Afilias did not charge any of the registries to queue/apply for names during the
sunrise and landrush periods.It was the registries that could charge whatever
they liked for this.
On the other hand, Neulevel's application charge was $2, which
some companies marked up to $10 (or more?) plus ludicrous yearly fees upon successful
registration. eNom even had a bidding system whereby you could pay thousands if you
won a good name, and yet Joker just charged $12 Euro (~US$10) for the exact same
name, with the same chance of registration success.
In my opinion, this system
represents a good argument for a single registrar (just not Afilias) to be a central
point of contact for all. Not everyone has the luxury to shop around to see what
the competition offers and this would have made it fair for everyone, with a set
price.
Cheers,
Dave