The price of .COM domains will increase by 70%

We all know .COM domains, in life at least once we have come across a domain with this extension or have heard of "dot com" companies. In fact, it is the most used extension in the world with well over 114 million registered domains which represent 40% of all domains (approximately 359 million).

However, let's clarify things a little for those who have only heard of it but don't know in detail what lies behind a .COM extension.

What is ICANN? ICANN is the acronym for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, it is a non-profit organization.

This body is responsible for assigning IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, managing the system of generic top-level domain names (generic Top-Level Domain, gTLD, such as .com, .net, .info) and country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), which identify a specific territory (.uk for the United Kingdom, .it for Italy), as well as the root servers.

Having at its core a public-private partnership, ICANN has the function of safeguarding the operational stability of the Internet, promoting competition at the market level of domain names, guaranteeing the highest level of representativeness of the Internet community and developing policies consistent with its mandate through participatory and consensual processes.

Pay close attention to the points highlighted because we are about to witness a total lack of transparency and involvement of the internet community in a choice that will cost users several million dollars a year.

Who is Verisign, Inc? Verisign is a private (for profit) company mandated by ICANN to operate and manage the .COM top level domain

Verisign does not sell directly to users, but to Registrars, i.e. operators, on public terms. The operators, in turn, are then free to sell the .COM domains to the end user with their own pricing policy.

What's about to happen to .COM domain prices? On January 3, 2020, ICANN announced a radical change in its contract with Verisign. The two entities in question (ICANN and Verisign) mutually made these changes in secret, without consulting or including the ICANN community or the Internet user community in the negotiations.

Here are the main changes that have been planned:

PRICE INCREASE Verisign will be authorized to increase the wholesale price of .COM domains (i.e. the price to operators) by 7% each year in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. After two years of price "freeze", Verisign will be able to further increase the price by 7% annually from 2026 to 2029 followed by another two years of "freeze". This means that in 10 years the cost of .COM domains will have increased by around 70%, madness considering that the domain market works with very low margins, this means that all the increase will be passed on to the end user with increases of millions of euros.

ICANN WILL RECEIVE EXTRA $20MILLION DOLLARS With this contract change, Verisign agrees to pay ICANN an extra $20M over 5 years to support initiatives regarding the security and stability of the domain name system. However, there is no explanation why Verisign should do this and how ICANN will spend this money or how it will ensure that the funds are spent correctly.

VERISIGN CAN OPERATE AS A DOMAIN REGISTRAR ICANN has a restrictive rule for those who operate a TOP LEVEL DOMAIN, that is, Verisign cannot sell directly to end users. The new contract instead allows Verisign to do so, not directly, but by becoming a reseller of one of its registrars. The result is that the company that controls the prices of approximately 80% of the registrars that sell domains will become their unequal competitor.

ICANN IGNORE COMMUNITY FEEDBACK ICANN ignored community comments. already during the last price increase for .ORG .INFO and .BIZ domains

How can we prevent .COM domain prices from increasing? We can make our voices heard, each of us as Internet users can do it.

This change will impact the internet for years to come and only ICANN and Verisign participated in this decision.

Here's what we can (and should) do:

Let ICANN know what we think In every sense of the word! In fact, directly on the ICANN website there is the possibility of sending a comment regarding the amendment released on January 3, 2020 which concerns the increase in prices of .COM domains that we have just reported to you.

The public comment period is open exclusively until February 14, 2020, at this link:

ICANN.ORG/PUBLIC-COMMENTS By using the points we have listed in this article and adding your own customization you can make your voice heard regarding this decision made by ICANN and Verisign. Obviously, by personalizing the comment, it will be much more relevant.

All internet users are affected by this change, so together we must tell ICANN that we don't want it!

We therefore invite you to visit the ICANN website and send your comments as soon as possible if we want to stop this crazy increase in prices for .COM domains!

Who is HOST Host spa is among the 10 ICANN accredited Italian companies (as of 12 February 2020) which has been operating in the domain registration sector since October 2002.

Contributions This post was written inspired by the "war" that Namecheap is also carrying out these days with the post on their blog.

ICANN Allows .COM Price Increases, Gets More Money