[net-com] Re: The .net subcommittee draft

[Cary Karp <ck@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Forwarded on behalf of Jeff Neuman

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The draft mentions that pricing should be an important factor.

Please consider the following:

1)  ICANN is not selecting its supplier, but rather a third party to
perform a service.  In most RFPs where the contractor is selecting a
supplier, price is obviously a key component.  Here it is not ICANN paying
the Registry Fees, but rather a Registrar that is paying the fee.  
However, according to the draft presented, it states "All things being
equal with respect to baseline stability, technical and financial criteria,
preference should be given to proposals offering lower pricing of the
domain name."  This is even higher up than enhancements, innovation and
other factors, which should be viewed as more important.  Price should
still be considered, but so long as the price is credible and reasonable,
other factors should take precedence.

2)  Second, and perhaps more important is that a price reduction does not
necessarily benefit the end user.  I am not sure that the GNSO Council
realizes this point.  Regardless of the price, Registrars still charge the
same amount.  They just get larger margins.  The Consumer still pays the
same.  Just look at this pricing list of a few registrars of unsponsored
TLDs.  Although the registry price for .biz and .info are less, the domain
names at a retail level are still the same:

Network Solutions (http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/name-it/)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $34.99
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $34.99
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $34.99
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $34.99


Register.com (http://www.register.com/pricing/index.cgi)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $35 per year
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $35 per year
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $35 per year (2 year min.)
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $35 per year (2 year min.)

DomainBank (http://www.domainbank.net/pricing.cfm?affiliateid=1)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $35 per year
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $35 per year
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $35 per year
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $35 per year

ENOM  (http://www.enom.com/pricing.asp)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $29.95 per year
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $29.95 per year
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $29.95 per year
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $29.95 per year

DIRECTI (www.directi.com)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $12.99 per year
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $12.99 per year
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $12.99 per year
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $12.99 per year

Encirca (http://www.encirca.biz/html/prices.shtml)

.com -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $18 per year
.org -- Registry Price is $6.00; Retail Price = $18 per year
.biz -- Registry Price is $5.30; Retail Price = $18 per year
.info - Registry Price is $5.75; Retail Price = $18 per year

In fact, some registrars, like OnlineNic
(http://www.onlinenic.com/english/prices.html) charge more for .biz and
.info that .com (which is actually more expensive).

Bottom line is that I think more careful consideration should be paid to the
"Pricing. All things being equal with respect to baseline stability,
technical and financial criteria, preference should be given to proposals
offering lower pricing of the domain name."

This may lure bidders into believing that the lowest price should be
selected, when in reality, I believe there are a lot more crucial issues to
look at.  Each of our registries one day will be up for re-bid.  The
criteria used here will be used when .info, .biz, .name, .pro, etc. come up
for renewal.  Do we want price to be one of the most important determining
factors, if we want to rebid on our own registries?

Rather than price, one needs to look at "Value".  The two words are
similar, but completely different.