raise their margin.

Versign is raising it 50 cents, so we have to raise it close to a dollar...you know because of how much extra work that domain registration takes now vs. in the past.

There is no valid reason for a registrar to need to raise their cost. There is no extra cost to them past the Verisign fee increase.

Brad

I mainly only buy through GoDaddy, so use Discount Domain Club. That price is only rising to $8.85.

The prices on dot coms have held pretty steady. I don't understand why everyone thinks that the prices shouldn't rise for inflation periodically? Didn't their employees' salaries go up over that time? Electricity, office supplies--everything.

Moving from registrar to registrar is a huge hassle to me. The dot com prices are still reasonable compared to most extensions. I can't see getting outraged over an increase of this magnitude. I'd be pissed every day of my life because everything that I consume goes up in price.

Except for marijuana in colorado. That keeps going down in price.

 

[DuDD]

• So it's true? All.com domain names are going up in price??

 

[namesilo]

Thank you for posting here. Do you have those updated prices for the Discord Program tiers? We you say doubling the discount, I'm guessing for 100+ domains the current 20 cent discount becomes 40 cents? Making the new price $9.55 vs the $9.95 that will be the new standard price?

That's correct. Our new effective Discount Program tier prices for .COM domains will become:
$9.75 for 0+ Tier of Discount Program
$9.55 for 100+ Tier of Discount Program
$9.35 for 500+ Tier of Discount Program
$9.15 for 1000+ Tier of Discount Program
$8.95 for 2500+ Tier of Discount Program
$8.75 for 5000+ Tier of Discount Program

 

[RatchetMedia]

Got this email from Namesilo and now shopping around for other registrars. Hard to compare prices when most haven't updated their pricing pages to reflect the upcoming changes. I have 369 domains with NameSilo, and while I like them fine, if I can save $300~ a year getting the same service somewhere else, that makes sense.

 

[Alop]

@bmugford stated increase to price without improvements…I use to pay 40 dollars for wireless internet..now I fight to keep it below 80

 

[namesilo]

I posted this in @equity78’s thread.

Why is NameSilo adding $0.96??!! (to 9.95!)

@Kristaps @ NameSilo,
@namesilo,

The reason for the higher increase as compared to the Verisign cost increase for us, and we imagine other registrars in our position, is due to increasing transaction fees and integration of local payment methods which often carry higher costs.

To address this, we will be doubling the discounts for .COM domains across our Discount Program tiers. For most of you who have larger portfolios, this should bring down your overall price increase on par or even below the $0.54 Verisign increase. If you're not enrolled in our Discount Program, we recommend you do so to start saving even more on your registrations and renewals.

 

[Future Sensors]

This is the email I received today from Godaddy regarding the .com price increase.

.COM Price Increase/ Discount Domain Club

Hi,

On September 1st, 2021 Verisign, which manages the .COM registry, will be increasing wholesale prices for .COM domains by 7%. As a result, we need to increase the price of Discount Domain Club .COMs from $8.29 to $8.85 (or 6.7% increase) to account for this change. This new price will be effective on September 1st for registrations, renewals, and transfers. As always with DDC, our rates are consistent, and we do not charge more for renewals after the first year. We wanted to give you advance notice of this upcoming change, so you can plan accordingly.

Thank you for being a loyal Discount Domain Club member, and we look forward to providing you with the best everyday savings up to 60% on over 400 TLDs. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best,
[removed]
Premier Services
GoDaddy

 

[DTR Alex]

I shifted most of my names from Namesilo to Dynadot. I think that Dynadot is better than others for affordability, support, features etc.

 

[Future Sensors]

The reason for the higher increase as compared to the Verisign cost increase for us, and we imagine other registrars in our position, is due to increasing transaction fees and integration of local payment methods which often carry higher costs.

Hello @namesilo

This does not reflect the message in the OP of this thread, where it was all about the Verisign price increase. Why didn't you tell all this in the original message? Of course you may increase your prices all the way you want, but please be fair in how you communicate things to your customers.

 

[Future Sensors]

Notice from Porkbun about the .com price increase.

Note: these prices include the ICANN fee.

We're raising our price on .com domains on September 1, 2021 from $8.58 to $9.13. This is due to a wholesale cost increase by the .com registry. You can still register, renew, or transfer .com domains at $8.58 until September 1.