R: [gnso-dt-wg] Quantifying the Registrar Benefit

["Francesco Cetraro" <francescoc@xxxxxxxxx>]

Danny,
I would like to point out a couple of things about your quote from "modern 
domainer":

1) Besides the fact that different registrars may or may not charge for 
deleting a domain withing AGP and regardless of the name given to this fee, for 
those registrars that do not have this "add&delete" game as a product, the 
deletion of a domain within the terms of AGP might bring extra costs (in terms 
for instance of support and manual intervention to delete the domain) that 
might justify a fee. Also, for those registrars who do not wish their users to 
"taste" domains through them, a "restocking fee" could be a good way to make 
tasters choose a different registrar instead. In other words, I do not see 
anything particularly wrong with a registrar charging a restocking fee just 
because the registry does not charge one.

2) As a term of reference, you might want to take a look at what Pool.com 
offers in this field. They have a product called "Catch&Release" 
http://www.pool.com/CNRLanding.aspx which allows customers to "evaluate 
domains" for a small fee (this is the only one I could find. Other known 
"tasting-friendly" registrars are less keen on providing details about their 
activities on their public websites). Incidentally, when you look at this you 
realize how PIR's 5 cents restocking fee does not really have any deterring 
effect on professional "domain evaluators". It should be noted that pool.com 
itself is not an icann accredited registrar, but they are affiliated with a 
number of registrars with the same owner.

Best Regards
Francesco Cetraro
Ascio Technologies inc.

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: owner-gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx per conto di Danny Younger
Inviato: ven 10/08/2007 19.33
A: olof nordling; gnso-dt-wg@xxxxxxxxx
Oggetto: [gnso-dt-wg] Quantifying the Registrar Benefit
 
Olof,

Another "fact" revealed in Modern Domainer magazine:  

"Most registrars charge a deletion fee that ranges
anywhere from $.05 to $1 per domain, and while they
carry fancy names such as "registry deletion fee" and
"restocking fee" the fact of the matter is that there
is no fee imposed by the registry to delete a
.COM/.Net registration."

As registrars financially benefit from domain tasting,
perhaps we could have Staff determine the degree of
such benefit by asking each registrar how much they
charge for providing these services (and then
multiplying that value times the number of recorded
deletes per registrar).  

That would certainly serve to reasonably quantify the
accrued financial benefit enjoyed by one segment of
the community (and would constitute "factually
supported information" that we are calling for in one
of the latter RFI questions).


       
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