.tv Renewal prices are subject to change?

[yesonline]

Hi,

I do not understand what does this mean exactly?
I saw the Notes about the premium .TV:

# Annual Renewal fees for .TV premium name will be the same as the initial "Buy Now" registration fee.
# Renewal prices are subject to change.

does it mean they will change your renewal fees later?

thanks

 

[SKG]

SKG, I agree 100% with Equity.

The .com renewal increases are well-known, low (6%) and, most importantly, totally predictable and delineated in the .com contract. More importantly, on a $6 domain, they are more or less meaningless to a developed site and only really matter if you are running a massive, parking arbitrage portfolio. Most people can handle a $0.36 increase in their domain renewal fees without changing their business model.

As of 3 days ago, and all during the time I registered any premium names, the Verisign stated policy to me and everyone else on this board who called and asked: "you can renew at the renewal price as long as you keep the name regged. if you let the name expire, all bets are off" not "we reserve the right to change the renewal price when, where and in whatever random way we chose."

The previous policy was fair and reasonable and predictable, as would a policy that said, "we will limit increases to 7% per year". A policy of utter randomness which is what is currently being described, is not only bad for registrants, it is bad for the TLD because this will deter investment in development. They are vastly underestimating the rationality of people and how they allocate their investment dollars. Asking about the stability of the renewal fees has been the first question of every investment partner I have spoken to about .tv.

It also has no parallels in the real world. "Come rent this piece of land and build a factory on it. Your annual lease will be whatever I choose it to be" is not a policy that is going to lead to a lot of factories being built on your land.
It is a policy that will keep .tv as a wasteland of developed sites as it has been in the past.

It is not like one can't go spend one's time in .com. For X,XXX to XX,XXX, you can get a perfectly decent .com to develop that has type in traffic and none of this nonsense to deal with. It is ludicrous to be the ones working to make a weak TLD more valuable and at the same time having to look over our shoulders to wonder what Verisign will dream up next.

I also don't understand why you (SKG) think that you are protected by regging for three years unless your only strategy is to flip during that time.
While I concede it is unlikely, what if you build a site that is successful and Verisign adds a "0" to your renewal price? I certainly see nothing in writing that says anything about the "10%" limited increase. This is speculation based on random conversations with random enom reps who historically have had no clue about premium names.

Anyway, here is where I come out:

a) this latest change is total nonsense and a complete repudiation of Verisign's prior, repeated assertions about how they were going to handle premiums

BUT

b) I am waiting to see how DM (and by extension their relationship with VSGN) handle themself

The senior Demand Media people I have spoken to so far have struck me as very reasonable, friendly and intelligent, albeit a bit caught by surprise by of all of this. Let's see what they come up with in the next few weeks.

Hi Antonis,

What I meant by three years is that I am holding my costs for three years as a known number paid upfront. Since I own many domains developing will require some time and I bought myself that time after which if prices increase I will be up and running and an increase will not matter as much, that was my reasoning. I regged three years on core names that I for sure plan to do something with as best as I could.

As far as renewals I think on every call each enom rep will say something different which is what is causing all the confusion. In my panel I can add more years right now for any domain I purchased during the launch. The price is showing the same. Did anyone try this?

Lastly, if it really does happen and renewal prices are really jacked up then of course names will drop and I do not see that benefiting enom at all so I find it unlikely to happen. It would really be counterproductive to any momentum or stir created, imo.

That's my two cents.

Ok, this is an update, I just tried to add years to a premium I purchased on launch day and got this error:

Contact Customer Support to Renew this Name.

An error occurred during this update.


Domain Name Maintenance for

smn.tv
Extend the registration period for this domain name
Current expiration date:. 5/1/2008.
Registration price per year: $50.00



THIS IS NOT GOOD, I AGREE.

 

[DomainAgency.com]

I think they are testing the waters to see our reaction. It will be disastrous for them to drag this on, they need to be specific with their overall plan and make it known if they don't want to squander all the hype and momentum from their recent re-launch of premiums. They are already well on their way to doing that and are coming across as disorganized and unprofessional. The lack of synergy between ENOM, DEMAND MEDIA (Which I know ENOM owns), and VERISIGN is becoming more clear and obvious day by day. I think there is an internal conflict on how to move forward and they need to get on the same page FAST.

 

[Argos]

SKG, I agree 100% with Equity.
The .com renewal increases are well-known, low (6%) and, most importantly, totally predictable and delineated in the .com contract. More importantly, on a $6 domain, they are more or less meaningless to a developed site and only really matter if you are running a massive, parking arbitrage portfolio. Most people can handle a $0.36 increase in their domain renewal fees without changing their business model.
As of 3 days ago, and all during the time I registered any premium names, the Verisign stated policy to me and everyone else on this board who called and asked: "you can renew at the renewal price as long as you keep the name regged. if you let the name expire, all bets are off" not "we reserve the right to change the renewal price when, where and in whatever random way we chose."
The previous policy was fair and reasonable and predictable, as would a policy that said, "we will limit increases to 7% per year". A policy of utter randomness which is what is currently being described, is not only bad for registrants, it is bad for the TLD because this will deter investment in development. They are vastly underestimating the rationality of people and how they allocate their investment dollars. Asking about the stability of the renewal fees has been the first question of every investment partner I have spoken to about .tv.
It also has no parallels in the real world. "Come rent this piece of land and build a factory on it. Your annual lease will be whatever I choose it to be" is not a policy that is going to lead to a lot of factories being built on your land.
It is a policy that will keep .tv as a wasteland of developed sites as it has been in the past.
It is not like one can't go spend one's time in .com. For X,XXX to XX,XXX, you can get a perfectly decent .com to develop that has type in traffic and none of this nonsense to deal with. It is ludicrous to be the ones working to make a weak TLD more valuable and at the same time having to look over our shoulders to wonder what Verisign will dream up next.

I also don't understand why you (SKG) think that you are protected by regging for three years unless your only strategy is to flip during that time.
While I concede it is unlikely, what if you build a site that is successful and Verisign adds a "0" to your renewal price? I certainly see nothing in writing that says anything about the "10%" limited increase. This is speculation based on random conversations with random enom reps who historically have had no clue about premium names.
Anyway, here is where I come out:
a) this latest change is total nonsense and a complete repudiation of Verisign's prior, repeated assertions about how they were going to handle premiums
BUT
b) I am waiting to see how DM (and by extension their relationship with VSGN) handle themself
The senior Demand Media people I have spoken to so far have struck me as very reasonable, friendly and intelligent, albeit a bit caught by surprise by of all of this. Let's see what they come up with in the next few weeks.

I agree 100% with Equity and Antonis12.
No more reg for me, too instable management, no precise info, pure confusion.... congrats DM it is a very pro and attractive promo start !
The best joke of 1st May is their list of $100 'premiums' I can't believe it, and of course the top of the cream is their Me.tv barbie girl templates.

 

[MrRhee]

it is counterproductive & ridiculous.
I am getting different answers with every rep.
as of now, I can not renew(add years) to ANY of my new PREMIUM regs.

if Demand is waiting to see our reaction, then i hope they are watching when the blogosphere gets a whiff of this. good luck trying to control bad press...

what's that phrase again:

good news travels fast
bad news even faster
but on the internet: speed can kill

good luck recovering/cleaning up that mess.

it is quite amazing to me, as a new .TV developer that the renewal fees are "up in the air"... in fact, they have since changed their PREMIUM buy page to bring up a 2nd page (confirmation page after clicking BUY) that reminds you:

Please Note:

Annual Renewal fees for .TV premium names will be the same as the initial "Buy Now" registration fee. Renewal prices are subject to change.

.TV premium names cannot be transferred to another registrar.
Do you want to complete the purchase of this domain?
dskfjksdjfkdsjfkdsj.tv

$5000.00

this page was not there on DAY1 (not till DAY3), in fact, I'm not even sure if ANY of that language was there during the 1st hour of relaunch. can anyone confirm seeing any of this language under the BUY button during the feeding frenzy?

I am a developer (picked up GEOs, some very targeted NICHES) and find it very uncomfortable (to say the least) that DEMAND media (or VRSN) are trying to pull this stunt and potentially ruin .TVs longevity and credibility.

as I posted before, it is not a bait and switch, but there's got to be another term for it.

would any of you join a health club, golf club, etc... that told you that "We have the right to change your dues/fees next year by 10%-15%+ or anything we decide" ??? most people will walk away so fast and find another club to join (or TLD).

I am heavily invested in .COM, .MOBI and now semi-heavy into .TV (50+ premiums) and will work hard to develop for the .MOBI & .TV ecosystems, but I can guarantee that all my .mobis will get renewed when the time comes, but .TV is "up in the air".

hope someone with power, or decision makers from DEMAND/ENOM read what the web is saying and makes changes quickly (rectify/clarify the situation) before they do the .TV TLD irreparable harm.

/rant

 

[Makis.TV]

i didnt accept anything like that on the 1st day of premiums...
from what i remember...

 

[dpari]

.TV Scam or Not Scam?

This feels like a Major Scam!

Uncertainty is the Killer!

Time will tell...

-dpari