Domain Name Registration Costs Increase: ICANN Raises Quarterly Fees to $6,450

ICANN has officially announced plans to increase the fees charged to domain name registries and registrars, including the “ICANN tax” that registrars typically pass on to domain name registrants. That is, ICANN plans to raise registration and registrar fees.

The non-profit organization has released a lengthy white paper that hides the main points, so let me explain in simpler terms:

-For registries, ICANN intends to increase the quarterly fixed fee from $6,250 to $6,450 and the transaction fee per domain name from $0.25 to $0.258. It intends to continue to increase these prices in line with inflation.

-For registrars, the Government intends to increase the transaction fee from $0.18 to $0.20 per domain name, and to increase the total variable fee apportioned among registrars from $3.42 million to $3.8 million.

On the registry side, ICANN has the contractual right to increase prices.

For increases in registrar fees, approval must be obtained from registrars that account for 2/3 of all registrar fees.

ICANN views the change in registrar fees as a price rollback. It discounted previous fees by 10% to incentivize registrars to adopt the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement. This was obviously a long time ago.

Most registrars pass on the cost of each domain name as a separate line item to their customers, so registrars can easily see this increase.

Source: domainnamewire