2

I have a few domains that I had registered and used a long time ago, and then I let them expire. I want to start them up again and now I am told the cost is as much as $40,000 because it is a "Premium" Domain.

How can a registrar get away with that? It has always made me mad that they can steal ownership of my intellectual property in the first place. But to then make it impossible for me to afford to get it back is in my opinion unethical. They should be limited to charging a normal fee.

Is there a way around these charlatans?

Stephen Ostermiller
  • 99,822
  • 18
  • 143
  • 364
Tom Cooper
  • 39
  • 1

1 Answers1

5

We never really own domains.

We apply to rent them when they aren't being rented by anyone else and then we continue to rent them on an ongoing yearly basis.

Any time we stop renting them, another person or organisation may apply to start renting them instead.

At this point we can only start renting them again if the other person or organisation agrees to transfer rentership to us (usually for a substantial price) or if they release it back to the domain registrar and we then apply to that registrar to rent the domain before anyone else does. At which point the registrar determines the cost of access-to-rent and the subsequent ongoing rental cost.

We commonly use the term domain ownership, but we never really own domains. We only rent them.

Rounin
  • 2,385
  • 2
  • 17
  • 35