Behind the scenes, each TLD (like .com or .net) has an authoritative top level DNS controller. In the case of .com and .net, that is Verisign. Any registrar yo

Behind the scenes, each TLD (like .com or .net) has an authoritative top level DNS controller. In the case of .com and .net, that is Verisign. Any registrar you use (network solutions, godaddy, namecheap) are effectively reselling domain registrations on behalf of Verisign. .com names are currently $6.86, wholesale. So if you can get one from someone for 6.99, they are only marking it up by 13c ... As you will see here, prices do go up regularly: http://wtop.com/index.php?nid=108&sid=1378741 http://wtop.com/index.php?nid=108&sid=1378741 Verisign have a monopoly over .com and .net, however the retail registrars work in a massively competitive environment. You think about all the software and customer support a registrar gives you for 13c per year (or whatever), and how much effort Verisign put in for 6.86 per year? Of course, some of that goes to ICANN, the governing body... wanna guess how much? 20c per name. Is Verisign onto a good scam?