> that Tucows OpenSRS had to go through to become an accredited ICANN
> registrar with NSI. I'm just recalling off the top of my head, but I
> believe that you have to show that you have about $70,000 in capital.
> You have to pay out about $20,000 in fees. You have to go through a ton
> of paperwork, tons of software issues, and ... to do it as well as
> OpenSRS, you'll have to hire a staff of very knowledgable techies. Add on
Other than the ICANN/NSI fees (which remain considerable) your total cost
will largely remain a function of how serious you want to be. The cheapest
"off-the-shelf" registrar package that I have heard of runs ~$250,000 up
front. You can pretty much go anywhere from there.
The real fun starts when you want to add features to remain competitive
and it just starts with the cost of hardware and software. IIRC, RCOM
spends ~$20 million per quarter just on advertising (why is another
question ;)
I try to make a point to not comment on the price/service proposition that
other registrars offer, but I really have to pause at the logic of some of
the pricing that we're seeing in the space.
It really reminds me of the ISP space back in 97/98 when everyone started
to undercut AOL's flat rate pricing. I was running the marketing group at
a fair size ISP at the time and as much as I tried to push the founders
towards a lower price, they stuck to their guns @ $27.00 per month for
unlimited access. Later that year, they started buying the guys that
dropped down to $9.99 per month. Since then, they've probably picked up 20
different companies and are one of the top five ISPs in the country and
still going strong.
All I can say is that from my standpoint as one of their customers now, it
certainly is nice to have the same email address that I set up with them
in '94.
Thanks,
-rwr
Ross Wm. Rader
Director Product Management,
Channel Platform Group
Tucows Inc.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
t. 416.535.0123 x335
f. 416.531.5584
"Embrace the cow, love the cow.
And remember, Winsock means love."
