RE: [ga] The Future of Domain Registry Pricing, if left uncapped

["Neuman, Jeff" <Jeff.Neuman@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris,

Please see my response in ALL CAPS below:



-----Original Message-----
From: kidsearch [mailto:kidsearch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 08, 2006 2:56 PM
To: Neuman, Jeff; George Kirikos; ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ga] The Future of Domain Registry Pricing, if left
uncapped

Okay, what is to stop you from adopting a method similar to dot tv?

 -- I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WE WOULD BE ABLE TO INTRODUCE AN AUCTION MODEL
(LIKE WE BELIEVE .TV TO BE) WITHOUT SUBMITTING A FORMAL PROPOSAL TO THE
ICANN THROUGH ITS NEW REGISTRY SERVICES PROCESS. I AM NOT SURE WHY YOU
BELIEVE WE WOULD BE ABLE TO DO THAT UNDER THE PROPOSED AGREEMENT.

What about the ability to price hike existing clients who cannot afford
to
waste the marketing dollars, time, and effort it took to build traffic
to
the website so would have no choice but to pay up or get a new domain
name
elsewhere?

 -- AGAIN, I AM NOT SURE WHERE YOU GET THE PERCEPTION THAT WE ARE ABLE
TO CHARGE DIFFERENT PRICES FOR DIFFERENT DOMAIN NAMES.  THE NORMAL PRICE
FOR A RENEWAL OF A .BIZ DOMAIN NAME TO ONE REGISTRAR MUST BE THE SAME AS
THE PRICE FOR ANY OTHER REGISTRAR (REMEMBER, WE DO NOT CHARGE THE END
REGISTRANT...THAT IS DONE BY THE REGISTRARS).  

I'm not saying you plan to do any of this, but contracts are not usually
written with a "trust us, we won't do you wrong" clause. Usually you do
take
the hypothetical into account with contracts. That is pretty much why
there
are contracts. So it is entirely appropriate to speculate what could
happen
if it is not clarified more.

-- WHAT LANGUAGE CAN YOU POINT TO IN THE PROPOSED AGREEMENT (WHEN
COMPARING IT TO THE EXISTING AGREEMENT) THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO DO THE
HYPOTHETICAL THINGS YOU BELIEVE WE ARE ABLE TO DO.  IN OTHER WORDS, JUST
BECAUSE THERE IS NO MAXIMUM PRICE STATED IN THE AGREEMENT, WHY DO YOU
BELIEVE WE ARE ENTITLED TO CHARGE A DIFFERENT WHOLESALE FEE FOR EACH
REGISTERED DOMAIN NAME?  THE LANGUAGE IN THE PROPOSED AGREEMENT IS
SIMILAR TO THE LANGUAGE IN THE CURRENT AGREEMENT WITH THE ONE EXCEPTION
OF THERE BEING NO MAXIMUM FEE.  AND IN RELATION TO THAT, WE ARE LIMITED
BY THE EXISTING MARKET CONDITIONS IN THE PRICES THAT WE CHARGE.