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What other registry does this? I've never heard of this behavior before. Typically the registry won't arbitrarily increase the renewal price of specific domain

What other registry does this? I've never heard of this behavior before. Typically the registry won't arbitrarily increase the renewal price of specific domains during a period of time where the domain is owned by the same individual. That seems like an incredibly scummy practice. Domain names aren't something you can just "move out" of like housing if your landlord decides to increase the price one year by over 6000%. They represent identity, discoverability and trust. By arbitrarily increasing the renewal price like this, the registry is constructively repossessing your online identity. It's the same as if they suddenly took your domain from you and put it up for auction for their own benefit. Registrars (not registries) can get away with increasing their prices, but that's different because you can always switch registrars to one that charges a lower markup over the registry. You can't switch registries without switching your domain name entirely.

Dma54rhs 4y ago
Nsmecheap does with these new domains like .party etc. Not sure who is responsible for it, namecheap or whoever runs these new TLDs
- agwa 4y ago
  Generally it's done by the company running the TLD (called the registry). Registrars like Namecheap generally can't pull these shenanigans and have to keep their markup reasonable because otherwise people will just transfer the domain to a different registrar which doesn't pull the shenanigans.
- everfree 4y ago
  You're saying that .party domain owners on Namecheap have seen the renewal price for their own domain shoot up compared to prior renewal prices?
deathanatos 4y ago
> like housing … uh, it's not even possible to move out of that that easily, either. (Although a 6000% increase would certainly do it.) I think landlords are (also?) very much aware of switching costs in their yearly price uppings.
davchana 4y ago
This game is as old as domains, or at least I knew it since 2005s. .sbs registry has done it with my domain in 2021. .xyz has done it another one of my domain few years ago. None of my regular old tld domains, and cctld domains experienced it. -footnote- I used to buy domains for my own use only, my family names & stuff, never for resale or business or anything.
- everfree 4y ago
  Do you mind sharing more details? Did the registrar email you at some point to tell you that they are no longer able to renew your domain at the standard rate, because the registry determined it to be a premium domain?
  - davchana 4y ago
    Yeah sure. I usually stay on top of my domains, I found the way higher price for .sbs & .xyz when trying to renew them, at different times.
- tsol 4y ago
  Sounds lucrative. I wonder what it takes to become a registrar
  - IncRnd 4y ago
    It takes a few hundred thousand plus equipment and personnel.
  - davchana 4y ago
    265 thousand non refundable fee + few months review process, as I was following the then-new gtld launches in 2011. May have increased now.
chillfox 4y ago
Namecheap does it, happened to one of my domains with them and now I can’t move it. Amazon and Cloudflare does not as far as I know.
- Danieru 4y ago
  Can you explain more? I have a bunch of domains on namecheap and I thought I was paying a premium for trust....
  - chillfox 4y ago
    So did I, but after that experience I have been moving them to AWS instead. So I had the domain for a year, I specifically went out of my way to find a domain that was not premium, but when it came time to renew it was marked as premium, and when I tried to move it I got error messages like “can’t move domain because it’s premium”.
- everfree 4y ago
  Do you mind sharing more details? And did you go to transfer the domain before or after the redemption period?
  - chillfox 4y ago
    Had the domain for a year and when it came time for renewal (1 month before expiry) it had been marked as premium and had a higher renewal price, so I tried to move it to several other providers only to be met with a “can’t move domain because it’s premium” error message everywhere I tried. So I paid the inflated price, moved everything to a different domain and setup redirects (obviously will not be renewing it again).
    - everfree 4y ago
      What TLD was it, if you don't mind me asking?
      - 4y ago

Dma54rhs 4y ago

Nsmecheap does with these new domains like .party etc. Not sure who is responsible for it, namecheap or whoever runs these new TLDs

agwa 4y ago
Generally it's done by the company running the TLD (called the registry). Registrars like Namecheap generally can't pull these shenanigans and have to keep their markup reasonable because otherwise people will just transfer the domain to a different registrar which doesn't pull the shenanigans.
everfree 4y ago
You're saying that .party domain owners on Namecheap have seen the renewal price for their own domain shoot up compared to prior renewal prices?

deathanatos 4y ago

> like housing … uh, it's not even possible to move out of that that easily, either. (Although a 6000% increase would certainly do it.) I think landlords are (also?) very much aware of switching costs in their yearly price uppings.

davchana 4y ago

This game is as old as domains, or at least I knew it since 2005s. .sbs registry has done it with my domain in 2021. .xyz has done it another one of my domain few years ago. None of my regular old tld domains, and cctld domains experienced it. -footnote- I used to buy domains for my own use only, my family names & stuff, never for resale or business or anything.

everfree 4y ago
Do you mind sharing more details? Did the registrar email you at some point to tell you that they are no longer able to renew your domain at the standard rate, because the registry determined it to be a premium domain?
- davchana 4y ago
  Yeah sure. I usually stay on top of my domains, I found the way higher price for .sbs & .xyz when trying to renew them, at different times.
tsol 4y ago
Sounds lucrative. I wonder what it takes to become a registrar
- IncRnd 4y ago
  It takes a few hundred thousand plus equipment and personnel.
- davchana 4y ago
  265 thousand non refundable fee + few months review process, as I was following the then-new gtld launches in 2011. May have increased now.

chillfox 4y ago

Namecheap does it, happened to one of my domains with them and now I can’t move it. Amazon and Cloudflare does not as far as I know.

Danieru 4y ago
Can you explain more? I have a bunch of domains on namecheap and I thought I was paying a premium for trust....
- chillfox 4y ago
  So did I, but after that experience I have been moving them to AWS instead. So I had the domain for a year, I specifically went out of my way to find a domain that was not premium, but when it came time to renew it was marked as premium, and when I tried to move it I got error messages like “can’t move domain because it’s premium”.
everfree 4y ago
Do you mind sharing more details? And did you go to transfer the domain before or after the redemption period?
- chillfox 4y ago
  Had the domain for a year and when it came time for renewal (1 month before expiry) it had been marked as premium and had a higher renewal price, so I tried to move it to several other providers only to be met with a “can’t move domain because it’s premium” error message everywhere I tried. So I paid the inflated price, moved everything to a different domain and setup redirects (obviously will not be renewing it again).
  - everfree 4y ago
    What TLD was it, if you don't mind me asking?
    - 4y ago