ICANN’s Proposal to Lift Price Caps for .org and .info

[chris]

An excellent article on ICANN’s proposal to lift price caps on .org and .info:

https://domainnamewire.com/2019/04/29/the-economics-of-domain-name-prices/

In order of power in the gTLD market, I’d argue that .com is highest and .org is second highest. ccTLDs also have market power in some countries.

The presence of market power for initial registrations suggests that prices for some top level domains should be restricted. A non-profit is unlikely to choose .charity over .org unless it is unable to acquire the .org domain. It will usually choose an alternate, longer .org domain before choosing something else. This might not be true in twenty years but it is true in 2019.

For top level domains that don’t have market power and are easy substitutes for each other, controlling initial registration prices is not as important. That’s part of the reason people are complaining more about .org price caps than .info.

Good general info too!

 

[snoopy]

The switching costs is the main issue, it would cost a business a small fortunate to change to a different extension once established online. Potential lost customers, google ranks, lost emails. Registries know they have power once people are signed up and they'll take advantage of it if given the chance.

The whole thing is really about Verisign in my opinion, it is a monopoly situation and it isn't one they ever paid for. Much like auDA, Icann should have been doing regular tenders long ago. This is another situation where the regulator has been "captured".