DOT Org Domain Face 10% Increase in Registration Fee

• Tue, 13^th May 2008, 11:24
• Permalink

Companies that own .org domains will soon see rates increases to renew, transfer, and register new domains. The company that operates the .org domain, Public Interest Registry (PIR), has decided to raise wholesale rates from $6.15 to $6.75 per domain this year—a 10 percent fee increase, following last year's 2.5 percent increase.

PIR informed the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of its plans in a letter (PDF) sent earlier this month. The increase will go into effect on November 9, giving those who own or want .org domains another six months to take advantage of the current price.

PIR doesn't require ICANN's approval in order to raise rates, but it is limited by ICANN on how much it can raise them per year. According to ICANN's registry agreement for .org domains, service fees cannot be increased by more than 1.1 times the previous year's max service fees. The original agreement started out in 2006 at $6 per domain, meaning that 2007's maximum service fees would have been $6.60, and 2008's maximum is $7.26.

 VeriSign, has raised the prices for .com and .net the maximum allowable each year under its agreement with ICANN.