You aren't "re-up"ing. Domain names are not pre-paid cell phone plans. Look at it this way. Until a domain is registered, nobody owns it. When you pay to regis

You aren't "re-up"ing. Domain names are not pre-paid cell phone plans. Look at it this way. Until a domain is registered, nobody owns it. When you pay to register a domain, you aren't buying it on the registrar's behalf. When you register a domain name you are purchasing that domain name for the duration of the registration period. You own it. Period. The registrar's role is to handle certain technical functions such as providing PTR service, WHOIS records, and to expire the domain when the registration period expires. They don't own it, and the cost of registration is meant to cover their operating costs. This is also why domains are so cheap. A .com is about $10 per year. That's basically nothing, when you compare to other things you pay for. If there weren't a recurring fee, people would never give up their unused domain names.