The eBiz Blog

.Net domain names are about to get a bit more expensive yet again after already seeing a hike in their wholesale and renewal rates just last year. Verisign, Inc. oversees the .Net registry by contract with ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and they are scheduled to increase the wholesale fees for registration and renewals on February 1, 2014.

In For a Penny?
The increase is modest at just $.56 cents per year, but it comes just 6 months after a $.51 cent increase on July 1, 2013. If you own a .net domain name then you should consider renewing it for multiple years now to potentially save yourself a few bucks down the road. Retail registrars are not obligated to pass on any increase in the wholesale rates. However, this is the second such increase for .net in less than a year and the chances are that most retailers will increase their prices accordingly to offset their decreases in revenue, especially if they did not raise their pricing last year.

Verisign announced this latest price increase for the .net extension on July 25, 2013. That was only 24 days after the previous increase went into effect. Verisign's contract with ICANN allows for annual price increases of up to 10% per year, but only after public notification and a 6 month waiting period.

A Slow Boil Strategy
The .net domain extension is second only to the .com extension in perceived public value and importance. Verisign no doubt wants to maximize its benefit of managing the registry as much as possible during the remainder of their contract. Don't be surprised if another increase in the wholesale rates is announced again soon after this next one on February 1. Even after this latest increase, the difference between .com wholesale rates and .net wholesale rates is significant. Verisign is prohibited from raising .com rates for the remainder of their contract managing that registry through 2018. So raising the .net fees as much as they can over the remainder of their contract is kind of a no-brainer for them.

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