6 ms·

This is pretty disgusting on Google's part if true. It sounds like they're only letting people rent domains then acting like a landlord who increases rent to ma

This is pretty disgusting on Google's part if true. It sounds like they're only letting people rent domains then acting like a landlord who increases rent to match "market rates" when you renew the lease. Hopefully this is some sort of error, but somehow I doubt it.

davchana 4y ago
Almost every registry does it (Google is one of them).
- kevinmrose 4y ago
  GoDaddy never did this to me, I used to own a single keyword domain name which would definitely be considered "premium" and never paid more than ~$10 in renewal fees per year. GoDaddy has plenty of problems, but they never shook me down on domain renewals. I wouldn't expect it from Google, but I guess I'm just naive.
  - xnx 4y ago
    Google has a monopoly on the .dev domain. GoDaddy doesn't have a monopoly on .com, .biz, .net, etc.
    - agwa 4y ago
      This is an apples to oranges comparison. Every TLD is operated by a registry that has a monopoly over that TLD. .dev's registry is Google. .com and .net's registry is Verisign. GoDaddy is a registrar which resells domains from the registries. You can register .dev domains on GoDaddy just like you can register .com and .net domains. The bulk of the registration fee goes to the registry. What keeps .com and .net prices reasonable is not that there's no monopoly - Verisign totally has a monopoly - but that Verisign's registry agreement with ICANN forbids this kind of pricing shenanigans whereas Google's registry agreement for .dev doesn't. But I'm sure that when Verisign's registry agreement is up for renewal they will try to renegotiate this.
      - not2b 4y ago
        Yes, someone has to run the official registry, so there's a choke point, unless there are rules in place to prevent abuse. For Verisign's management of .com there's a contract that limits their power. For the new vanity domains there often isn't, so I'm afraid that we will see a lot of this: a cheap price to register a domain, and then a whopping price increase to keep it.
    - mikea1 4y ago
      > GoDaddy doesn't have a monopoly on .com, .biz... GoDaddy is the registry for .biz[0]. That is, GoDaddy was started as a registrar, but the company integrated vertically with a registry division, so it plays both roles now. This was approved by ICANN. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.biz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.biz
  - everfree 4y ago
    GoDaddy is a registrar (facilitator of domain purchases), not a registry (owner of a TLD).
- everfree 4y ago
  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.
  - 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.
  - 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?
zx8080 4y ago
Isn't it how every market works?
- lupire 4y ago
  Yes, which is why markets need a land value tax paid out to the public.
- warbler73 4y ago
  How does Google "own" this "market"?
- Retric 4y ago
  Not everything is rented.
  - shepardrtc 4y ago
    For now.
    - userbinator 4y ago
      "You will own nothing, and be happy." -WEF
    - FpUser 4y ago
      And ever. At some point customers would simply revolt and flock to someone with mode meaningful business model
      - ehvatum 4y ago
        Someone tell that to Adobe and Autodesk.
        FpUser 4y ago
        I told Adobe to sod off long time ago and replaced all their products I was using with the ones that offer perpetual license.

davchana 4y ago

Almost every registry does it (Google is one of them).

kevinmrose 4y ago
GoDaddy never did this to me, I used to own a single keyword domain name which would definitely be considered "premium" and never paid more than ~$10 in renewal fees per year. GoDaddy has plenty of problems, but they never shook me down on domain renewals. I wouldn't expect it from Google, but I guess I'm just naive.
- xnx 4y ago
  Google has a monopoly on the .dev domain. GoDaddy doesn't have a monopoly on .com, .biz, .net, etc.
  - agwa 4y ago
    This is an apples to oranges comparison. Every TLD is operated by a registry that has a monopoly over that TLD. .dev's registry is Google. .com and .net's registry is Verisign. GoDaddy is a registrar which resells domains from the registries. You can register .dev domains on GoDaddy just like you can register .com and .net domains. The bulk of the registration fee goes to the registry. What keeps .com and .net prices reasonable is not that there's no monopoly - Verisign totally has a monopoly - but that Verisign's registry agreement with ICANN forbids this kind of pricing shenanigans whereas Google's registry agreement for .dev doesn't. But I'm sure that when Verisign's registry agreement is up for renewal they will try to renegotiate this.
    - not2b 4y ago
      Yes, someone has to run the official registry, so there's a choke point, unless there are rules in place to prevent abuse. For Verisign's management of .com there's a contract that limits their power. For the new vanity domains there often isn't, so I'm afraid that we will see a lot of this: a cheap price to register a domain, and then a whopping price increase to keep it.
  - mikea1 4y ago
    > GoDaddy doesn't have a monopoly on .com, .biz... GoDaddy is the registry for .biz[0]. That is, GoDaddy was started as a registrar, but the company integrated vertically with a registry division, so it plays both roles now. This was approved by ICANN. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.biz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.biz
- everfree 4y ago
  GoDaddy is a registrar (facilitator of domain purchases), not a registry (owner of a TLD).
everfree 4y ago
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.
- 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.
- 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?

zx8080 4y ago

Isn't it how every market works?

lupire 4y ago
Yes, which is why markets need a land value tax paid out to the public.
warbler73 4y ago
How does Google "own" this "market"?
Retric 4y ago
Not everything is rented.
- shepardrtc 4y ago
  For now.
  - userbinator 4y ago
    "You will own nothing, and be happy." -WEF
  - FpUser 4y ago
    And ever. At some point customers would simply revolt and flock to someone with mode meaningful business model
    - ehvatum 4y ago
      Someone tell that to Adobe and Autodesk.
      - FpUser 4y ago
        I told Adobe to sod off long time ago and replaced all their products I was using with the ones that offer perpetual license.