VeriSign made its “official” announcement. Now what?
On February 2 of this year I wrote about VeriSign’s disclosure of plans to hike wholesale domain prices later this year. VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) CEO Stratton Sclavos said they would increase .com prices and .net prices:
“In essence,†said Sclavos, the .net price increases are “already locked and loaded.â€
VeriSign has made its semi-official announcement of price increases, and now the mainstream press is finally talking about this. There’s a 6 month waiting period before new prices will go into effect, so don’t expect price hikes until mid-October. You’ll pay 42 cents extra for .coms and 35 cents more for .net.
What can you do about it? There is a way in theory that VeriSign’s prices could be locked down for 10 years, if every domain name owner renewed his domains for 10 years before the price increase. That would require a hefty cash outlay for most people. A portfolio of 1,000 domains would require a $60,000 investment.
To be practical, it probably makes sense to renew your better domains for several years before the price increase goes into affect. You can expect most bargain registrars to increase their prices by $.42 in October.
Verisign actually now has the authority to raise prices by 7% every year. So in 2008, the price could potentially rise again to $6.87. Renewing for 10 years might actually be a good idea… if Verisign raises prices by 7% every year, in ten years the price could potentially be $12.63….
…and they can raise the price 10% per year on .net
Give me a break – does anyone remember what domain names cost when the internet was new?? Everything is so much cheaper than it used to be…STOP THE WHINNING!!! If it wasn’t for these companies we wouldn’t have the internet- for a bargin go to 1and1.com & stop crying- really! seriously!!