Re: [ga] The Future of Domain Registry Pricing, if left uncapped
kidsearch wrote: Okay, what is to stop you from adopting a method similar to dot tv? The .com, .biz, .info, .org registries could raise their registry fee through the roof - assuming that ICANN agrees - but as Jeff N. points out, there is some point at which they will begin to lose customers (that is, if we assume that the registries don't adopt the airline pricing model, in which prices go up nearly in synchrony with one another.) But there is another element - and that is that we users pay via registrars. (The domain "tasters" tend to be registrars themselves, so we can leave them out of this discussion.) The registrars, unlike the registries, do not obtain a customer lock-in, and there is a vibrant, even cutthroat competition among the registrars - just a few minutes, ago, for example, I bought a domain for several dollars below the registry fee, with the registrar eating the difference, but it was tied to the purchase of an SSL certificate.) If the registries raise their prices by a small amount - a couple of bucks - the registrars will feel forced to absorb that, cutting their profits. So, what will happen if registry prices is that we'll first start seeing registrars go bust before the consumers (you and me) start to feel the pain. But when we do start to feel the pain, we will have rather fewer registrars to chose from. And our brands and internet identities that we have worked so hard to build will still be locked into a give registry. Isn't it amazing how what started out as a community asset - .com, .net, .org - have become private property? (I'm leaving .biz and .info out of that because they started life under the new system.) --karl--
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