[ga] Re: WLS pricing proposal

[George Kirikos <gkirikos@yahoo.com>]

Hello,

--- "Lee Hodgson, DomainGuru.com" <guru@domainguru.com> wrote:
> In principle I am comfortable with the WLS proposal. What I am not
> comfortable with is the current revenue sharing model i.e. splitting
> it between wholesale (which guarantees Verisign / Snapnames $40 per
> subscription), and retail, which if the 'competition' between ICANN
> registrars for domain registration business is any indicator, will
> lead to registrars fighting over a few dollars per subscription.
<snip>
> So why not guarantee registrars and their resellers a fairer split?
> Set the price of the service at $69.95 and give registrars a 30%-40%
> cut of that. It's all very well saying that competition is good for

That's an illegal cartel. It's anti-competitive for the monopolist
registry to enforce price controls on the retailers. It's like a music
company telling CD retailers that they have to all charge $20 per CD.
Simply illegal in most countries. In the US, one can start one's
research on the antitrust issue at:

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/overview.html

"The antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every
level of business, including manufacturing, transportation,
distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that
restrain trade, such as price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers
likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets, and
predatory acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power." 

Note the words "price-fixing conspiracies" above, as well as "predatory
acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power".

I find it amazing that so many would openly make proposals that will
certainly draw the attention of these government agencies.

> In closing, the current proposal will inevitably lead to thin margins
> amongst ICANN registrars and their resellers / expiring names
> services, and this will in turn kill off the innovation which should
> be an integral part of any market. Innoviation benefits everyone -
> consumers, registrars, and the registry!

Indeed, that's why the entire WLS as proposed is in the scrap heap.
There already exist innovative competitors in the registrar space (I
enumerated at least 10 in prior posts) serving the expired names
market, and I'm sure even more innovation is ahead, as long as Verisign
doesn't interfere in this market. Verisign registrar is open to
compete, but not at the registry level which would stifle competition.

If you have your own expired names service, you're free to launch such
a system in the current competitive market (for instance, you can
associate with one or more of the registrars, or SnapNames, or
ExpireFish, NameWinner, NicGenie, eNom, AWRegistry, IArRegistry, etc.
or go it alone).

Sincerely,

George Kirikos
http://www.kirikos.com/

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