Beware of High Annual Renewal Fees

When I bought a handful of .XYZ domain names, I had a look at the list of premium .XYZ domain names to ensure I wasn’t going to face the decision of paying a high transfer/renewal fee or losing my initial acquisition investment. Domain investors who buy non .com domain names that aren’t ccTLDs or legacy extensions need to be mindful of the potential landmine that are premium renewal fees.

Marc Kohlbrugge shared a warning on Twitter after he purchased a domain name for $5,000 that had a $55,000 annual renewal cost:

Marc disclosed that he anticipated a higher than usual renewal fee but was surprised that the cost was $55,000:

I am not sure what registries beyond .XYZ have lists of their premium domain names and their individual renewal fees. I believe people may be able to check the annual renewal fee by initiating a transfer to their domain registrar. This is not necessarily the best way to do it, but I think it should show the renewal fee.

One thing Marc said that I agree with is that the annual renewal fee should be disclosed at the time of purchase:

Domain sales platforms should ensure that sellers disclose these renewal fees. I also believe domain name sellers should be obligated to tell buyers about premium renewal fees for private transactions.

It turns out the domain name Marc purchased was a single letter .XYZ domain name, and he was able to revert the purchase:

Learning about a premium renewal fee after purchasing a domain name is an unwelcome surprise.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

8 COMMENTS

  1. Another way of knowing the renewal fee of a domain name on a registrar is by searching the domain name on the register.

  2. Couple people over there at namepros get a hard time because they say the dot XYZ sales don’t make sense.
    Here’s the deal Holyfield. Finally got the mark on the spot. How can she have thousands of one-word generics at $10 renewals when most popular one words have a high renewal at the registry.

    The .xyz registry is very active in the decentralized space. That is why most of the buyers are from there. They’re also not the smartest bunch in regards to domains as they are just discovering subdomains LOL.

    People need to join Twitter and follow the decentralized space such as ens and handshake and enlighten them that .com and .us can do the same and is much more brandable and credible.

    Just saying:)

  3. Work with Namecheap. They disclose these renewal costs. Their other policies on restricted domain name purchases (Covid related etc) sucks but their upfront honesty all round is much appreciated. They also do not try to nickel and dime you like some daddies do.

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