Today I was surprised upon opening a registrar’s newsletter to learn that the following gTLDs are all set for price hikes in the coming months …
Verisign
- .NET will increase by $0.51 as of July 1st
- .NAME will increase by $0.60 as of August 1st
PIR
- .ORG will increase by $0.55 as of July 1st
Neustar
- .BIZ will increase by $0.78 as of September 1st
Afilias
- .INFO will increase by $0.74 as of September 1st
Maybe its just me, but I can’t seem to recall another time where so many gTLDs went up in price at the same time. These price increases will all take effect within a 2-month window.
It’s more than likely .COM would have been raised as well, if not for the fact Verisign has been restricted from doing so by the US Department of Commerce when their deal was renewed in 2012. Perhaps it’s for that reason they’re raising rates on .NET and .NAME instead.
I can’t help but also wonder whether the incumbent registries are attempting to shore up their bottom lines ahead of the hundreds of new gTLDs soon to be launched, in anticipation that some of their market share may begin to be eroded. What do you think?
