I got this email from my site host. I thought it might be interesting or useful to some of you:
What’s Happening
ICANN, the organization that oversees domain names, has proposed removing price caps on all .org, .info, and .biz top level domains. This change could significantly increase the wholesale price that some providers pay for domains, and would force us to pass along those increases to you.
Who Sets the Prices
Wholesale registries charge providers a set fee per domain name per year. They then add a little markup to cover things like support, provisioning domain services, transaction fees, etc. ICANN includes a provision in its contracts with registries that limits what they can charge.
Why ICANN is Doing This
ICANN’s current contract with Public Interest Registry (PIR), the group that runs the .org domain name, allows PIR to increase the wholesale price of .org domains by 10% a year. Now ICANN is proposing extending the contract to operate .org but letting PIR set whatever prices it wants.
Rather than a 10% increase to renew your domain next year, PIR could suddenly start charging registrars 100 times as much. In turn, registrars would have no choice but to pass these charges on to customers. Similar contract proposals may also impact .info and .biz prices.
Speak Up Against the Change
The good news is that domain owners like yourself can take action to stop these price increases. Act now by sending your comments to ICANN before April 29, 2019.
I'm not an expert on this (nor do I play one on TV). My provider makes it sound serious, but they may have an agenda.
Does anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks.
