Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39 • Hacker News Board

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#11

Post by est31 » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:44 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

High fees don't prevent high value domains from being squatted. They do have an impact, but it will only be felt in low value domains.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#12

Post by whichdan » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

I'm sure it's a huge percentage but I doubt 54c/yr/domain is really going to make a dent.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#13

Post by pizza » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

Why? Just cause they can? It's not like it costs them that much in maintenance per domain I imagine..

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#14

Post by nrmitchi » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

I'm not sure if a 10% increase on registration price is going to materially change the math on squatting. My understanding is that squatting is like the VC game; you expect many of them to be complete losses, with a couple giving outsized returns.

If you want to address squatting, then address squatting. If you want to address people squatting on new domains (as if there are many squat-able .com's left), then change the registration for new domain registrations only (and not renewals).

A change like this will primarily affect small domain holders in a way that is financially not worth fighting back against individually. I don't really see a "devils advocate" position here.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#15

Post by BitwiseFool » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:45 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

I prefer the term "Domain Scalping". Domain Squatting has a specific legal definition and it really only applies to people trying to sell a domain name that involves a company with a pre-existing trademark.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#16

Post by debrice » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:46 PM UTC

Yes, this sounds like pure profit (and it is) but part of me wishes .com domains were 10x to 50x more expensive. It's selfish, I recognize that, but to purchase a basic domain today I'd have to pay anywhere from $10,000 to $1,000,000 to purchase an unused parked domain.

Is there a solution or a place where ICANN and/or Verisign limit the massive amount of parked domains?

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#17

Post by monkeybutton » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

Last I checked about half are registered but don't point to anything. I can't tell you how many are squatters hoping for a big pay day vs peoples' aspirations of starting a blog or small business that never went anywhere though.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#18

Post by ketzu » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

So... What would be the fair price? Was $7.85 already outrageous? Should DNS be organized completely differently? Would such a reorganization actually make things cheaper or improve in any other way?

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#19

Post by tryptophan » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

Please note that Verisign has a profit margin of 50%. Ie, 50% of their revenue becomes pure profit.

This is an insane level. Apple is at 23%. Facebook at 35%. Profit margins that high only come from rent seeking backed by the full force of the law.

Re: Verisign will increase the .com price from $7.85 to $8.39

#20

Post by fabiospampinato » Thu, Jul 01, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

amichal wrote: post #7

Devil's advocate.... what percentage of .com registrations are parked/squatted domains looking for a sucker to buy at huge markups from the registrar price? I'd be very happy if this made the math on squatting a little less desirable. Edit: Don't get me wrong. If the reported profit margins at Verisign are correct they are clearly continuing to exploit their privileged market position unreasonably

Maybe the price should increase exponentially the more domains a single entity owns to incentivize owning fewer domains. I suppose squatters could create companies left and right just to hold onto more domains more cheaply, but still it would cost them more and it would be a pain in the ass to do it this way.