RE: [registrars] Issues with Verisign Waiting List proposal

[Nikolaj Nyholm <nikolajn@ascio.com>]

I support both Werners views, however I am less concerned with pricing.


To my best knowledge, there is no reason that registrars have to continue
the malpractice of marking services up $0.50.

We're focused on making money; Verisign is focused on making money (just
having Chuck, et.al dealing with the abovementioned registrars, costs VGRS
plenty of money every year) and they have a product in demand (so we should
both be able to make money).


That being said, I am very supportive of Werners proposal to make a portion
of the proceeds go to the benefit of communitty at large.


Kind regards
Nikolaj Nyholm

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Werner Staub (CORE) [mailto:werner.staub@corenic.org] 
> Sent: 3. januar 2002 22:36
> To: registrars@dnso.org
> Subject: [registrars] Issues with Verisign Waiting List proposal
> 
> 
> Chuck,
> 
> I also have concerns with respect to 
> 
> - ethical issues associated with the WLS proposal
> - Verisign's proposed pricing. 
> 
> Regarding ethics: the WLS has the potential to become a
> practically compulsory monopoly service, i.e. one where the
> consumer has no choice but to take it. The system must be
> designed to minimise such an effect. It is not ethical to
> twist the consumer's arm, using the domain speculators as
> a threat against a consumer who has paid for the domain.
> A prudent domain holder may want to enter the waiting list 
> with its own name, possibly via another registrar. 
> However, to do that the registrant is obliged to take the 
> service immediately, or somebody else might grab the WLS
> position. If that happens, the registrant has no other choice
> but to add extra domain-years and have still no protection 
> against accidental deletion. Consequently, a grace period or
> a sunrise period are not enough. The registered domain holder 
> must be able to jump to the first WLS position (i.e.g ahead
> of earlier subcribers other than the holder) at any time during 
> the validity of the domain. That of course is more difficult 
> in the case of a thin registry, but it can be done if the 
> current whois output is picked up and archived whenever a 
> WLS transaction is made.
> 
> Regarding price: I also think that 40 dollars per 1-year WLS 
> subscription by far exceeds the costs and any reasonable 
> profit margin. That being said, a certain price level may be 
> needed to discourage speculative or abusive usage of the WLS. 
> There is no reason why Verisign should pocket the difference 
> between the "cost plus resonable profit margin" and equilibrium
> price. If indeed the price to the registrar is to be 40 dollars, 
> then 34 should go to somewhere else and be used for the 
> community at large. The remaining 6 dollars should also be the 
> registry fee for the one additional year if the domain were 
> deleted and the WLS were triggered.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Werner
>