[registrars] knowing when to fold 'em

[Rick Wesson <wessorh@xxxxxx>]

I had an excellent conversation with ICANN's CFO (Diane Schroeder) about
the new budget and how it will apply to registrars. I am especially
concerned about the "phantom accreditations" and their business model.

The 3.8M variable-fee portion of our ICANN obligation will theoreticly be
about 4K per quarter per registrar. If a registrar participates in the
batch-pool they will not qualify for "forgiveness."

The new budget, and the new criteria, becomes effective Nov 1, 2004. This
means that if a registrar is participating in the batch-pool and their
accreditation renews after Nov 1 2004 they will be on the hook for about
7K which will be invoiced in Q1 2005.

If you want to avoid all the fees you could stop participating in the
batch-pool and ask for forgiveness but those "fantom registrars" they will
have to clear at least 2K/month to be able to cover the minimum ICANN
fees.

As the ICANN fees are associated with business models the net effect will
be to encourage the smaller registrars to leave the pool and larger
registrars will continue picking up any slack left in the system.

I've requested that ICANN instruct me on how to "shutdown" a registrar as
I have several clients that would now like to "leave" the registrar
business before Nov 1, 2004. I've been told that Ellen Sondheim is on
vacation and won't be back before the 20th leaving only 10 days for ICANN
to process an "application for de-creditation."

If anyone else learns how to exit this market before the bills come, do
post your thoughts.

-rick

ps Alice's Registry will not seek de-accreditation -- we are here for the
  long term; though, we have worked with several registrars that their
  sole business is to peruse names in the batch-pool