[Comments-org-renewal-18mar19] Comments on pricing element of the renewal of the .org registry agreement

[Casey Hancock]

Good morning.

I’d like to share my comments on the pricing element of the proposed renewal of the .org registry agreement

> (Section 2.10 of the .org renewal agreement): In alignment with the base registry agreement, the price cap provisions in the current .org agreement, which limited the price of registrations and allowable price increases for registrations, are removed from the .org renewal agreement. Protections for existing registrants will remain in place, in line with the base registry agreement. This change will not only allow the .org renewal agreement to better conform with the base registry agreement, but also takes into consideration the maturation of the domain name market and the goal of treating the Registry Operator equitably with registry operators of new gTLDs and other legacy gTLDs utilizing the base registry agreement

Removing the price cap provisions from the current .org agreement poses a threat to many who use .org domains, including many of my clients as a website builder. I have helped a number of small non-profit organizations in the southeastern United States with their websites built on .org domains. In my experience, the these small non-profit organizations rely on charitable donations and operate under tight budget constraints.

It seems that removing the price cap provisions from the .org registry agreement could introduce volatility to the price of .org domains, with a particular risk of the prices increasing dramatically both initially and over time. That might make it more difficult for these organizations to 1) register a new .org domain to represent themselves, or 2) keep such a domain that they have at that point built a brand around.

With so many of the users of .org domains being price-sensitive non-profit organizations, the current price provisions make it easier for such organizations to afford and budget for domain registrations. I hope that those price provisions stay in place as the agreement is renewed.

Cheers,
Casey

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Casey Hancock
IT Consulting | BearSquared.net <https://bearsquared.net/> | EducatedInsights.com <https://educatedinsights.com/>
424.262.6258 <tel:4242626258> | PO Box 2901 Hartsville SC 29551




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