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ICANN Board finds no problems with new .Org contract

by — Policy & Law 3 Comments

Board believes Reconsideration Requests are without merit.

ICANN logo

ICANN’s Board of Directors has found no problems with ICANN’s handling of the .org contract renewal with Public Interest Registry.

Two organizations filed reconsideration requests over the controversial contract.

Domain name registrar Namecheap objected to the removal of price caps on .org domains.

Electronic Frontier Foundation objected to PIR’s ability to add new rights protections.

ICANN’s board believes its staff decisions were “consistent with ICANN Bylaws, policies, and procedures. Further, the Board did not fail to consider material information or rely on false or inaccurate materials…” in coming to its decision.

Now, both Namecheap and EFF have 15 days to submit a rebuttal.

While the decision is not unexpected, it’s interesting how the process played out. Usually, the Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (BAMC) makes a recommendation to the Board on what to do. In this case, so many members of the BAMC recused themselves due to possible conflicts of interest that the BAMC couldn’t form a quorum.

.Com Winners & Losers: A strong month for NameSilo

by — Domain Registrars 0 Comments

NameSilo has strong month. Here’s how other registrars fared.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers June 2019.

NameSilo surged this month, landing at #5 on the monthly list. It’s also nipping at the heels of GMO for #10 on the total .com DUMs chart.

This month I began including Ascio and EPAG in Tucows’ numbers. Previously, I only included Tucows and Enom.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 844698 (936,916 in May)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 254,177 (244,299)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 188,913 (see note)
4. Alibaba (HiChina) 158,341 (127,090)
5. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 149,951 (86,680)
6. NameCheap Inc. 148,553 (154,281)
7. Chengdu West 128,004 (157,668)
8. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 118,274 (119,903)
9. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 117,245 (127,762)
10. United Internet 61,939 (n/a)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of June 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,012,237 (51,026,467 in May)
2. Tucows** 13,265,609  (see note)
3. Endurance+ 6,928,107 (6,981,256)
4. Web.com++ 6,638,229 (6,677,492)
5. Alibaba 6,250,554 (6,308,304)
6. United Internet^ 5,558,557 (5,575,836 )
7. Namecheap 4,855,101 (4,799,244)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 4,201,902 (3,982,474)
9. Google 2,580,499 (2,506,924)
10. GMO 2,081,293 (2,062,451)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows, Enom, Ascio and EPAG
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

.Com winners and Losers: Dynadot stays hot

by — Domain Registrars 9 Comments

Dynadot remains in the top ten registrars for new .com registrations.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers May 2019.

Dynadot jumped into the top ten last month and it managed to stay there again this month. Dynadot has stopped its $6.99 promotional price on .com, so it will be interesting to see what happens when the Verisign/ICANN reports catch up to September.

NameSilo nudged its way back into the top 10 this month.

Also notable on the monthly chart is that Web.com (Network Solutions, Register.com) fell out of the top 10.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* (NYSE: GDDY) 936,916 (970,751 in April)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 244,299 (324,617)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 194,947 (191,620)
4. Chengdu West 157,668 (82,351)
5. NameCheap Inc. 154,281 (152,606)
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 127,762 (125,059)
7. Alibaba (HiChina) 127,090 (130,946)
8. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 119,903 (119,976)
9. NameSilo (CSE:URL) 86,680
10. Dynadot 85,307 (104,837)

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of May 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 51,026,467 (50,940,640 in April)
2. Tucows** 12,410,988 (12,484,323)
3. Endurance+ 6,981,256 (7,026,808)
4. Web.com++ 6,677,492 (6,713,881)
5. Alibaba 6,308,304 (6,288,135)
6. United Internet^ 5,575,836 (5,609,664)
7. Namecheap 4,799,244(4,745,085)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,982,474 (3,814,331)
9. Google 2,506,924 (2,434,742)
10. GMO 2,062,451 (2,026,751)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Dynadot jumps into top 10

by — Domain Registrars 2 Comments

Dynadot jumps into the top ten registrars for new .com registrations.

Image of man running up column chart with words "Top 10 Registrars"

ICANN has published the latest official data from Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) about the .com namespace. This registrar-by-registrar report covers April 2019.

An anomaly this month is Dynadot, which jumped into the top ten for monthly .com registrations. This pushed NameSilo out of the top ten. I think this has to do with pricing; while NameSilo’s .com sale ended at the end of Q1, Dynadot has continued with discounted pricing. It’s charging $6.99 right now for new .com registrations.

While this means NameSilo is absent from the monthly board this month, it should soon appear on the top ten overall. It has crossed two million .com domains under management but this isn’t reflected in the ICANN numbers, which only go through April.

Here’s how registrars did in terms of new .com registrations:

1. GoDaddy.com* 970,751 (NYSE: GDDY) (1,045,199 in March)
2. Xin Net Technology Corporation 324,617 (294,415)
3. Tucows** (NASDAQ:TCX) 191,620 (206,170)
4. NameCheap Inc. 152,606 (160,737)
5. Alibaba (HiChina) 130,946 (126,659)
6. Endurance+ (NASDAQ: EIGI) 125,059 (138,627)
7. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) 119,976 (135,927)
8. Dynadot 104,837
9. Web.com++  88,873 (83,600)
10. Chengdu West 82,351

Here’s the leaderboard of the top registrars in terms of total .com registrations as of the end of April 2019.

1. GoDaddy* 50,940,640 (50,831,723 in March)
2. Tucows**  12,484,323 (12,552,098)
3. Endurance+ 7,026,808 (7,065,847)
4. Web.com++ 6,713,881 (6,717,360)
5. Alibaba 6,288,135 (6,226,249)
6. United Internet^ 5,609,664 (5,630,889)
7. Namecheap 4,745,085 (4,694,598)
8. Xin Net Technology Corporation 3,814,331 (3,500,398)
9. Google 2,434,742 (2,361,414)
10. GMO 2,026,751 (2,007,437)

Many domain companies have multiple accreditations and I’ve tried to capture the largest ones. See the notes below.

* Includes GoDaddy, Wild West Domains and 123 Reg
** Includes Tucows and Enom
+ Includes PDR, Domain.com, FastDomain and Bigrock. There are other Endurance registrars, but these are the biggest.
++ Includes Network Solutions and Register.com
^ Includes 1&1, PSI, Cronon, United-Domains, Arsys and world4you

Namecheap files reconsideration request over removing .Org, .Info price caps

by — Domain Registrars 11 Comments

Company asks ICANN to reconsider its decision to remove price caps on some legacy top level domains.

Image of dollar sign and upwards arrow

One of the largest ICANN-accredited domain name registrars has filed a Reconsideration Request (pdf) with ICANN over its decision to remove price caps in its renewed contracts for .org and .info domain names.

Namecheap filed the request as a party that will be adversely affected by uncontrolled price increases. It also says it’s filing on behalf of domain registrants.

The complaint outlines what many people have already stated: removing price caps from legacy TLDs adds extreme uncertainty to domain registrants, switching costs for domains are high, and ICANN seemingly ignored public input. The company wrote:

Namecheap is submitting this reconsideration request to protect the rights and interests of Namecheap’s customers and the entire internet community. Price caps for legacy TLDs have been an integral longstanding foundation for the domain name marketplace, and removing them will result in uncertainty and confusion at a minimum, and in the worst case, increased costs for domain registrants worldwide.

I suspect that legal action or an antitrust lawsuit will be required to get ICANN to actually reverse course.

Based on the timing of the filing, it’s possible that ICANN’s board will have to vote on the Board Accountability Mechanism Committee’s recommendation on the request at the end of the ICANN meeting in Montreal this November. I’m sure the price hikes will be a big discussion during that meeting.