Category Archives: Domain Industry

Keep your whois details current – Especially keep your admin email domain registered!

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I was checking my domain deciding what domains to renew. I usually also check the other extensions in order to make a decision. When deciding to renew or not a .info domain I noticed that the .net had an registrant email address that used the .biz version. Te only problem was that the .biz was not registered at that time.

I tried to warn the domain name owner (by sending an email that went, surprise, unanswered) that not only he had let the .biz expire and he was risking losing the .net either by missing a renewal notice or if a thief used the .biz to create the .net registrant email address and steal the domain. A couple of days later I noticed that someone bought the .biz and is now parking it.

In fact ICANN’s GNSO is suggesting as a best practice in the Expired Registration Recovery Policy that registrars should advise registered name holders to provide a secondary email point of contact that is not associated with the domain name itself so that in case of expiration, reminders can be delivered to this secondary email point of contact.

So it is always a good idea to keep your whois details current and especially to keep your admin/owner email address domain name registered and renewed. I renew my admin email domains well in advance, usually for 5-10 years. It is good practice to also renew any nameserver domains you may have as well.

Verisign’s 2012 Q4 Domain Data: 252 million domains worldwide, 121 million .com and .net (INFOGRAPHIC)

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Yesterday, Verisign released the latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief, which showed that the Internet grew by more than six million domain names in the fourth quarter of 2012. The total number of registered domain names now stands at more than 252 million, which represents a 2.5 percent growth rate over the third quarter of 2012. This marks the eighth straight quarter with greater than 2 percent growth.

More than six million domain names were added to the Internet in the fourth quarter of 2012, bringing the total number of registered domain names as of Dec. 31, 2012, to more than 252 million worldwide across all Top-Level Domains (TLDs), according to the latest Domain Name Industry Brief.

The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly when compared to the third quarter. In Q4’2012, the largest TLDs in terms of base size were, in order: .com, .de (Germany), .net, .tk (Tokelau), .uk (United Kingdom), .org, .cn (China),  .info,.nl (Netherlands) and .ru (Russian Federation).

The base of Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) was 110.2 million domain names, a 5 percent increase quarter over quarter, and a 21.6 percent increase year over year in the base.

The .com and .net TLD registrations experienced a 6.4 percent increase over Q4’2011, bringing the combined total number of domain names in the adjusted zone to approximately 121.1 million. New .com and .net registrations totaled 8.0 million during the fourth quarter of 2012. In the fourth quarter of 2011, new .com and .net registrations totaled 7.9 million.

The .com and .net renewal rate for the third quarter of 2012 was 72.9 percent, up from 72.5 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

Verisign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during the fourth quarter of 2012 was 77 billion, across all TLDs operated by Verisign, with a peak of 123 billion. Compared to the third quarter of 2012, the daily average increased 16 percent and the peak increased 20.4 percent.

The order of the top TLDs in terms of zone size changed slightly when compared to the third quarter, as .cn (China) moved up a ranking from the eighth largest TLD to the seventh largest TLD, resulting in .info moving down one ranking. All other TLDs in the top 10 maintained their rankings.

infographic-dnib-april2013The latest issue of the Domain Name Industry Brief also offers a high-level overview of the challenges and opportunities that big data presents companies of all sizes. “Big Data Can Pose Big Challenges, and Opportunities, for Organizations” also includes a synopsis of the data generated within the DNS, and how companies could use this data to inform business strategy and possibly improve network security.

ICANN’s proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) up for public comments

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ICANN is seeking public comments on a Proposed 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), particularly on areas where ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team have not been able to reach agreement in principle. This represents the first time in the nearly 18 months of negotiations that community comment is formally sought on this document.

ICANN and the Registrar Negotiating Team commenced negotiation on amendments to the RAA in October 2011. While the documents posted today show many areas of agreement, there are differences between the ICANN and Registrar positions are highlighted. In addition, further discussion is still ongoing regarding some of the specifications to the agreement.

The Registrar Negotiating Team (NT) has continued to engage in good faith negotiations to understand ICANN‘s perspective with respect to the outstanding issues, and to share the often divergent positions within the Registrar Stakeholder Group. Recently, additional revisions were proposed by ICANN‘s Negotiating Team stemming from the call by ICANN‘s CEO, Fadi Chehadé, to work to improve the image of the domain industry and to protect registrants through a further updated contractual framework. The Registrar NT considered each of these new issues, and worked towards finding solutions where appropriate. The RAA posted today reflects hard-fought concessions on many of key issues raised throughout the negotiations, and highlights issues remaining in order for the final 2013 RAA agreement to be reached.

Throughout the RAA and its Specifications, there are portions where two versions of draft text appear side by side. These highlight areas where ICANN and the Registrars have not been able to reach agreement in principle on an issue, therefore both positions are provided for comment.

After review of the comment received, the proposed 2013 RAA will be reviewed to determine if further changes are warranted. In addition, ICANN and the Registrar NT are likely to continue discussions regarding the areas where the specifications remain open. The ultimate goal is to have a 2013 RAA completed and approved in the near future.

Comment Open Date: 7 March 2013
Comment Close Date: 28 March 2013 – 23:59 UTC
Reply Open Date: 29 March 2013
Reply Close Date: 19 April 2013 – 23:59 UTC

Public Comment Box Link: http://www.icann.org/en/news/public-comment/proposed-raa-07mar13-en.htm

Not everything is about .COM

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.COM is king but not everything is about .com. There are still many opportunities in other gTLDs and ccTLDs. I had an intense 24 hours in domaining and my day didn’t involve too much of .com.

At first I got a call from one of the top 5 companies in the world (US based) that wanted to buy one of my .info domain names. My wife answered the call and gave me the phone to talk. The caller only told me his name, so I didn’t know for what company he was working for at that time. When he told what domain name he was interested in I knew he wouldn’t like my price. I can’t disclose the domain name but it wouldn’t be so hard to guess.

I asked him if he had an offer and he said that he wanted to hear my price first. I started telling him that I have declined a lot of 5 figure offers for this domain in the past few years. He interrupted me and told me that he only had an offer for $5,000 USD. So we left it at that and hung up. Don’t think for a moment that the 5 figure offers were a sales pitch. I have actually received these offers.

Then I got back on my PC only to find an email that the caller had send before he called me. He had send the same offer but it was then when the company he was working for was revealed. I didn’t know the company when I talked to him on the phone but my price was and is going to be the same. No matter who calls, my price will be the same for this particular domain. I don’t think this is over just yet…

On the same day I got an offer through DomainNameSales.com for a .org domain from one of the largest and most known UK associations. They are interested in buying a .org domain name I own.

Again on the same day I sold a .net domain at Sedo to a US individual and got a decent offer on a 3 letter .biz domain.

Finally I got an inquiry for a 3 letter .org that I am not willing to sell as it relates to my wife’s line of work. I am currently negotiating a lease for this domain.

And because most of the domains above haven’t produced any results yet here is what domains I have sold so far this year:
3 .com
3 .info
2 .org
1 .net
1 .us

All sales were for $1500 and up and only 4 of the 10 domain sales have been reported. All the others were private.

I must admit that I have a pretty diverse portfolio and that my .info portfolio is at least above average but my results must be very interesting. Don’t you think?

.COM is king and will be for many years to come but not everything is about .com.

.net price increases to $5.62 on July 1, 2013 and at $8.20 until 2017

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Verisign announced today that the .net registry fee will be increased from $5.11 to $5.62. This price does NOT include the $0.75 ICANN fee. So the actual wholesale fee paid by the registrars will be $6.37. Verisign’s target certainly is to reach the .net price at $8.20 until 2017.

Verisign is allowed by it’s contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to increase the registry price for .net 10% every year. The last price increase for .net was done on January 15th 2012. Price went up 10%: from $4.65 to $5.11.

On November 30th Verisign, Inc., the registry operator for .com, got it’s contact renewed for another 6 years. The U.S. Department of Commerce approved the renewal of Verisign’s agreement with ICANN with the contract running from December 1st, 2012 to November 30th, 2018. Although Verisign got the contract renewal, it lost the right to raise the wholesale price of .com for the next 6 years. In the previous contract running from 2006 up to 2012 Verisign was able to raise .com prices 4 times.

This puts pressure on Verisign to increase revenue and of course the easy way out is to increase .net prices by 10% every single year until 2017. The .net contract expires on the 1st of July 2017. So the expected 2017 .net price will be: $8.20. That will be higher that the current .com price that will stay at $7.85 until 2018. (.net has a much higher ICANN fee that is not included in these prices)

This is the complete press release from Verisign:

Verisign Announces Increase in .Net Registry Fee

RESTON, VA–(Marketwire – Dec 19, 2012) – VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced, effective July 1, 2013, an increase in the registry domain name fee for .net top-level domain names, per its agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

As of July 1, 2013, the registry fee for .net will increase from $5.11 to $5.62.

New gTLD Prioritization Draw – Watch Live Now

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A Prioritization Draw is being held today 17 December 2012 in Los Angeles to assign priority numbers to all new gTLD applications. Each application will be assigned a randomly-drawn priority number. These priority numbers will be used to determine the order in which initial evaluation results are released. Only those Applicants who purchase a ticket will be able to participate in the Draw.

Watch Live Now #1

Watch Live Now #2

The Draw

The Prioritization Draw will be held on 17 December 2012 at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport located at 5711 West Century Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 90045.

The Draw will begin at 1:00 p.m PST, in the International Ballroom and last until approximately 7:00 p.m., or until the last ticket has been drawn and assigned a priority number.

To participate in the Draw, an Applicant, through a designated representative or proxy (see below for more details) must purchase a ticket in person for each application that the Applicant wants prioritized.

Applicants are not required to attend the 17 December 2012 Draw to receive a prioritization number for each application.

Results of the Draw will be announced on the day of the Draw and the results will be posted on ICANN’s website at http://gtldresult.icann.org/application-result/applicationstatus within 24 hours of the end of the Draw.

ICANN reserves the right to revise the date, time, and location of the Draw, as well as the date and time for posting the results of the Draw. If any changes do occur, ICANN will notify all Applicants. Any changes regarding the Draw will be posted to this webpage.

Watch Online

If you cannot attend in person, watch online now: http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/watchthedraw

Tickets Sales

Cost: USD 100.00 per ticket, only one ticket per application is available
Location: Hilton Los Angeles Airport Hotel, Room Century C/D on the second floor
5711 West Century Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90045
Date/Time: 12 December – 16 December 2012
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PST / 17:00 to 01:00 UTC +1day
AND
17 December 2012
8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. PST / 16:00 to 19:00 UTC
Payment: Cash, cashier’s or certified check, travelers cheques, or credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover), payable in U.S. dollars only. Checks can be made payable to ICANN Draw.

It is strongly encouraged that Applicants purchase tickets in advance of the 17 December 2012 Draw date. A strict cut-off time for ticket sales will be enforced. If an Applicant’s designated representative or proxy is not in the queue to purchase ticket(s) by 11:00 a.m. PST on 17 December 2012, the Applicant forfeits its ability to participate in the Draw.

Is Sedo Oblivious? Sedo’s review of the 2012 domain year

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Sedo just published it’s 2012 domain review. It seems that Sedo is oblivious at to what is happening to their own company. I think that the highlight of this review is summed up in this statement:

Above all — and we hope you noticed it too — we have become faster at implementing changes, which is something we know you have been eager to see.

Seriously? I have been waiting for more than a month for a simple bug fix and nothing has been done. I have asked for an opt out from Sedo MLS that pushed the domains to Go Daddy auctions but that can’t be done either. Where is that speed in implementing changes?

Here is the complete report:

In 2012, the Sedo platform made some great steps forward. For our customers, some of this year’s product improvements were visible, while some were only noticeable internally. Regardless, every change over the course of the year was an important and necessary one. Above all—and we hope you noticed it too—we have become faster at implementing changes, which is something we know you have been eager to see. The reason for this was the introduction in late 2011 of an agile development process. Our sales teams and product managers have also been attending the most important conferences all year to gather your feedback and implement the changes you’ve been looking for.

We would like to thank you for helping us further develop the Sedo marketplace to better serve the needs of buyers, sellers, parkers, and partners, and to make the domain name market into a better experience for us all. Though we have plenty of changes on the table for 2013, we would like to take a moment to look back at the great strides we’ve made in 2012. Starting next month, my colleague and Sedo’s CEO Tobias Flaitz will be keeping you up to date on news and trends from the domain industry.

I wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday and an exciting 2013!

 

Highlights for domain buyers

  • A revamped search tool, providing better, more specific results
  • The Domain Value Indicators tool, offering insight into the most important metrics for a domain’s value
  • Handpicked premium domains from experts for every budget and every industry with our monthly “Select 50″ mailing

Highlights for domain sellers

  • An improved domain listing process, including a wizard feature to guide new users
  • Free price suggestions for your domains with the Big Data Pricer
  • More flexible selling options with Buy Now or Best Offer to make more sales

Highlights for domain parkers

  • More clicks and more revenue with our “Auto-Select” option, and new, fresh layouts
  • Noticeably better traffic conversion with more alternative monetization methods like Zero Click
  • Effective new parking templates optimized for mobile devices
  • Exclusively at Sedo: Parking ads display in Firefox and Chrome even with ad blocking software

What will 2013 bring?

In 2013, we want to continue to be the most secure, most service-oriented domain marketplace. Our Security & Compliance team is constantly working hard to ensure that your domain name transactions are safe and efficient, and to make sure that you are getting the best revenue from your parked domains.

This year, our Customer Support teams have also created some video tutorials that are available in our FAQ section, and which explain the different settings and tools at Sedo quickly and clearly. In 2013, we will add more tutorials, and continue to expand the SedoMLS partner network in order to put your domains in front of more potential buyers than ever before.

We’re also looking forward to partnering with many new gTLD registries in order to ensure that new domain extensions come to market successfully and that they reach the right end users to ensure their success. This is something that Sedo’s gTLD product offering will help with, and we’re happy to already be partnering with many new gTLDs.

Average domain prices stay stable – Mean .com price increases – “Buy Now” transactions at all time high – Sedo

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Sedo has been consistently producing a quarterly market study since the 2nd quarter of 2009. There are some stats from before but these are not complete. I took all the reports from the past 3 years and produced some interesting statistics and graphs as individual reports don’t tell the whole story.

Conclusions:

  • Domain transactions and sales volume drop at Sedo (Q3 is all time low)
  • Average domain prices stay stable
  • Average .com price stays stable (currently at $2225)
  • Mean .com price increases (currently at $642). A lot of low value .com sales brinf the mean price down.
  • .com transactions amount for about 50% of all sales
  • “Buy Now” transactions at all time high (42%)
  • Auction transactions at all time low (13%)

First of all, the domain transactions per quarter start at 8754 at Q1 2008 and rise up to  11942 in Q1 2010. Then transactions stay above 10000 per quarter for about a year and then the decline starts. Q3 2012 with 8181 domain transactions was the worst quarter ever for Sedo. (I am always taking about the reported market studies since 2008 or 2009 depending on the stats)

Again quarterly sales value has been declining since Q3 2011. The Q3 2012 15,1 million is the lowest sales value since Q2 2009. (Q4 2010 spike is because of the sex.com sale)

The average domain name price has pretty much stayed stable since Q3 2009 at about 2000 USD. But I help but notice that the Q3 2012 average of 1845 USD is the lowest average since Q2 2009. There is a small decline since Q4 2011 but I will wait on future report to draw a better conclusion.

The average gTLD domain name prices of .com, .net, .org, .biz and .info are a bit inconsistent as a single sale can influence the results. Nevertheless .com is always above the 2k USD mark and .info is just below the 1k mark.

The mean gTLD domain name prices of .com, .net, .org, .biz and .info are far more interesting.
Mean .com sales price has been rising consistently since Q2 2009 up to Q3 2012 from 410 USD to 642 in the latest report.
.net had a peak at about 600 USD but it is currently at about 500 to 550 USD.
.org has stayed above 500 USD since Q1 2010 showing the strength of the extension.
.biz is seeing a lot of fluctuations and lately it is below the 400 USD mark.
.info is consistently above the 400 USD mark (except for 1 quarter) and a few times it has been close to 500 USD.

Sedo’s sales channels percentages are also very interesting. The “Buy Now” sale percentage has been steadily increasing since Q2 2009 and has reached a maximum of 42% of the sales in Q3 2012. Offer/counteroffer sales have seen a decline from 47% to 33%. Auctions have seen a significant decline dropping from 39% to 13%. I wonder how many transactions of this 13% are auctions with only a single bid. These 1 bid auctions that have come from offer/counteroffer should be credited to the offer/counteroffer percentage as technically these are not auctions. Escrow transactions and brokerage sales have stayed stable.

Sedo increased sales commission in Q1 2011 from 10% to 15%. At that time Buy Now sales percentage was at about 25-28%. It then jumped at about 42% as Buy Now sales commission is 10%.

Other stats are showing that .com domain name sales always amount for about 50% of the total Sedo sales transactions in each quarter. .de sales have dropped a bit and are currently at 15% of total Sedo sales. .net and .co.uk are tied at about 5% each and .org follows at 4%. .info, .eu and .es are all tied at about 2% of the total sales transactions.

46% of the sales at for a value up to $500. That has been the case since Q2 2011. $501-$2500 sales are also stable at about 40%. $2501-$5000 are consistent at about 8% and sales about 5k take up 7%. These stats have mostly stayed the same since Q2 2011.

Go Daddy is destroying domain sales – The perpetual 80 day auction and Sedo’s refusal to remove domains from Go Daddy

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Go Daddy confuses buyers by presenting unpriced domains as being in an 80 day auction. Most of these domain names are being send by Go Daddy’s partners such as Afternic and Sedo that recently started a partnership. Sedo refuses to remove domains from Go Daddy. I believe this is confusing to buyers and hurts domain name sales.

All unpriced domains for sale at Go Daddy come up as:

xxxxxxx.xxx is available through Go Daddy Auctions!
Minimum Offer: $xxxx.00 | Auction Ends: 2/xx/2013 6:05:00 PM PST

If you have set a minimum offer at Sedo or Afternic then it appears at Godaddy. If you haven’t then the default $500 minimum appears. Either way this doesn’t change the fact that all domains without a Buy It Now price are presented to buyers as being in an auction.

Of course Go Daddy is more US targeted but nevertheless Go Daddy will destroy domain sales worldwide. Prices are going to come down on domains listed at Go Daddy and fewer sales will happen.

I had never listed a single domain name at Go Daddy and suddenly all my domains appeared there overnight.

Go Daddy perpetually lists all domain names as being in a 80 day auction. Nobody in their right mind will make an offer for a domain that is in auction. They are going to wait for the auction to be close to the end and then make the lowest bid and expect to win the domain. That will not happen. So you are going to have a disappointed and confused buyer and no sale. And you would have wasted 80 fu***ing days. I have had numerous buyers emailing me that Go Daddy has my domain in auction with a $500 bid. That is not true and I will not allow it to happen any more. I don’t put my domains for auction. Not everything is about auctions.

Sedo and Afternic want to target the $500 market and that is their choice but I will not be dragged into that. I don’t sell domains at that price. I don’t even sell below $1500. At least Afternic offers an opt out option of listing your domains at Go Daddy. You just need to contact support and they will remove all your domains from Go Daddy. But Sedo refuses to remove your domains from Go Daddy so the only option left is to remove all your domains from Sedo. I have already removed 3k domains. They didn’t seem to care so I will remove another 3k today. Goodbye Sedo!

So the time to choose is here for all domainers. List at Sedo and have all your domains listed at the Go Daddy garage sale or leave Sedo? I know that a trend is already forming…

This is what is happening to buyers in this email I got:

I’m interested in your domain ***********.com. I bid on 8/10/12 and you counter offered for $*****. I will go no higher than $****.
You’ve had this domain for seven years and I was the only bidder in your auction. This is your one chance to sell the domain.

There was no bid on my domain. The buyer requested a price from the GoDaddy aftermarket and then Afternic asked me to set a price for my domain because it is listed in Afternic. The “counter offer” was me setting a price for this domain name at Afternic that was pushed to the interested buyer. Buyer also seems to think that the domain is in auction and for the past seven years (the years that the domain is registered) nobody has made a bid. This very disturbing. GoDaddy should make it clear that most domains in it’s system are NOT in auction. Just because their aftermarket is called Go Daddy Auctions it doesn’t mean that all domains listed are in auction!

I tried searching for my domain name at GoDaddy and of course it appears to be in auction. Auction ends on 9/13/2012 and says “Minimum Offer: $500.00″ although the domain is now priced. My price is nowhere to be seen.

Then a week after the email above I got an offer through email for one of my domains for $300. I politely declined the offer for my 14 year old .com domain only to get this reply:

What are you looking for?
It is listed on GoDaddy Auctions for $500.

No it’s NOT! GoDaddy confuses the buyers by presenting the minimum offer at $500 instead of what it is and also by implying that a bid for $500 will win the domain in the auction if there are no other bids. Buyers then get the real price and they feel cheated and angry.

And here is another email:

Dear Sir or Madame,
I noticed you have for sale the domain name: ****.info .
The minimum to trigger auction appears to be $500.00 .
I’d be interested to learn what you would accept to buy the domain please.
Thank you.

 

I also get questions from blog readers that ask why does my domain shows as auction at GoDaddy.

Yesterday someone searched at google for “what happens make offer godaddy auction” and ended up at one of my posts. People don’t know what’s going on and are trying to find out. I am not getting any sales tat Go Daddy and potential buyers are confused by the whole process.

And here is the last email from today:

I find this domain on an auction and there was a start price for 1278$ and there were no bids… I will do this price bid like a chance to have this domain, but this auction were finished early.

That is enough for me.

Registry .com price stays at $7.85 – .com owners save 1B dollars – Renew a .com for 6 years, get 1 year for free…

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On November 30th Verisign, Inc., the registry operator for .com, got it’s contact renewed for another 6 years. The U.S. Department of Commerce approved the renewal of Verisign’s agreement with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to serve as the authoritative registry operator for the .com registry. The contract will run from December 1st, 2012 to November 30th, 2018.

Although Verisign got the contract renewal, it lost the right to raise the wholesale price of .com for the next 6 years. In the previous contract running from 2006 up to 2012 Verisign was able to raise .com prices 4 times. Verisign was hoping for a similar price scheme but the plan of raising prices 7% in any 4 of the next 6 years was denied by the US Department of Commerce.

Verisign’s current pricing of $7.85 per domain name registration will continue for the six-year term of the Agreement. Verisign no longer has the right to four price increases of up to seven percent over the six-year term. Price increases are limited to circumstances based on the imposition of new Consensus Policy or extraordinary expenses related to security or stability threats, and now require Commerce Department prior approval.

So lets calculate the savings of the .com owners in the next 6 years. If Verisign was able to increase .com prices in 4 of the next 6 years .com wholesale price would have reached $10.26 from $7.85 today.

Let’s say Verisign increased prices in the first 4 years:

Worst case scenario (new price) (price increase from current price)
Current price: $7.85
1st Year $8.39 $0.54
2nd Year $8.97 $1.12
3rd Year $9.59 $1.74
4th Year $10.26 $2.41
5th Year $10.26 $2.41
6th Year $10.26 $2.41
Total over 6 years: $10.63

Let’s say Verisign increased prices in the last 4 years:

Best case scenario (new price) (price increase from current price)
Current price: $7.85
1st Year $7.85
2nd Year $7.85
3rd Year $8.39 $0.54
4th Year $8.97 $1.12
5th Year $9.59 $1.74
6th Year $10.26 $2.41
Total over 6 years: $5.81

Let’s say Verisign increased prices following the pattern from it’s last contract. Verisign increased prices in 2007,2008,2010 and 2012, so similarly:

Verisign scenario (new price) (price increase from current price)
Current price: $7.85
1st Year $8.39 $0.54
2nd Year $8.97 $1.12
3rd Year $8.97 $1.12
4th Year $9.59 $1.74
5th Year $9.59 $1.74
6th Year $10.26 $2.41
Total over 6 years: $8.67

That is $8.67 savings for each .com domain in the next 6 years. Multiply that by the current number of .com registrations that is almost 106 million and you get almost 920 million dollars. And that number does not take into account the .com registration growth, so the total number should be close to 1 billion dollars.

That is 1 billion dollars that will stay in the .com owners pockets and not go to Verisign. Verisign is charging almost $2 more for .com that it does for .net. I think that is enough to keep them happy for the next 6 years.

Essentially with the $8.67 savings, if you renew a .com domain for 6 years, you get an extra year for free. Personally I saved about 30k USD over the next 6 years.