Prices are still much cheaper than competing services.
Expired domain drop catching service Pheenix announced it is increasing prices “Due to price increases by both ICANN and registries.”
The move comes days after SnapNames and NameJet both announced price increases.
Pheenix will now charge $24.99 (up from $21.99) for regular backorders, which is still much less than the new $79.00 pricing at SnapNames and NameJet.
The company will also increase the price of its Super Saver backorders by $1.00 to $14.99. These backorders are usurped by full-price backorders.
The new prices go into effect August 1.
Pheenix also announced .xyz drop catching capabilities for just $4.99.
I once used Pheenix super saver back order, it did not fill, so I go to do a Whois, and the name wasn’t even registered
Pheenix made good money on the Chinese fools gold rush, that market is now on life support, Tran needs to pay for his toys somehow.
Who are other players in new gTLD drop catching business and what extensions are supported, please?
Increases???
Only registry price increase I know of is PIR and .ORG. It’s going up about $1 dollar on August 1st. That justifies increasing all backorder prices I guess?
@YamadaMedia,
It’s not about what’s justified. Drop catchers are pitted against one another in an arms race. One guy ups the ante with bigger weapons (i.e. more registrars); so the other guy must respond in kind in simply to preserve market share. Whichever company keeps prices low will soon find its catching less effective; so it will be muscled out of business.
This drives up costs for both consumers and the drop catchers; so it’s ultimately wasteful. But it’s inevitable, as far as I can see.
There’s also an element of … well, I don’t want to say collusion. But all the drop catchers know that they can all make more money if they all raise prices together. Although they compete with one another for business, they all have the same financial motivation to see a higher price per order.
In aggregate, it’s a sort of monopoly. Newcomers can’t enter this space and compete because they’ll lack both resources (to win domains) and traction (to win customers). So all the drop catchers can wink at one another and gradually raise the temperature of the pot we crabs are swimming in.