4 ms·

In chess, you would call this a two-pronged attack (And you are forked either way). Not many people know this, but you pay 30% more for domain renewals if they

In chess, you would call this a two-pronged attack (And you are forked either way). Not many people know this, but you pay 30% more for domain renewals if they are set to auto-renew. 1) First of all you charge people 30% more for auto-renew. See a discussion here: http://chrisacky.com/images/godaddy_bull.png http://chrisacky.com/images/godaddy_bull.png 2) Now, with the customers feeling outraged that they are being charged more, they cancel the auto-renew, and they get to put on an even larger charge. It is a horrendous dark-pattern that first of all exploits a customers continued goodwill by keeping up auto-renew, and then secondly, from trying to save money, GoDaddy exploit users who are trying to make their money stretch just a little futher.

ludwigvan 14y ago
Well, I am not a fan of GoDaddy, and have transferred all my domains somewhere else last week, but in their defense, 30% might be a convenience fee, which is justifiable.
- benburleson 14y ago
  Computers were invented to do things like auto-renew. There is absolutely no reason to charge 30% for the "convenience" of auto-renew.
  - tjr 14y ago
    A couple of years ago I was talking to a retired programmer who used to work for AT&T. He told me that many of the telephone options that people paid extra for cost AT&T effectively nothing; it was just a matter of setting some variables in the software.
  - tjic 14y ago
    People don't (and shouldn't) charge based on what it costs them to provide a service - they can (and should) charge based on what value they deliver to a customer. That said, I believe in building long-term value for a customer and I do that by not charging exorbitant fees, but it's a reasonable and potentially moral decision to charge people a 30% fee in return for "never having to worry about it".
    - wpietri 14y ago
      True pricing is always somewhere between cost and value. Always charging at the high end means you are always trying to capture 100% of the value created. I think that's wrong, in that the transaction is no longer a positive-sum interaction for both participants, which undermines the basis for commerce. Regardless, there is nothing morally justifiable about charging 30% more to do less work. The autorenew system is easier not just for the customer, but for GoDaddy. The only reason to price like that is predatory. GoDaddy is taking advantage of various asymmetries to gouge. Which is exactly how GoDaddy does everything else, so I'm entirely unsurprised.

ludwigvan 14y ago

Well, I am not a fan of GoDaddy, and have transferred all my domains somewhere else last week, but in their defense, 30% might be a convenience fee, which is justifiable.

benburleson 14y ago
Computers were invented to do things like auto-renew. There is absolutely no reason to charge 30% for the "convenience" of auto-renew.
- tjr 14y ago
  A couple of years ago I was talking to a retired programmer who used to work for AT&T. He told me that many of the telephone options that people paid extra for cost AT&T effectively nothing; it was just a matter of setting some variables in the software.
- tjic 14y ago
  People don't (and shouldn't) charge based on what it costs them to provide a service - they can (and should) charge based on what value they deliver to a customer. That said, I believe in building long-term value for a customer and I do that by not charging exorbitant fees, but it's a reasonable and potentially moral decision to charge people a 30% fee in return for "never having to worry about it".
  - wpietri 14y ago
    True pricing is always somewhere between cost and value. Always charging at the high end means you are always trying to capture 100% of the value created. I think that's wrong, in that the transaction is no longer a positive-sum interaction for both participants, which undermines the basis for commerce. Regardless, there is nothing morally justifiable about charging 30% more to do less work. The autorenew system is easier not just for the customer, but for GoDaddy. The only reason to price like that is predatory. GoDaddy is taking advantage of various asymmetries to gouge. Which is exactly how GoDaddy does everything else, so I'm entirely unsurprised.