Should the domain name industry introduce perpetual domain registrations?
Companies like cash in the bank. They can do a lot with it: invest, buy back shares, etc.
So the idea of a “forever” domain registration in which one payment is made and you own the domain for life could appeal to an end user. It also appeals to the domain industry because it can use the cash and not have to worry about renewals.
Last week at the ICANN meeting in Barcelona, Epik founder Rob Monster explained to me what he’s trying to do with the concept of perpetual domain registrations. He’s offering these registrations on Epik for $420. Think of it as a proof of concept to show there’s demand for such a product.
What really needs to happen for domain registrars and registries to start offering a product like this is for the entire supply chain to be on board. The registry must offer a one-time price and ICANN must as well. Would ICANN accept a one-time $10 payment to cover all future fees it charges for domain registrations? Would Verisign accept a one-time $200 payment to renew a .com domain in perpetuity?
Epik’s Forever registrations
As it stands right now, Epik’s forever registration starts with a 10-year registration, the maximum allowed by the registries. After considering the registry fee and ICANN fees, this leaves Epik with $326 in working capital. It then renews the domain for another year each year.
Depending on what rate you consider your cost of capital, this gives Epik a lot of room. Monster figures that as long as the renewal price of a .com is $19.50 or less per year, the .com is self-financing into perpetuity without even tapping into the $326 “deposit”.
But what will the market be like in 10, 20 or 30 years? There’s a lot of uncertainty. Domains as we know them have ony been around for about 30 years.
Let’s say the NTIA agrees to let Verisign increase prices 5% a year starting next year. Assume ICANN does the same on its fees. It will still take nearly 20 years for the wholesale price of .com to top 20. 100 years from now the wholesale would be around $950 per year.
Epik’s terms of service give the company an out, albeit one that is friendly to registrants. Epik can cancel the registration at any time as long as it refunds 100% of the purchase price. It’s smart to have this exit clause given how much the market could change over time.
A panacea for domain companies and registrants?
I like the concept of perpetual registrations but I believe the entire industry needs to get on board. This is Monster’s goal. Prove demand to get people talking.
Public domain companies recognize revenue over time. So selling a perpetual registration for $420 today doesn’t let them recognize $420 in revenue. They’d have to recognize it over time…a long time.
But they can still invest the upfront cash and not have to worry about domain renewals. So it would be nice.
Will many consumers bite, though?
After all, people can already register domains for a decade at a time but few people do that. Consider the most recent Verisign registration report from June.
In June, there were 2,828,662 new .com registrations. 89% were for only one year. Fewer than 10,000 were for eight years or more.
6,525,072 .coms were renewed that month. Again, fewer than 10,000 were renewed for eight or more years.
To be fair, consumers might not see the advantage of paying in advance since .com prices have been steady for many years now. Also, it’s a 10-year registration, not lifetime. But there’s still a benefit to long registrations; you’re less likely to let a domain lapse.
Despite this, consider that many Fortune 500 companies only renew their primary domain one year at a time. Fedex.com expires next month!
It’s worth a conversation
I think it’s worth having a conversation about perpetual domain registrations. In order for it to go mainstream, all players in the supply chain must be contractually involved.
At a minimum, it might be time to talk about extending the 10-year maximum for registering and renewing domains.
Ha Ha Rob can’t get Jessica to spam $100 offers on 5 figure domains anymore because they will never expire.
The main reason these companies renew one year at a time, is some outsource it, and these companies want the business, and keep upping prices, the same reason lawyers UDRP domains with $199 BUY IT NOWS!
Forever domain registrations might be good for end-users, but not for domain investors.
Extending domain registrations and renewals by more than 10 years is a good idea.
Many dropcatchers shall cry too 😉
Can I pay with Epik buxs? or city shares? or austin dollars? Wait what idea is Rob on atm?
DigitalTown is in good hands. The management team in place there is doing great work, executing the vision that I laid out over the last 3 years. You might yet still get your humble pie, Bro.
As for EpikBucks, those were re-branded as Masterbucks so that they could be used anywhere. This pre-dates Crypto. We have folks buying and selling daily, tax-free as 1031 transactions.
You forgot to mention Domain Leasing. We invented the only secure version — a registrar that is also a leasing platform. It works like a champ and we are #1.
You can add Interest-free Domain Loans. I think we are #1 there too. The people who have loans with Epik know who they are. It has saved a lot of people’s bacon. That is probably news to you.
The Forever domain and more specifically Freehold domains is what we should have had in the first place. Major institutional capital does not like to rent. They own and rent out.
The industry has plenty of upside but the old park and wait model is not working. The guys who are winning are using Make-Offer parking landers and pivoting to leases. That formula works.
Seriously, Bill, I am still waiting for your next great industry-enhancing invention that lifts up the industry to a better state. I am sure that your intellect and talents could help a lot there. Try.
Master bucks oh right how silly of me … How many master bucks can I get for my unicorn fairy quarters? heh…
You take something and change the billing from 10 years to some random number … we should call you Rob Jobs that’s iPod level innovation!
Make sure you stick around long enough to provide the 42 year service contract for the poor suckers that still buy into your stupidity.
If buying a cemetery plot with 99-year burial rights is this complex, I think I’d rather have my ashes thrown in the sea.
forever domain registrations = unsecured loan to the domain registrar. doesn’t sound like a good place to put my money.
19.50/326 = 6% yield
Rob needs to invest monies at least at that rate to remain profitable.
It is a retail program and so far 1000 customers opted for it. Apparently it is useful to some people. We listened to the customer and innovated.
In the meantime, I have also shared the model and formula with the industry so that other registrars can do it. And they will.
Last but not least, we are working ICANN and the registries themselves to make this practice an industry norm without underwriting risk.
I expect several registries to confirm Forever pricing in the coming weeks. Some already have but are working on their back-end support.
The ICANN process will take longer to work out but I am confident that we’ll get there one way or another. Fortunately it is the smallest piece, e.g. $10.
Stay tuned.
Would a registry have to go through the Registry Service Evaluation Process with ICANN?
So what happens if I ever wanted to switch registrars because I like their services better? How do you guarantee renewals for me then? What protects me from you jacking up prices for support, etc?
What happens if your company went belly up?
The Terms of Service are here:
https://www.epik.com/forever.php
It is a one and done purchase. We are underwriting some registry renewal risk until the point in time when the registries themselves embrace the idea. The ICANN fees are relatively immaterial, but we are working with the Stakeholder Groups to advance the idea of a Forever ICANN fee.
Operationally, we renew the domains for the maximum period, and renew again on the anniversary. We have been doing these for a while now and it is smoothly serving more than 1000 Forever registrations with happy customers.
As for change of control, an acquiring party would take on the obligations of the company. The ToS calls for a scenario of refunding the Forever fee if an acquiring party did not want to carry Forever registrations.
As for registries, they can set whatever renewal rate they want on a domain. Ideally the various back-ends at support for one-off registrations. If they won’t, it is not a large task for Epik to offer a registry platform. We already run our own software and my engineering team assures me that they can do it.
At it is, I am already in discussions to acquire a registry but before going that route would prefer to work with registry operators to navigate ICANN endorsement of the one-off Freehold registration model. It is really not that complicated. In fact, it is easier than what we have today and could unleash support for new TLDs.
I commented further here about new TLDs here:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/how-well-are-the-new-extensions-doing.1107469/#post-6958864
As for Forever Registrations, more here:
https://epik.com/blog/forever-domain-registrations.html
If folks want to re-sell it, there is an affiliate program:
https://www.epik.com/support/knowledgebase/setting-up-an-affiliate-account/
Thank you for your efforts! I offer a true dose of how this might appeal to hearts rather than company pocketbooks: I’m a 70 year old, with COPD. I’m grandmother of a 19 year old grandson. We lost his Dad, my only child, in a car wreck 4 years ago. He had custody of my grandson his whole life. I was his much loved & cherished ‘MiMi’. Once my son died & his truly mentally ill mom got custody, I lost him too. He’s been literally brainwashed out of his deep love for me & his Dad. I have a website I SO WANT to be around for years to come. I believe he may, one day, see beyond the brainwash of his mom & his being able to see this website,
and show it to his kids, would mean the world to me. Companies give to ‘causes’, sometimes sincerely & sometimes for show. Seems to me Robert Monster/Epic is working hard to make something good happen. And I say all this knowing business is business & ‘making more $’ is the name of the game, yet there are very kind ‘service-oriented’ offerings companies could make in order to gain some ‘high integrity/greed balance’ to consider folks like me. And my grandson. I’d pay more with that guarantee of refund if it had to end. Thanks to those who listened. *PS I didn’t know I had to put my website until the end haha Y’all may think I’m the mentally ill one haha I do walk to the beat of a different drummer, yet I am not alone on this path & want my grandson to know what mattered to me.
Here’s my question (in the off chance that anyone is still monitoring this thread). How were domain names held before registration fees were introduced in 1995? Even as late as 1994, one could still register a domain name for free simply by emailing Network Solutions (under contract with the NSF) with no registration agreement governing the registration.
Because there was no registration agreement, how were registration terms enforced? Or was there actually a time when domain name registrations were perpetual?