Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00) • Hacker News Board

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#261

Post by d000001 » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:11 PM UTC

ted0 wrote: post #251

echelon wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ted, thank you so much for participating in this thread! Namecheap provides excellent service, and I've been a happy customer for years. As someone who owns ~30 domain names split between Namecheap and GoDaddy, it would be incredibly beneficial if you overhauled the primary domain list view. As it stands right now, your domain list UI is bulky and clunky and requires several clickthroughs to show all domains or sort…

Passing all of your helpful feedback to our Domains PM. Thank you. As I mentioned in another comment, we're developing a new dashboard experience among other things, which we're really excited about.

Any chance you could support .pm and .it domains? Would love to move over my remaining domains to you

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#262

Post by petilon » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

cj wrote: post #15

How do we create an incentive model that kills the “parked domain” industry without out pricing people who want to host a legitimate non-commercial personal site? At first glance I was happy to see the headline because it means it’ll be more expensive for squatters to profit, but then I do sympathize with people using these domains for legitimate non-commercial purposes.

A related problem is, how do you make sure the domain goes to whoever values it most, as opposed to whoever thought of the name first? In the .com space a lot of good domain names are taken up by people who are not putting it to good use. I am not talking about parked domains, but people who upload an "under construction" gif and then don't update the page for the next 5 years. Maybe domain names should cost more.

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#263

Post by skoskie » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:16 PM UTC

ted0 wrote: post #213

MerelyMortal wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Former Namecheap customer here, thank you for the transparancy. (I only left Namecheap because of the interface, I found that Dynadot was comparable in price and features, but with a nicer GUI. NC seems like a good company otherwise, so I'm always open to the possibility of switching back.)

Sorry to hear you had trouble with our interface. We do have some pretty substantial updates planned for 2022 and would love to have you back. Feel free to shoot any feedback to ted [at] namecheap.com.

Navigation! It’s a mess. I would very much like to see separation of “get the job done” navigation (and fields) from “upsell” navigation (and fields).

Also, could you unhide the login so it’s easier for password managers to autofill and for me to submit?

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#264

Post by ethbr0 » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:17 PM UTC

nacho2sweet wrote: post #255

MerelyMortal wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Former Namecheap customer here, thank you for the transparancy. (I only left Namecheap because of the interface, I found that Dynadot was comparable in price and features, but with a nicer GUI. NC seems like a good company otherwise, so I'm always open to the possibility of switching back.)

I agree, I was a big namecheap user but now it is a dark pattern trap to trick people into addons. Just changing your DNS is a confusing jumble.

I just registered a domain with them the other day, and there didn't seem to be any egregious dark patterns. Are you talking about anything in specific?

Of course they present options during the checkout process, which is slightly forward, but reasonable as a business.

However, (1) the defaults for all add-ons are do-not-buy, (2) the buttons to navigate to the next screen are clear (not swapped, minimized, etc). But that may have just been my settings / environment?

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#265

Post by ted0 » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #254

ted0 wrote: post #186

Ted from Namecheap here. Donuts, who now operates the .io TLD, is only increasing the wholesale price by ~10%. We are still obviously not happy about this since it's always our goal to ensure that domain pricing is as accessible as possible to our customers. It would appear that Gandi has just chosen to substantially increase their markup as part of this Donuts update. Our pricing will likely only increase a small am…

Taking this opportunity to ask industry professionals..... What the hell is happening to ".Web"?

Still in limbo but looks like Verisign will be able to launch it at some point: http://domainincite.com/27180-verisign-boss-talks-web-launch...

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#266

Post by ted0 » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

d000001 wrote: post #261

ted0 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Passing all of your helpful feedback to our Domains PM. Thank you. As I mentioned in another comment, we're developing a new dashboard experience among other things, which we're really excited about.

Any chance you could support .pm and .it domains? Would love to move over my remaining domains to you

Will pass on the request.

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#267

Post by rvz » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:32 PM UTC

gowld wrote: post #202

rasengan wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethos Capital is run by former ICANN leadership [1]. The problem is centralized control leads to price gouging efforts. As they say you should avoid a monopoly. Some things, like domain names which are becoming the backbone of the internet, really should be owned and controlled by the commons as opposed to a single entity or dictator. We have learned this time and time again. Luckily, projects like Handshake [2] have…

Handshake is nowhere close to overtaking ICANN.

   yet.

Even Namecheap seems to offer Handshake domains. But I always get the feeling that some folks on HN seem to be consistently wrong with their projections.

I wouldn't rule out these blockchain-based domain guys that quickly; since there is utility there. Unlike the other useless shitcoins I keep seeing.

[0] https://www.namecheap.com/domains/handshake-domains/

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#268

Post by alexlmiller » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:37 PM UTC

aimor wrote: post #60

cj wrote: post #15

How do we create an incentive model that kills the “parked domain” industry without out pricing people who want to host a legitimate non-commercial personal site? At first glance I was happy to see the headline because it means it’ll be more expensive for squatters to profit, but then I do sympathize with people using these domains for legitimate non-commercial purposes.

My thought is to require all domains be sold for the same set price (or at least constant for each TLD). If someone wants to register 1,000 domains let them, but don't allow them to profit off that. If someone breaks the rule, revoke the domain. I'd like to hear reasons why this is a bad idea so I can stop thinking about it every time I get priced out.

Other folks have already pointed out how this is unenforceable, but I'll give a very tangible example.

Twitter (and Instagram) ToS prohibit selling handles and yet I've been on both sides of those transactions before. You just offer the person a "consulting" contract, part of which is delivering the handle

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#269

Post by 908B64B197 » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:41 PM UTC

I understand the initial design of ccTLDs but can we just admit it's mostly a failure?

People use them as vanity URLs and there is little to no consistency in how they are used. .io, .ai and .tv are good examples. Then you have .ly where the local warlord can decide to ban your domain for no reasons.

At least .gov, .edu, .com and .org are somewhat consistent.

Re: Price increase on .io domains on January 1, 2022 (Renewal: $55.00)

#270

Post by andylynch » Wed, Dec 01, 2021, 7:50 PM UTC

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #74

eclipsetheworld wrote: post #10

The .io TLD is owned by Ethos Capital. The same private equity company that tried to buy the .org TLD a while ago. Go figure...

I think it's pretty sad how the rights for this get sold around, but the territory to which it belongs gets little to no revenue from domain sales. There's an ongoing complaint seeking repatriation of the domain, and I really hope I'm wrong in speculating that nothing will be done about it.

It’s much worse than that. The Chagosian islanders who lived in this territory were all exiled by the British to make room for a military base on their land. They have been fighting in the legal system for decades just for the right to go home.