RE: [registrars] OUTCOMES REPORT OF THE GNSO AD HOC GROUP ON DOMAIN NAME TASTING
Hi Bob- The 4.3 section is just part of the document that I had vetted against the registrar constituency to include the non-tasting uses of AGP that were supplied to me by registrars. I have attached the most recent version of the registrar feedback, as well as the larger document it will be contained within (still in flux). Our section is going to be renumbered in the report to section 4.4 as of final drafting which is not yet back from the group. I am careful not to at any point assert that I speak on behalf of the entire RC, and there were 38 responses out of our 65 members that submitted AGP uses, which I summarized as being 5 uses: 1. Correcting typographical errors made by the registrant 2. Using a cart "hold" system to provide access to names 3. Mitigating fraud impacts; 4. Proactively monitoring the security and stability of their provisioning systems and customer experience; and 5. Addressing situations of Buyers Remorse on behalf of the registrant The actual final document will finalize tomorrow afternoon @14:00 PDT (GMT-8). I am currently going through an iterative process with the IPC and BC on their comments, but Jeff Eckhaus and I worked to keep this document largely intact as is. I am grateful to all members of this constituency who helped submit their input on the drafting of the attached document. -Jothan Jothan Frakes Oversee Domain Services ...................................................... 515 S. Flower Street, Suite 4400 Los Angeles, CA 90071 direct +1.213.925.5206 cell +1.206.355.0230 jfrakes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.domainsponsor.com <http://www.domainsponsor.com> Confidentiality Warning: This e-mail contains information intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, any dissemination, publication or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. The sender does not accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or computer system that may occur while using data contained in, or transmitted with, this e-mail. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify us by return e-mail. Thank you and have a nice day. No lawyers were harmed in the creation of this disclaimer. ________________________________ From: owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-registrars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Robert F. Connelly Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:59 AM To: Registrars Constituency Subject: [registrars] OUTCOMES REPORT OF THE GNSO AD HOC GROUP ON DOMAIN NAME TASTING Dear Registrars: The following is the present draft of the "Outcomes Report". It deals with uses of the AGP other than domain tasting. It is a redlined version and I see that the redlined elements did not survive my cut and paste efforts. Regards, BobC 4.3Opinion Polling of Registrars regarding use of AGP Following statements within the group that the AGP was sometimes used by registrars for other purposes, not connected to domain tasting or corrections of misspelled names, the question was raised to some registrars to exemplify their uses of the AGP. Below is an excerpted, edited version of the submission provided by the registrar representatives in the group, the complete submission is in Annex __: The RFI regarding the use of AGP posed three different options to consider in remedying the current abuses in AGP: (1) making the ICANN fee non-refundable; (2) requiring some form of restocking fee per name deleted within the AGP term; and (3) eliminating the AGP in its entirety. [In a straw poll [please provide for an Annex] sent to [how many, and how many responded? Provide responses for Annex.] registrars to comment on what the impact would be to their registrants were AGP to be eliminated in its entirety, certain [how many? Who?] registrars indicated that they were using the AGP for customers in a beneficial manner. All of these registrars believed that the elimination of AGP would break their cart or provisioning systems or monitoring, and would require significant re-engineering to re-architect their registrar systems should there be an elimination of AGP.] [The concept of eliminating the AGP in its entirety is of concern to some registrars who utilize the AGP in ways other than tasting or kiting to provide a high quality of service to their registrants, including by:] 1.Correcting typographical errors made by the registrant 2.Using a cart ?hold? system to provide access to names 3.Mitigating fraud impacts; and 4.Proactively monitoring the security and stability of their provisioning systems and customer experience. [Two of the identified uses [which two? Identify briefly.] were considered proprietary, which required some generalization to where the polled registrar was not identifiable specifically and the respondent was comfortable with supplying it in response.] [Some registrars felt that the complete elimination of the AGP would miss the importance of these benefits which are completely separate and distinct from tasting or kiting. A description of each of these benefits and a review of how the two other measures proposed for curing the abuses of the AGP, making the ICANN fee non-refundable or requiring some form of restocking fee per name deleted within the AGP term, follows.] [It should be considered that the response to the RFI from registrants is generally formed largely by the experience that they have with their registrar. Registrants are presented by their registrar (or registrar reseller) with a ?front end? consisting of web based ?shopping carts? or portals to register or manage their domain names, host records, email, web hosting, blogs, etc. in the interests of simplifying the process and streamlining the user experience. Most registrants are sheltered from the confusing world of the provisioning protocols and technical aspects or business rules of policy that registrars face, and as such may not appreciate some of the other issues registrars face and how the AGP helps address certain of those issues. ] AGP Use 1: Correction of typographical errors made by registrant Whatever the source of the typographical mistake the registrant seems to make, typographical mistakes do happen, and the AGP is used by many registrars to remedy this situation. At last count, there are now more than 900 ICANN-accredited registrars. This has caused intense competition for customers, and has driven down margins in some of the price competitive registrars. Price sensitive customers have found registrars that service their needs, but there are also registrants who are more service sensitive than price sensitive, who demand a higher standard of experience from their registrar.] Because there are so many registrars, there is competition to differentiate themselves to the marketplace. Some registrars provide very high levels of customer service as a distinguishing feature. These registrars are extremely focused on the quality experience of the registrant, such that a phone call to the registrar?s customer service department can reverse a registration within the AGP, to correct a typographical error.] AGP Use 2: Cart ?Hold? as an improved registration experience [There are registrars that have raised the argument that the practice of domain tasting is creating a confusing user experience that is disruptive to their business. They believe that domain tasting generates volumes of customer complaints being fielded by their customer service departments, which contend that a domain was looked up and available for their company one day, and then approval or budget to proceed is obtained, only to find that within the time elapsed it had been registered by someone else. When one shops for something unique at a store, it is a common customer experience to see an item that interests a potential purchaser and that potential purchaser asks the sales clerk to set it aside while the purchaser continues to shop, or the purchaser leaves and comes back to confirm with a spouse, or goes to get some cash, etc. The item gets held for a period of time and presumably this is done so that nobody else can purchase it as though it was left on the shelf. Many registrars leave the item on the shelf, as it were, and only fully allocate the item upon completion of payment. This creates a circumstance where someone could conceivably purchase it elsewhere. On the other hand, there are some registrars that have created a cart reserve process utilizing the AGP, that immediately adds the domain at the registry once it gets looked up by the user. This completely mitigates the issue of the domain being otherwise provisioned by another while completing the sales process. If the sales process is not completed, or nearly 5 days passes, the domain is deleted at the registry. This process could be adopted by registrars that are concerned about customer confusion, but many of the registrars that compete on price and thus operate on thin profit margins will likely not adopt this approach because it means that their available funds at the registry are held in a non-sales transaction until it closes. As a matter of budget, most registrars opt to keep their balance available at the registry and not commit funds at the registry with the add command until a finalized purchase has completed with the registrant. AGP Use 3: Fraud remedies The AGP currently allows, in the event that fraud occurs, that domain names registered but still within the AGP can be returned for credit. Some of such types of fraud correction would be (but are not limited to): ?Recovering from activity where some bad actor stole registrar account credentials through phishing ?Remedy of credit card fraud, or ?Correctional efforts against a rogue reseller customer. AGP Use 4: Proactive monitoring [Many registrars take proactive steps to monitor and ensure the security and stability of their registration and resolution systems. This is done to provide quality service to their customers, to ensure high availability, or to meet dedicated service level agreements for their customers or resellers. Registrars use the AGP as a fundamental tool for proactive monitoring as a means to determine the health of their connections to the provisioning system of registries. Some of the registrars polled do this only when there is not typical registration activity to indicate system help. Some of the registrars do a simple EPP registration and deletion, others run a fairly comprehensive suite of tests combining EPP and DNS that involve registration, modification, and determination that DNS resolution changes also took effect prior to deleting the test name. Registrars indicated in their responses that they gratefully appreciate careful forethought, evaluation, and consideration of these other impacts should there be changes to business logic or provisioning logic, or provisioning systems as a part of any PDP. A forced or sudden change in the behavior of an EPP command or expected behavior of current provisioning systems, could take time and technical resources to implement, per GTLD, per registrar. Attachment:
Section4_3_20071003_jf.doc Attachment:
GNSO Domain Tasting ad hoc group Outcomes Report (final draft mxr redline).doc
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