[registrars] Regarding transition to market forces

[Ross Rader]

There's a difference between cost and price. I doubt that the actual 
cost of your latte was actually less than the actual cost of a domain 
name. At a general level, increased costs eventually lead to higher 
prices - decreased costs, do not always lead to higher prices.

Further *we*, collectively, do not "allow" anything as it relates to the 
price of domain names. Prices are, and should be, set by each individual 
registrar. NSI and Starbucks have chosen a different model than Godaddy 
and Dunkin' Donuts, that's all (with apologies to my esteemed colleagues 
from NSI and Godaddy).




Tom C wrote:
> My question is, at what point do we stop allowing market forces to 
> continue driving prices down? Let's be honest, consumers are not 
> demanding  lower prices.  It is Registrars, and web hosts, who have made 
> the decision to compete on price, rather than on service. With current 
> prices at $1.99, $2.99, $5.99 and $6.49, I believe we are doing far more 
> damage to our industry with lower pricing than with higher.
> 
> Market forces do not always lead to lower prices.  The auto industry, 
> home prices, gas prices, real estate and coffee are just a few 
> examples.  My grande double shot, extra hot, vanilla latte at Starbucks 
> cost more this morning than a domain name at some Registrars, and it 
> wasn't good for a year.
> 
> -Tom
> 
> John Berryhill wrote:
> 
>>> I am not aware of market forces leading to an increase.  I certainly
>>> haven't seen that amongst registrars where market forces do apply.
>>>   
>>
>> ...which, Bruce, is precisely what is stated in the Q&A 1.4: "Prices have
>> dropped from US$50 per year for a .COM domain name to as low as under 
>> US$10
>> since ICANN introduced registry and registrar competition in 1999"
>>
>> Uhmmm, gee, so in the competitive registrar market, prices dropped by a
>> factor of five, but "market forces" dictate a 7% per year increase
>> henceforth at the registry?  And this is despite the fact that .com is a
>> "thin" registry.  So here our anonymous ICANNite is basically saying that
>> the registrars maintain more data and provide more customer service 
>> than the
>> registry on margins of less than four dollars.
>>
>> This is not a "Q&A", this is a case study in dissociative identity 
>> disorder.
>> One shudders to imagine the childhood trauma responsible for this
>> manifestation, but the author is in need of professional help before the
>> apparent inner tension leads to physical problems.
>>
>> These are words intended to obfuscate, not illuminate.
>>
>>
>>
>>  
>>
>