Re: [registrars] Need discussion of Transfers after expiration

[Larry Erlich <erlich@domainregistry.com>]

Mike Lampson wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> One of the things I heard mentioned by a large Registrar during the
> teleconference this morning was that once a domain was past its expiration
> date, the Registrant has no choice but to renew with that Registrar.  This
> was mentioned rather abruptly late in the call and I'm not sure it was
> noticed by the majority of the listeners.
> 
> This should not be the case.  VeriSign Registry gives Registrars a 45 day
> grace period after a domain expires to renew it.  During that 45 day period,
> VeriSign auto-renews the domain and debits the current Registrar.  If the
> domain is then deleted OR TRANSFERRED away from that Registrar during that
> 45 day grace period, the deleting/losing Registrar is credited back the
> auto-renewal fee.  

Mike, 

I share your concern but there is more to the cost
then just the $6 fee. For example, we send out mail invoices
which cost .80 (overseas) and we also, in certain cases,
make phone calls prior to deleting names. This obviously
costs money. We could (as the "large" registrar could) just delete the
name ON the expiration date, but we don't. And I don't think
that would be good for the customers either. We incur additional
costs (with the hope of retaining the customer of course) which
we would like to recoup.

I would agree that it does not seem right to hold
a name hostage. And for the record we have NOT done this,
we have allowed transfers past the expiration date.

I know I will probably get flack for this, but I would like to 
suggest some kind of nominal service fee to release
a name after the expiration date if the customer does
not renew through the current registrar. As mentioned, in our
case we DO incur additional costs even though we are credited
the $6 fee.

The other issue of course with the $6 fee is that it ties
up credit as our account balance is debited until the
name is transferred or deleted. So we have to keep extra
money on deposit with the registry to cover this.

And an even more important issue is that Verisign Registrar gives their
customers MORE THAN 45 days (they were quoted in the NY Times
as saying 60 days but they give much longer than that) This is
of course because they don't incur any $6 cost as we do.

What I would like to propose is that Verisign change our renewal
period to 60 days and also stick to the 60 day period themselves with
respect to their Registrar.

Larry Erlich

http://www.DomainRegistry.com


>See the following VeriSign advisory for more information:
> 
>   http://www.verisign-grs.com/support/advisories/2000/advisory_041300.html
> 
> Registrants should not be required to renew with their current Registrar if
> a transfer request arrives after the expiration date but prior to the
> Registrar's cancellation (i.e. deletion) of the domain registration.
> 
> As part of whatever decisions or plans occur during next Wednesday's
> teleconference, let us also include a discussion of the right thing to do
> regarding Transfers during this 45 day grace period.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike Lampson
> The Registry at Info Avenue, LLC

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Larry Erlich - DomainRegistry.com, Inc.
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