Group plans to increase registry and registrar fees.
ICANN has formally announced that it plans to raise the fees it charges domain name registries and registrars, including the “ICANN tax” that registrars typically pass along to domain registrants.
The non-profit published a lengthy whitepaper that buries the lede, so let me break it down in simpler terms:
- For registries, ICANN intends to increase the quarterly fixed fee from $6,250 to $6,450 and the per-domain transaction fee from $0.25 to $0.258. It intends to continue increasing these prices in line with inflation.
- For registrars, it intends to increase the per-domain transaction fee from $0.18 to $0.20 and the total variable fee that is divided amongst registrars from $3.42 million to $3.80 million.
On the registry side, ICANN has a contractual right to increase the prices.
For registrar increases, registrars representing 2/3rds of all registrar fees paid must approve.
ICANN considers the registrar fee changes a rollback of pricing. It gave a 10% discount on previous fees to incentivize registrars to adopt the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement. That was obviously a long time ago.
Most registrars pass the per-domain fee on to customers as a separate line item, so this increase will be readily apparent to registrants.
A non-profit that focus on money, nice salaries and perks.
As former ICANN staff, I can confirm that the “nice salaries” are only for those we see in the tax forms. The vast majority of staff earn in the 50-75th percentile for the role/industry, and you would be surprised how low that actually is. This vast majority is overworked, underpaid, and now suffering through terrible morale. Please properly kick the people at the top- but not the grunts.
I hope they go broke. The individuals who are responsible for this yet another rate raising move are completely out of touch with what is going on in the industry right now. Wait till the new registration/drop numbers come out this winter. Ive never seen an industry so blindly corrupt and controlled by greed as the domain industry is today.
I’ve always wondered why the transaction fee is so low.
I think Verisgn should be obligated to charge fair-value for .com domains rather than market value, but the market value of a .com domain is significantly higher than fair-value. The way I see it, you want to fund your oversight body based on market values even if you’re only paying fair-value for the product / asset.
I wouldn’t give a second thought to an ICANN fee that’s 5-10x what it is currently. I don’t know anyone that would care as long as the extra money isn’t being wasted. Why is the fee so low?
Another reminder that there’s something fundamentally broken about the domain system. https://rmf.vc/foreverurls
Thanks for pointing this out Andrew.
Regarding this: “It intends to continue increasing these prices in line with inflation.” I have a simple question – did their whitepaper say their costs had increased in line with inflation also, or just that they were taking the opportunity to increase their prices accordingly?
Their costs have increased a lot, and they aren’t making their budget. At the same time, domain transactions are falling. The paper stresses that they are also taking other actions to cut costs.
Thanks! Good to hear they’re also doing cost-cutting.
Costs are increasing every where and it will increase further.. Unfortunately it not going to stop..
Stop the Verisign monopoly and take bids to operate the .com registry at competitive pricing. Watch the registration numbers when the TLD isn’t seeing constant 7% price increases for no reason other than greed. People wonder where inflation comes from, monopolies are a common source.
During the Finance and Planning Update last week, ICANN stated that FY2024 ended with a deficit of $5 million. That was covered by previous surpluses in the general fund. FY2025 (which ends 30 June 2025) is forecast to have a $4 million deficit. ICANN has committed to reducing that to 0 by the end of FY2025, so yes, they are making cuts.