Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall has always spoken his mind freely. The other day, I replied to someone who asked about why domain registries raise their fees. I think it’s pretty clear that they raise their fees because they can and because the want to increase their revenue.
Richard’s response to this was better than mine:
Charge whatever you like from the start so at least the user can make a decision based on that price but there should be some sort of justification if you’re a registry if you’re going to be raising by an exorbitant rate. It’s unfair to the customer to be locked in and then…
— Richard Kirkendall (@NamecheapCEO) February 26, 2024
Richard has a good point. Once a user is using a domain name, it can be very expensive, risky, and time consuming to switch domain names. Most won’t do it over the inconvenience of a renewal fee increase.
Domain registrars deal directly with customers and third parties. When issues arise, the registrar has to help the customer or investigate fraudulent or illicit activities. Most of the customer service and legal costs fall upon the registrar.
When the registry raises its prices, it is the registrar’s duty to notify customers and pass the price increase along to the customer. They may try to distinguish between the role of the registry and registrar, but a Namecheap customer who registers a .whatever domain name will likely only see it as “Namecheap raised prices.”
When a registry increases its registration or renewal costs, there is quite a bit of impact on the domain registrars that must either take a revenue hit or pass the increase along to customers. People using their domain names may be annoyed or angered by the price increase, but there is little they can do once they’ve established themselves on the domain name. The cost to switch domain names can be extraordinarily high.
This is a good example of how the registry business can be a cash cow.
.Com renewal prices were raised last year as well at Namecheap
There *should* be some good *regulation* (a dirty word to some).
Notice I said *good*.
The problem, however, is that we live in a world of corruption the level of which is unfathomable to many, including and especially our lovely US.
Society and its institutions are set up to favor the special interests, wealth and power of the few. That is why things are as they are with all these price increases. Money and power – end of story, or so they think.
The “ruling class” also needs to continually squash “the little guy and gal” until what is essentially neo-feudalism is fully achieved. See this biblical prophecy about how it will eventually be before the end:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%206%3A6&version=NASB.
Pay special attention to the footnotes.
I could say more. Carry on.