IEDR Price Reduction.

tom-thebox

IEDR Price Reduction: http://www.domainregistry.ie/PriceReduction.doc

eoinm1

Hi Tom

Do you think they will lower the reseller rate of 50 euro as well.

/me is up for renewal in march.

Eóin

tom-thebox

Originally posted by eoinm1
Hi Tom

Do you think they will lower the reseller rate of 50 euro as well.

/me is up for renewal in march.

Eóin

Indeedy I think its now 45 euros.

jmcc

Originally posted by tom-thebox
IEDR Price Reduction: http://www.domainregistry.ie/PriceReduction.doc

Forgive me for being cynical but that 'reduction' means that a .ie is now only 10 times more expensive than a .com domain. Given the way that .ie domains are being deleted, I really think that .eu will crucify .ie when it launches in September. The .ie cctld only grew by 2800 or so domains last year.

Regards...jmcc

tom-thebox

Originally posted by jmcc
'reduction' means

re·duc·tion ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-dkshn)
n.
The act or process of reducing.
The result of reducing: a reduction in absenteeism.
The amount by which something is lessened or diminished: a reduction of 12 percent in violent crime.
Biology. The first meiotic division, in which the chromosome number is reduced. Also called reduction division.
Chemistry.
A decrease in positive valence or an increase in negative valence by the gaining of electrons.
A reaction in which hydrogen is combined with a compound.
A reaction in which oxygen is removed from a compound.
Mathematics.
The canceling of common factors in the numerator and denominator of a fraction.
The converting of a fraction to its decimal equivalent.
The converting of an expression or equation to its simplest form.

mneylon

Originally posted by jmcc
Forgive me for being cynical but that 'reduction' means that a .ie is now only 10 times more expensive than a .com domain. Given the way that .ie domains are being deleted, I really think that .eu will crucify .ie when it launches in September. The .ie cctld only grew by 2800 or so domains last year.

Regards...jmcc

You are cynical by nature once anybody mentions IEDR

You have to admit that it is a step, albeit a very small one, in the right direction.

dahamsta

Of course it is. But that doesn't hide the fact that the reduction wasn't made for the benefit of the community, or the resellers, it was an act of self-preservation o the part of the board (and possibly management) of IEDR.

The world doesn't revolve around money. Good for the bottom line isn't the same as good.

adam

jmcc

A price range of 15-20 Euros for the trade/resellers and a retail price between 30 and 50 Euros would perhaps be the only feasible short-term solution. The problem is that IEDR is a bloated and incompetently run operation and it probably could not exist on such margins, especially with the rate of deletions that .ie is now suffering. The only viable long-term solution is the deletion of IEDR and the administration of the .ie cctld by a competent, industry backed and transparently operated registry.

The indications are that .eu may be in the region of 10 Euros per year. With the hype and market prominence of .eu, all the consumer is going to see from September is .eu.

The idea that board and management of IEDR ever act in the interests of the public good or even the interests of the Irish internet community is laughable. I see more new Irish web developers going .com rather than deal with the hassle of getting a .ie domain. The usury of IEDR has already damaged .ie - at the very least 150,000 Irish owned com/org/net/biz/info (CNOib) domains exist. With a reasonably priced .eu along side .com, .ie will become more difficult to sell or justify.

Regards...jmcc

eoin@host.ie

It has to be said that the price reduction was the bare minimum they could get away with while observing their "commitment to reduce prices". I can hardly see .ie volumes take off as a result of this move.

It is clear that the registry still has serious financial problems which underpins its reluctance to drop its prices.

For anyone holding their breath on a radical price reduction I would invest in invest in a new way to absorb oxygen

The equation is simple

High operating cost base = high price

Irrespective of whether this makes sense or not(and you know where I stand on that) or whether it is in the national interest that is the situation as it stands.

Eoin

mneylon

Of course there is a simple counter-argument to this:

Pure economics: If the price of IE domains was lower then people would sell more of them. A larger volume of sales would lead to a better financial position for IEDR.

IEDR counter-argument: administration costs are high

Response: Yes, but only because you make them so.
SSL for example involves a high-level of risk and the establishment of trust networks. Authorised resellers at a certain level are liable for the verification of customer credentials. If IEDR were to adopt a similar approach to IE registrations, ie. empowering qualified resellers to verify/justify domain registrations a certain amount of the paperwork and admin time could be cut out or at least reduced.
This would in turn lead to a more cost-effective operation and a higher level of profitability.

And now .. to open a HUGE can of worms

Maybe IEDR or the minister should enforce a maximum price... :P
ie. current cost price = €45 , however some people are still charging in excess of €100

(Yes it is off-topic and I am aware of free market economics, but .. heh.. it is my birthday, so I might as well have some fun)

eoin@host.ie

Originally posted by blacknight
Of course there is a simple counter-argument to this:

Pure economics: If the price of IE domains was lower then people would sell more of them. A larger volume of sales would lead to a better financial position for IEDR.

However in the transition phase the IEDR would go bust due to its high cost base.

Authorised resellers at a certain level are liable for the verification of customer credentials. If IEDR were to adopt a similar approach to IE registrations, ie. empowering qualified resellers to verify/justify domain registrations a certain amount of the paperwork and admin time could be cut out or at least reduced.
[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure anyone would want to take on this work without a legal indemnity from the IEDR and a contribution to their costs.

dahamsta

I'm entirely sick of making this point: The IEDR can make a case for high registration fees when offset against high operating costs, but they have never justified high renewal fees. I hate to sound like John, but there really does need to be an investigation of the IEDR cost structure. I'd like to see the spending on sponsorship charted against registrations and deletions for example. I'd like to see the internal registration procedures detailed in a report too.

adam

mneylon

Originally posted by eoin@host.ie
I'm not sure anyone would want to take on this work without a legal indemnity from the IEDR and a contribution to their costs. [/B]

You may have missed my point.
In the case of SSL, for example, you know which rules the person/company applying for a cert has to conform to. Why should IE domains be different?

Needless to say this is based on the premise that the current rules remain in place

jmcc

Originally posted by eoin@host.ie

I'm not sure anyone would want to take on this work without a legal indemnity from the IEDR and a contribution to their costs.

For ordinary registered business names and company names it would be straightforward and legal indemnity would not be necessary since it would be CRO data. With questionable registrations, they could be forwarded to IEDR (or its replacement).

The irritating thing about this proof of entitlement is that it can be highly automated but IEDR is technologically incapable of automating the process. The system it is using has no deliniation of registrants, registrars and registry. It seems that the board and management prefers to waste money on employing more useless eaters [1] rather than dragging itself out of the morass of the 19th century.

Regards...jmcc
[1] ObRef: CypherPunk expression.

mneylon

Originally posted by jmcc
For ordinary registered business names and company names it would be straightforward and legal indemnity would not be necessary since it would be CRO data.

Regards...jmcc

Exactly. Over 50% of our registrations would fall into that category

cgarvey

Originally posted by blacknight
Authorised resellers at a certain level are liable for the verification of customer credentials.

The only problem with that is, it would need to be backed up/enforced by IEDR, otherwise I can think of some hosts who will bend it like beckham and squeeze some domains through.

I like the "quality" factor of .ie, and if you delegate the QA factor of applications to hosts, you need to be sure they will adhere to the rules.

Maybe IEDR or the minister should enforce a maximum price... :P

Hmm, well if you start getting into government intervention, maybe they should have a look at below-cost selling .. Seriously, I don't think there's a need to cap. I think there is already a fairly good awareness amongst consumers shopping around for hosting. What might be an idea is for IEDR to publish the prices (ex-VAT one with hosting one without) beside each authorised reseller.. but I can't see how that could be done practically. TBH, I don't think it would change the market that much either .. "those who can charge, do".. there are a few hosts (including yourself) who are interested in competing on .ie's .. but there are alot more who don't care, and its almost incidental to their service offering.

it is my birthday, so I might as well have some fun)

Yes you might, have a happy birthday

.cg

paulthelegend

If they wanted a quick boost they could offer all irish businesses with .COM addresses (registered before a certain date) the same .ie name (linked to there .com hosting address) for a really low price, lets say 30 euro, at that fixed rate for 2 years and then back to there rip off prices. Alot of people would like to have both.

jmcc

Originally posted by paulthelegend
If they wanted a quick boost they could offer all irish businesses with .COM addresses (registered before a certain date) the same .ie name (linked to there .com hosting address) for a really low price, lets say 30 euro, at that fixed rate for 2 years and then back to there rip off prices. Alot of people would like to have both.

A lot of problems with this one. The biggest would be the proof of entitlement. With a .ie, a registrant has to prove that he or she is entitled to the .ie domain due to having registered the business name or the company. This registered business name has a hidden cost of 30 Euros which has to be paid to the CRO.

The second point is that this would dilute the value of the .ie and would irritate the hell out of existing .ie domain holders who have been gouged by IEDR for their domain.

What use would a .ie domain be to a business with a brand, identity, e-mail addresses, website, and stationery that was .com?

I could probably provide IEDR with details on approximately 50K Irish owned CNOIB domains but it would be like giving a lecture on quantum physics to a field of turnips. I don't think that IEDR is capable of dealing with the .ie cctld as it is and the conversion scheme would also irritate the hosters as IEDR would try to sell retail rather than through resellers.

Regards...jmcc

cgarvey

Originally posted by jmcc
but it would be like giving a lecture on quantum physics to a field of turnips.

LOL, that pretty much sums them up IMHO alright!
.cg