Why are .Biz Domain Prices Increasing?
Friday, April 27th, 2007
NeuStar’s rational for increasing prices: Everyone else is doing it.
.Biz registry NeuStar is raising wholesale prices 7% to $6.42. NeuStar’s rationalization for raising prices has nothing to do with increased security or management costs. Instead, NeuStar basically said “everyone else is doing it, so we’re going to do it too.”
NeuStar’s letter to ICANN about the price increase states “NeuStar is taking this action to align .BIZ domain prices more closely with those of competing global TLDs.”
VeriSign started the trend by hiking .com prices 7% and .net prices 10% effective later this year, the maximum allowable under its contracts with ICANN. NeuStar may raise its prices 10% per year.
.Org registry Public Interest Registry announced a price hike to $6.15 per domain. .Info registry Afilias is also increasing prices to $6.15.
Wholesale prices are those the registry charges accredited registrars to register, renew, or transfer a domain. The registrar then tacks on its profit margin in registration prices. Many registrars sell registrations for $1.00 more than registry fees, so they will have little choice but to increase prices later this year as these increases go into effect. Registrants can save money by renewing domains before the price hikes.
Further Reading:
[...] http://domainnamewire.com/2007/04/27/why-are-biz-domain-prices-increasing/ [...]
[...] of .com domains by 7% and .net domains by 10%. Other registries followed suit, sometimes with the simple justification that “everyone else is doing it.” Registrars responded by raising prices, with some taking the opportunity to tack on some extra [...]
[...] In fact, when .biz registry NeuStar raised prices last year, it’s reason for the price hike was that “everyone else was doing it“. [...]