Melbourne IT charges $36.50 / year for gTLD domains ... WTF?

[RTM]

Title says it all!

Now, agreed, they exist primarily as a platform for resellers (who sell for much less that $10-15/ domain for the most part) but how can they survive charging $36 for a single year in .com/net/org ?!

Are there really that many gullible domain registration clients in 2012?

Rob

 

[Kate]

netsol, register.com are in the same price range
They target corporations, not individuals. Melbourne IT also offer brand monitoring services like Markmonitor:
http://www.melbourneitdbs.com/
So yes, they have clients.

 

[RTM]

Understood, but even corporations are in belt trimming and when a supplier offers a product at a 200 or 300% markup over similar providers (domain registration isn't rocket science) then there is an economy of scale value proposition to consider. Especially for corps with thousands of domains.

Just a thought.

Rob

 

[Kate]

I agree, but they don't pay for domains only, it's a full portfolio management service.
Large companies have presence in foreign markets too, so they need a guiding hand to:
a. register and maintain the relevant domains
b. manage the portfolio (possibly thousands of names)
c. take care of renewals etc
d. insure compliance
e. perform brand monitoring services
f. enforce their rights when needed
etc
It amounts to a full-time job for one person or more. We know that the cost of a domain is not the just the annual registration fee. The administrative costs also add up. The time spent on renewals and keeping the inventory up to date is worth money too.

Corporations need to hire domainers

 

[NPer]

The time spent on renewals and keeping the inventory up to date is worth money too.

:bingo: And many people still don't get this.

 

[lothos]

Just like MarkMoniter, they provide more than just domain registration. It's a different market, and they're not going after domainers. Simple as that really.