The registry may decide whether a domain is "premium" or not, but I had no issues transferring it to Google Domains and paying less than what I was paying before.
For anyone unfamiliar with premium TLD pricing:
- it's common for .com's to be sold on the aftermarket for high prices but the renewal prices are standardized. So if I invest $36k on buying appletini.com, I know I will be able to renew it for ~$10/yr.
- gTLD's like .land or .tech seem to set premium prices at the registrar level and apply to renewals. This means if I want apps.wiki, it's going to cost me $3,180/yr every year.
The risk I'm now wondering about: If I build a successful brand around a gTLD, can that registrar retroactively classify that domain as a "premium" and just start 10x-ing my renewal price every year?
If this is possible, I cannot imagine how any serious site could be built on a gTLD.
> gTLD's like .land or .tech seem to set premium prices at the registrar level and apply to renewals. This means if I want apps.wiki, it's going to cost me $3,180/yr every year.
AIUI premium domains renew at a relatively normal price, so there may be a rule that states they can't charge premium rates for renewals (and therefore decide later your name is a premium), but in the domain world I wouldn't rule anything out.
I wouldn't personally use anything but .com/.net/.org or ccTLD for a serious site anyway.
It may not be worth it for one or two names but transferring domains is easy (and can be done even when expired) and it can make sense to move to another registrar to save money - transfer prices are often lower than renewal prices - or if the current registrar starts to be a dick.
I've never used Godaddy, which often had 99c/$1 coupons, but noticed on tld-list.com that their .COM renewal price is $18.17. Not sure what people are getting for paying twice as much as everywhere else.
Really, really, really bad customer support. Like they'll answer your phone calls, but they won't actually help you at all. Especially with billing issues.
I had many of issues over the years that were flawlessly solved with Dynadot chat support. Issues I was unable to fix with NameCheap (who has all customer support team in Eastern-block of Europe, so "made in America" does not apply), and also GoDaddy gave me issues. Besides I had a small back-and-forth battle here on HN with Namecheap CEO (I won), but needless to say it showed how unprofessional and childish the CEO of such popular company can be.
Also Namesilo is gaining some traction. Reliable, worth trying, but no chat help.
And re: Namecheap CEO's behavior - that's quite sad to hear. Nonetheless, my experience with them has been mostly positive though :')
They also do some cool organizational stuff and are pretty transparent.
I like their new nameliquidate service, a reverse auction for domains. I usually post domains there that I’m not going to renew.
> The parties acknowledge that the purpose of this Section 2.10(c) is to prohibit abusive and/or discriminatory Renewal Pricing practices imposed by Registry Operator without the written consent of the applicable registrant at the time of the initial registration of the domain and this Section 2.10(c) will be interpreted broadly to prohibit such practices.
I ask because I have a similar domain.
EDIT: I sent an email to ICANN asking about this issue since I still have domains registered with namecheap. I will update here if they respond.
Since the types and values of premium domains can vary a lot, I think the ability for a registry to arbitrarily declare a domain as premium presents a huge risk of abuse. I've searched a lot for info relating the rules for premium domains and I've never found anything. I'm super interested to hear what ICANN tells you.
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Thank you for contacting ICANN Global Support.
I apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing. Unfortunately, ICANN does not control the sale or pricing of domain names. Registry operators and registrars are free to charge a premium for certain names at their discretion, assuming they are otherwise in compliance with the terms and conditions of their agreements. You may refer to the registrar's domain registration agreement to identify what the specified rates and restrictions are.
A registry operator or registrar may not implement/impose abusive or discriminatory renewal pricing practices without the written consent of the applicable registrant at the time of initial registration. This includes, for example, the requirement for advance notification of any price increase and the right to renew the registration at the price prior to such increase for a period of up to 10 years (i.e., the price may be locked in).
For more information about your rights and responsibilities as a domain name holder (registrant), please see our registrant rights and responsibilities page: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/benefits-2013-09-16-en.
With reference to the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/errp-2013-02-28-en), Registrars must make their renewal fees, post-expiration renewal fees (if different), and redemption/restore fees reasonably available to registered name holders and prospective registered name holders at the time of registration of a gTLD name. At a minimum, these fees must be clearly displayed on the registrar's website and a link to these fees must be included in the registrar's registration agreements.
You may also contact the registry operator for (TLD) for more information on the pricing of their domains. You can find the registry's contact information via this link: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
If you feel the Registrar's fees were not properly disclosed or posted on their website, you may submit the Registrar Standards Complaint form (https://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/r...) to ICANN’s Contractual Compliance Team. They will review your complaint and reply to you within 5 business days.
This was for a `.club` TLD.