.NET Price Increase Effective 02/01/18

 Friday, January 19, 2018

Announcing upcoming price changes for .NET domains. The revision of the prices is due to the change in the cost price from the registry. The increase will be $1.00 more per domain/per year.

Old Price: $13.33 for New Registrations, $12.83 for renewals and transfers.
New Price: $14.33 for New Registrations and $13.83 for renewals and transfers.

From ICANN

ICANN’s board of directors approved the renewal of the .net Registry Agreement, which gives Verisign the right increase its prices by 10% per year for the six years of the contract.

There was some negative public comment (pdf) about the increases, largely from domainers and those representing domainers, but the ICANN board saw nothing to persuade it to change the terms of the contract.

In notes appended to its resolution, the board stated:

The Board understands that the current price cap provisions in Verisign’s Registry Agreements, including in the .NET Registry Agreement, evolved historically to address various market factors in cooperation with constituencies beyond ICANN including the Department of Commerce. During the negotiations for the renewal, Verisign did not request to alter the pricing cap provisions, the parties did not negotiate these provisions and the provisions remain changed from the previous agreement. The historical 10% price cap was arguably included to allow the Registry Operator to increase prices to account for inflation and increased costs/investments and to take into account other market forces but were not dictated solely by ICANN.

Unlike contract renewals for other pre-2012 gTLDs, the .net contract does not include any of the new gTLD program’s rights protection mechanisms, such as the Uniform Rapid Suspension policy.

ICANN explained this disparity by saying these mechanisms are not consensus policies and that it has no right to impose them on legacy gTLD registry operators.