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I am the owner of a premium gTLD (.dev), which I pay $1,000 per year for. Google runs .dev. I read the contract carefully, there is nothing preventing Google f

I am the owner of a premium gTLD (.dev), which I pay $1,000 per year for. Google runs .dev. I read the contract carefully, there is nothing preventing Google from increasing the price to 10,000 or 100,0000. It’s my biggest fear. My only hope is that Google wouldn’t do it from a PR perspective, which I think is a safe and fair assumption. The real worry is they sell the rights to .dev to GoDaddy or somebody else, because then I am screwed. Google is one of the best things to happen to domain registrations. I highly recommend them. Even though I’m contractually exposed, to date, Google have been conducting themselves very well in the domain registration market. One of the great things about .com is that there is a contractual cap on price increases. However the domain I bought would cost in the 10s of millions if it was a .com; so at 1,000 per year, it’s a good deal for the .dev version as long as they don’t significantly increase it (I’m okay with 10% per year increases).

Semaphor 6y ago
> In a sea of unscrupulous players (who track what names you search and grab them before you do in case they are any good) Not really… There are many reputable ones. Gandi, namecheap and cloudflare are ones I can immediately think of. It’s just that some shady ones like GoDaddy do a lot of marketing.
- abhinav22 6y ago
  Fair point. A lot of the dodgy stuff happens in the secondary market, which biased my original note, I’ll edit it if I can
- 52-6F-62 6y ago
  I’ve been with Namecheap for years and they’ve been great. No complaints.
- dingaling 6y ago
  Gandi has started locking some TLDs away behind a 'corporate membership' subscription at €60 per month.
ship_it 6y ago
> Google is one of the best things to happen to domain registrations. Thats Google lobbying laterally through other industries but you just can't see it
- abhinav22 6y ago
  Could you expand please? It affects me a lot so definitely want to know as much as about this area as possible. I see Google Domains as a strategic division that supports their cloud services and Google Suites (note how Amazon also sells domains now, I think and hope they both see it as a necessity and don’t kill it like other Google projects they have abandoned).
  - ship_it 6y ago
    Google being "Google" a/k/a using Ad-net Integration Model (Ads&Network) heads towards buying out all competition and then killing it forcefully (if it stands in a way); this way they [Google] stay on top of the every industry line on the www (which crazy enough, includes domain registers). It's basically lobbying for the company greater good, see: Entrepreneurship 101 =) There are many reputable domain registers like NameCheap and alike, that offers so much for less price. But, try typing domain registration in the Google and see what is the first URL offered to you (ta-da: it's Google Domain Registrant and GCM integration).
    - abhinav22 6y ago
      Thanks, that helps :)
jonplackett 6y ago
How do google justify charging £1000 a year in the first place though? It's so much higher than most other domains.
- SquareWheel 6y ago
  The parent said it was a premium domain. Think cars.dev or similar.
- dodobirdlord 6y ago
  Certain domain names are in high demand. What more justification is needed?
  - Krasnol 6y ago
    OP was probably looking for something outside the greedy capitalist justification: "because I can".
- corobo 6y ago
  Is money and we like money lol -- Google
- sct202 6y ago
  Google gets more money, and a domain name investor would have bought up all common words instantly if they were normal priced. Like a lot of people have held on to .com domains for decades with no intention of doing anything except selling them as an investment.
stkdump 6y ago
> the domain I bought would cost in the 10s of millions if it was a .com I don't know much about the pricing of domains, so please excuse my ignorance. Isn't that just due to the fact that your name was already taken on .com so you had to use a TLD, where is was still free? The 10s of millions you don't have to pay to registrar, you have to pay it the current owner of the domain, who like an owner of anything can dictate the price. If that is correct, then how is 'google one of the best things to happen to domain registrations'? I guess this is not refering to pricing, because 1k$/a sounds like a lot of money for a domain.
- ehnto 6y ago
  An individual can sell the transfer rights for as much as they like, but that is separate from the registrar fees.
- abhinav22 6y ago
  You are right - it relates less to pricing and more to having a trustworthy registrant to partner with. And it’s very easy to adjust various DNS setting with Google, the whole process is very well done. Highly recommend them here and many others do too. Re pricing, I’ve noticed a few others bringing it up on 1,000 per year. This is a premium domain and instead of some scalper grabbing it up, by setting the annual price high, an actual end user like myself gets to buy one. In a perfect world we will be the first to snag up a domain, but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants. 1,000 sounds a lot per year, but when the .com is in the millions, it’s much fairer.
  - rualca 6y ago
    > (...) but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants. I don't understand how it can be argued that arbitrary price hikes works better for those who have to pay those arbitrary price hikes, specially if it's under a scheme where anyone can swipe your domain out of your hands regardless of how much you've invested in it without you being fairly compensated for it if their pockets run deeper.
SheinhardtWigCo 6y ago
I wouldn't fear Google imposing price increases, I would fear Google eventually jettisoning their registry business because it doesn't make Google-scale money or serve a strategic purpose.
- abhinav22 6y ago
  Yep that’s my fear! Oh well, nothing in life is certain. However I am hopeful it has a strategic purpose - for anyone using Google Cloud Services, it would be more convenient to have the domain registration bundled in. Similarly, Google sell you you@yourdomain.com as an add on in Google Suites.
- nulbyte 6y ago
  I would fear Google introducing a new product or five, then sunsetting two, letting one old product hang on while they only add new functionality to another before deprecating both to resurrect an older product, then deciding they have put enough pressure on others to accomplish their goal (competition lower prices or introduces new features) so they can kill all their domain products now.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  FYI, TLDs cannot be killed off (for good reason; dropping a bunch of domain names would be harmful to the Internet). The worst that can happen is that they're transferred to another registry operator. ICANN requires daily escrow deposits as a condition of running a TLD, which allows emergency registry operators to step in and ensure TLD operation continuity if that becomes necessary. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en
- TheCoelacanth 6y ago
  I think that's unlikely. It can't cost them that much to run and it does serve an important strategic purpose of preventing anyone else from gaining control of a key piece of infrastructure that their whole business depends on.
ignoramous 6y ago
Google is unnecessarily expensive than namecheap.com. As a user of both domains.google and namecheap, I'd recommend namecheap. Usually, in both the cases, I immediately move registration to Cloudflare-run registrar.
- mkl 6y ago
  I'm not sure I understand your last sentence. If you're going to move the registration to Cloudflare, why not start on Cloudflare?
  - whs 6y ago
    They don't offer new registration
- abhinav22 6y ago
  The ease of use with Google is pretty good. Yes I pay a bit extra, but the overall package is very well done. I’ve heard good things about namecheap too.
ydlr 6y ago
> Google have been conducting themselves very well in the domain registration market. Except, of course, for the lies they used to enter the market[1]. Repeated throughout: "Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in this new gTLD." 1. https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails:downloadapplication/1339?t:ac=1339 https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationde...
- justinclift 6y ago
  Interesting. Looking over that, it seems you're right. Wonder why this isn't more widely known?
CydeWeys 6y ago
Curious what your domain is?
- abhinav22 6y ago
  Secret for now :) Need a good 1-2 years before it’s ready to launch.

Semaphor 6y ago

> In a sea of unscrupulous players (who track what names you search and grab them before you do in case they are any good) Not really… There are many reputable ones. Gandi, namecheap and cloudflare are ones I can immediately think of. It’s just that some shady ones like GoDaddy do a lot of marketing.

abhinav22 6y ago
Fair point. A lot of the dodgy stuff happens in the secondary market, which biased my original note, I’ll edit it if I can
52-6F-62 6y ago
I’ve been with Namecheap for years and they’ve been great. No complaints.
dingaling 6y ago
Gandi has started locking some TLDs away behind a 'corporate membership' subscription at €60 per month.

ship_it 6y ago

> Google is one of the best things to happen to domain registrations. Thats Google lobbying laterally through other industries but you just can't see it

abhinav22 6y ago
Could you expand please? It affects me a lot so definitely want to know as much as about this area as possible. I see Google Domains as a strategic division that supports their cloud services and Google Suites (note how Amazon also sells domains now, I think and hope they both see it as a necessity and don’t kill it like other Google projects they have abandoned).
- ship_it 6y ago
  Google being "Google" a/k/a using Ad-net Integration Model (Ads&Network) heads towards buying out all competition and then killing it forcefully (if it stands in a way); this way they [Google] stay on top of the every industry line on the www (which crazy enough, includes domain registers). It's basically lobbying for the company greater good, see: Entrepreneurship 101 =) There are many reputable domain registers like NameCheap and alike, that offers so much for less price. But, try typing domain registration in the Google and see what is the first URL offered to you (ta-da: it's Google Domain Registrant and GCM integration).
  - abhinav22 6y ago
    Thanks, that helps :)

jonplackett 6y ago

How do google justify charging £1000 a year in the first place though? It's so much higher than most other domains.

SquareWheel 6y ago
The parent said it was a premium domain. Think cars.dev or similar.
dodobirdlord 6y ago
Certain domain names are in high demand. What more justification is needed?
- Krasnol 6y ago
  OP was probably looking for something outside the greedy capitalist justification: "because I can".
corobo 6y ago
Is money and we like money lol -- Google
sct202 6y ago
Google gets more money, and a domain name investor would have bought up all common words instantly if they were normal priced. Like a lot of people have held on to .com domains for decades with no intention of doing anything except selling them as an investment.

stkdump 6y ago

> the domain I bought would cost in the 10s of millions if it was a .com I don't know much about the pricing of domains, so please excuse my ignorance. Isn't that just due to the fact that your name was already taken on .com so you had to use a TLD, where is was still free? The 10s of millions you don't have to pay to registrar, you have to pay it the current owner of the domain, who like an owner of anything can dictate the price. If that is correct, then how is 'google one of the best things to happen to domain registrations'? I guess this is not refering to pricing, because 1k$/a sounds like a lot of money for a domain.

ehnto 6y ago
An individual can sell the transfer rights for as much as they like, but that is separate from the registrar fees.
abhinav22 6y ago
You are right - it relates less to pricing and more to having a trustworthy registrant to partner with. And it’s very easy to adjust various DNS setting with Google, the whole process is very well done. Highly recommend them here and many others do too. Re pricing, I’ve noticed a few others bringing it up on 1,000 per year. This is a premium domain and instead of some scalper grabbing it up, by setting the annual price high, an actual end user like myself gets to buy one. In a perfect world we will be the first to snag up a domain, but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants. 1,000 sounds a lot per year, but when the .com is in the millions, it’s much fairer.
- rualca 6y ago
  > (...) but this model of charging premium prices for domains, as long as it’s not exorbitant, works better for both end users and registrants. I don't understand how it can be argued that arbitrary price hikes works better for those who have to pay those arbitrary price hikes, specially if it's under a scheme where anyone can swipe your domain out of your hands regardless of how much you've invested in it without you being fairly compensated for it if their pockets run deeper.

SheinhardtWigCo 6y ago

I wouldn't fear Google imposing price increases, I would fear Google eventually jettisoning their registry business because it doesn't make Google-scale money or serve a strategic purpose.

abhinav22 6y ago
Yep that’s my fear! Oh well, nothing in life is certain. However I am hopeful it has a strategic purpose - for anyone using Google Cloud Services, it would be more convenient to have the domain registration bundled in. Similarly, Google sell you you@yourdomain.com as an add on in Google Suites.
nulbyte 6y ago
I would fear Google introducing a new product or five, then sunsetting two, letting one old product hang on while they only add new functionality to another before deprecating both to resurrect an older product, then deciding they have put enough pressure on others to accomplish their goal (competition lower prices or introduces new features) so they can kill all their domain products now.
CydeWeys 6y ago
FYI, TLDs cannot be killed off (for good reason; dropping a bunch of domain names would be harmful to the Internet). The worst that can happen is that they're transferred to another registry operator. ICANN requires daily escrow deposits as a condition of running a TLD, which allows emergency registry operators to step in and ensure TLD operation continuity if that becomes necessary. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ebero-2013-04-02-en
TheCoelacanth 6y ago
I think that's unlikely. It can't cost them that much to run and it does serve an important strategic purpose of preventing anyone else from gaining control of a key piece of infrastructure that their whole business depends on.

ignoramous 6y ago

Google is unnecessarily expensive than namecheap.com. As a user of both domains.google and namecheap, I'd recommend namecheap. Usually, in both the cases, I immediately move registration to Cloudflare-run registrar.

mkl 6y ago
I'm not sure I understand your last sentence. If you're going to move the registration to Cloudflare, why not start on Cloudflare?
- whs 6y ago
  They don't offer new registration
abhinav22 6y ago
The ease of use with Google is pretty good. Yes I pay a bit extra, but the overall package is very well done. I’ve heard good things about namecheap too.

ydlr 6y ago

> Google have been conducting themselves very well in the domain registration market. Except, of course, for the lies they used to enter the market[1]. Repeated throughout: "Members of the public will not be able to register domain names in this new gTLD." 1. https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationdetails:downloadapplication/1339?t:ac=1339 https://gtldresult.icann.org/applicationstatus/applicationde...

justinclift 6y ago
Interesting. Looking over that, it seems you're right. Wonder why this isn't more widely known?

CydeWeys 6y ago

Curious what your domain is?

abhinav22 6y ago
Secret for now :) Need a good 1-2 years before it’s ready to launch.