Higher .com/.net fees? Big whoopie!
Today, Verisign announced the increase of their fees for registering/renewing .com/.net domains. Per contract, they are allowed to increase the fees up to 7% annually. No such increase occured in 2009.
My response: big whoopie.
To those domainers among us with no long term memory; there was a time registrations cost $50 per year with a 2 year minimum.
A 50 cent increase in registration/renewal fees means an increase of costs by $50 per 100 domains, $500 per 1,000 domains or $5,000 per 10,000 domains annually.
Renewal fees are qualified business expenses.
Now it’s the time – for those of you that haven’t already done so – to incorporate and take advantage of the benefits of a corporation or an LLC.
At the same time, consider using a CPA professional for doing your taxes as they will assist you with your strategy to maximize expenses and better manage your revenue.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
To those domainers with a short memory a judge ruled in 1997 that $15 of that $50 fee was an “illegal tax” brought to you courtesy of a government sanctioned monopoly.
It’s the same dirty situation today.
December 17th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
And before that, registrations were free, so what is your point?
The argument is not about monopolies but whether the 50 cent price increase is a serious matter to lose sleep over.
December 18th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
You just made my point. Registrations were free. So why the rise in price? There is no need. It’s been proven many times that the registries can run for a couple, three dollars.
If you like being sucker than more power to you….but not me. I’ll always fight any price raise above where we are now.
December 18th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Welcome to the real world, kid, where things have a price tag. As for being a sucker – I already pass the cost of renewing my domains to the American taxpayer
So it doesn’t matter if they go up 50 cents or 5 dollars a piece, it’s a business expense to me.