You pay an annual fee when you register a domain name at Zname.com or any other domain name registrar. You might be surprised to learn that Zname.com gets to keep very little of the amount you pay for your registration, especially when it comes to .com domain names.
Let’s take a look at the domain name registration ecosystem, who is involved, and who controls the price of .com domain names.
Registries and Registrars
Each top level domain name (that’s the part to the right of the dot, like .com or .net) is managed by a registry. Think of a registry as a wholesaler that manages the inventory of domain names under that top level domain.
You don’t register your domain name by going directly to the registry. Instead, you go to a domain name registrar such as Zname.com. When you search for a domain, the registrar checks with the registry to see if the name is available. If you decide to register a domain, Zname.com tells the registry to reserve it for you.
The registrar handles the searching capability, customer support, credit card processing, renewal notifications and account management for your domain name. Think of the registrar as a retailer.
The .Com Registry
The registry for .com is Verisign, a publicly traded company in Virginia. It manages all 139 million .com domain names, acting as a database for name availability and helping internet users get directed to the right website when someone visits a domain name.
In addition to running .com, Verisign also manages .net and a few other top level domain names.
So in the case of a .com domain, when you register one at Zname.com, Zname.com acts as the retailer and reserves the domain from the wholesaler. You pay the registrar and it pays a portion of this to the registry.
While retailers can charge as much as they want for .com domain names, in practice competition limits what they usually charge. Low-cost registrars like Zname.com pay over half of each .com registration fee to Verisign.
Price Controls
Because Verisign is the only wholesaler for .com domain names, there are some price controls in place to keep it from charging whatever it wants when someone registers a domain name. There are two groups that keep the prices in check: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the U.S. government.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit that oversees the administration of domain names. One of its key roles is to manage contracts with registries and registrars.
ICANN contracts with Verisign for running the .com registry. This contract sets a limit on how much Verisign can charge for each .com domain name.
What It Means to You
If you only have a domain or two, you probably won’t feel the pinch of these possible .com price increases. But with nearly 140 million .com domains registered, each $1 increase in the price of .com means consumers pay an additional $140 million dollars if registrars pass the full amount of the increase to their customers.
There’s a way to protect yourself against near-term price increases. Renew early and for multiple years. For .com domains you can renew them for up to 10 years in advance at today’s prices. If you renew now you’ll pay today’s price rather than future prices.
Renew your domain at Zname.com today.