question Redemption Fee - Mandatory or discretionary?

[NickB]

Had an interesting chat with someone today.....

Couple of years ago he dropped a couple of LLLL.com domains, one to do with his business and one was his initials.....had owned them for years..

One is now owned by Buy Domains because he refused to pay the redemption fee and the registrar (he can't remember who) said he had to pay it.....

The other he still owns because again he refused to pay the redemption fee and Tucows finally relented and admitted it was a discretionary fee and not mandatory and set by ICAAN, which they initially said it was.....

So.....is the redemption fee mandatory or discretionary?

If it is in the T&C's of the registrar it becomes mandatory because its in the contract surely....but is it a discretionary fee that the registrars add to make a few extra $$$

We then had a talk about auto renewals, transfers etc.....he wasn't that pissed off just curious on the different outcomes.....and so am I, hence this post....

 

[OzWorks]

Very useful thread. Thanks. It addresses concerns and confusions I've had about these issues.

 

[Joe Styler]

It isn't cut and dry as many in the thread discovered. It depends on the tld and their registry and what they charge and when. There is also a mark up added by registrars, this also varies by registrar and tld. It honestly is best to read the terms of service at your registrar of choice regarding redemption and the rules, how long the names are in redemption, fees etc and make your mind up that way. I am not aware of any one site that compares all the rules.
This is the easiest formatted article I think we have concerning this question https://www.godaddy.com/help/what-happens-when-my-domain-expires-609
As a side note we waived all redemption fees for the pandemic. So for almost anyone who renewed late with us since March I believe we didn't charge a redemption fee unless we felt like you were purposefully abusing it. You didn't have to call in jump through any hoops or know anyone it just showed up in your cart as a normal renewal. Registrars do need to pay registries a redemption fee on domains that are expired after a certain time period, if we had to pay we ate those fees for our customers as a way to help small businesses struggling with paying their bills.
I am not sure if we are still doing that currently but if not we were up until very recently.

 

[oldtimer]

As a side note we waived all redemption fees for the pandemic. So for almost anyone who renewed late with us since March I believe we didn't charge a redemption fee unless we felt like you were purposefully abusing it. You didn't have to call in jump through any hoops or know anyone it just showed up in your cart as a normal renewal.

Thanks Joe for helping everyone through the Pandemic,


I am an older member with some preexisting conditions and doing my best not to end up in the Hospital,

Can you give me and all the other people who might be in a bind a special rate for Domain Discount Club renewal (like $49.95)

 

[NickB]

It isn't cut and dry as many in the thread discovered. It depends on the tld and their registry and what they charge and when. There is also a mark up added by registrars, this also varies by registrar and tld. It honestly is best to read the terms of service at your registrar of choice regarding redemption and the rules, how long the names are in redemption, fees etc and make your mind up that way. I am not aware of any one site that compares all the rules.
This is the easiest formatted article I think we have concerning this question https://www.godaddy.com/help/what-happens-when-my-domain-expires-609
As a side note we waived all redemption fees for the pandemic. So for almost anyone who renewed late with us since March I believe we didn't charge a redemption fee unless we felt like you were purposefully abusing it. You didn't have to call in jump through any hoops or know anyone it just showed up in your cart as a normal renewal. Registrars do need to pay registries a redemption fee on domains that are expired after a certain time period, if we had to pay we ate those fees for our customers as a way to help small businesses struggling with paying their bills.
I am not sure if we are still doing that currently but if not we were up until very recently.

Nice breakdown.....and nice plug