[registrars] [Fwd: [council] Removing Price Caps on Registry Fees]

[Marcus Faure]

Hello,

this is the first time ever that I hear about the possiblity to have the 
registry decide itself what the pricing should be. VGRS has received a
superior ranking in the Telcordia support for its pricing. If the domainyear
would again cost 6 USD in 2007 (or maybe 6.75 USD including ICANN fees?)
the logical ranking VGRS should have received would be the worst of all
bidders.
As I have not even seen an official announcement that VGRS is its own
successor, I believe that they have used the negotiating power of the
timeline to pressure ICANN to accept this "favour". I am sure that, if
ICANN really signs this version, it violates its own process and will be
an easy target in a lawsuit.

Yours,
Marcus


> 
> Never a dull moment in a registrars life ....
> 
> This is definitely serious. There are no market forces at play when it comes
> to a registry. Especially the .net registry. If com and org are being sold
> to registrar at 6 bucks, nothing really prevents .net being hiked to 6 bucks
> again.
> 
> I was under the belief that the pricing to registrars was one of the
> variables in the bid and that the same would apply throughout the duration
> of the contract.
> 
> Is this consistent with the .NET RFP? Did the RFP have a provision that
> stated the price would not be capped?
> 
> Marcus or someone from CORE could shed some more light on this - considering
> they were one of the RFP applicants. Was this a part of the .NET RFP.
> 
> Meanwhile I am adding this to the Luxembourg agenda
> 
> bhavin
>  
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org 
> > [mailto:owner-registrars at gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Ross Rader
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 2:39 AM
> > To: registrars at dnso.org
> > Subject: [registrars] [Fwd: [council] Removing Price Caps on 
> > Registry Fees]
> 
> > I'm rather surprised by this. It is a very concerning development.
> > 
> > - -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: [council] Removing Price Caps on Registry Fees
> > Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 13:36:24 -0700
> > From: Bret Fausett <bfausett at internet.law.pro>
> > To: council at gnso.icann.org
> > CC: ALAC <alac at icann.org>
> > References: <DHEIJCFHPEMGGMBMIIDAIEALGJAA.michael at palage.com>
> > 
> > Council Members (with copy to ALAC):
> > 
> > You may recall that in the draft .NET contract posted for 
> > comment several weeks ago, the pricing section was blank, 
> > with the following
> > comment: [To be negotiated consistent with .NET RFP]. See 
> > Section 7.3 here:
> > 
> > http://www.icann.org/tlds/dotnet-reassignment/draft-net-agreem
> > ent-9mar05.pdf
> > 
> > When the final negotiated version was published, I went to 
> > that section to find out what pricing had been negotiated and 
> > was surprised to discover that ICANN will lift the price caps 
> > on registry fees effective
> > 1 January 2007.  The language is here:
> > 
> >         (a) Prices for Registry Services.
> > 
> >          From 1 July 2005 through 31 December 2006, the price to
> >         ICANN-accredited registrars for new and renewal domain name
> >         registrations and for transferring a domain name registration
> >         from one ICANN accredited registrar to another, shall 
> > not exceed
> >         US$4.25 (consisting of a US$3.50 service fee and a 
> > US$0.75 ICANN
> >         fee). On 1 January 2007, the controls on Registry Operator's
> >         pricing set forth in this Agreement shall be eliminated,
> >         provided that the same price shall be charged to all 
> > registrars
> >         with respect to each annual increment of a new or 
> > renewal domain
> >         name registration, and for transferring a domain name
> >         registration from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another
> >         (provided that volume discounts and marketing support and
> >         incentive programs may be made if the same opportunities to
> >         qualify for those discounts and marketing support and 
> > incentive
> >         programs is available to all ICANN-accredited registrars).
> > 
> >         (b) Adjustments to Pricing for Domain Name Registrations.
> > 
> >         Registry Operator shall provide no less than six months prior
> >         notice in advance of any price increase for domain name
> >         registrations and shall continue to offer domain name
> >         registrations for periods of up to ten years.
> > 
> > See Scetion 7.3 here:
> > http://www.icann.org/tlds/agreements/net/net-registry-agreemen
> > t-01jul05.pdf
> > 
> > This strikes me as a significant departure from past 
> > practices, and I do not recall any discussion of this at 
> > either the Council level or within the ALAC. I wonder whether 
> > market forces will be sufficient to prevent Verisign from 
> > raising the .NET registry fees significantly. At a minimum, 
> > we should have had a conversation about this. Have I missed something?
> > 
> >            Bret
> > 
> > 
> > - --
> > Regards,
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >                        -rwr
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> >                 "Every contrivance of man, every tool, every 
> > instrument,
> >                  every utensil, every article designed for 
> > use, of each
> >                  and every kind, evolved from very simple beginnings."
> >                         - Robert Collier
> > 
> > 
> > Got Blog? http://www.blogware.com
> > My Blogware: http://www.byte.org
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