Kit, don't you know it's sacrilege (on this list) to even suggest OpenSRS
should lower their price? And that any such suggestion will be met with a
barrage of at least 20 flaming replies suggesting you are a whiner, or that
your business model is doomed, or that you just don't get it?
I have thus far refrained from making any comment on this topic, but today I
am weak. I do have to chuckle whenever I hear someone reply that "you
shouldn't be competing on price". That's ludicrous. Even if your business
model consists of giving away domains for free, a dollar on the bottom line
is a dollar. If I register 10,000 domains, no matter what I sell them for,
no matter how much value I add, or even if I donate them all to Madonna
Rehabilitation Hospital, a dollar per domain saved in registration cost is
$10,000 added to my overall profit (or subtracted from my overall loss).
So I don't think it is the least bit unusual for OpenSRS customers (or
Wal-Mart customers) to want lower prices. The fact is, most of OpenSRS's
customers were first attracted by low price, when their current registrar
was charging them much more. (Of course, there ARE other benefits.) I
imagine it's difficult for OpenSRS to set the price, since lowering it a
dollar would presumably affect not only the margin on new registrations, but
on renewals of all the existing registrations as well. While the current
price structure probably puts them at a slight short-term competitive
disadvantage with the lowball registrars, nobody knows how many current
registrants will bail to save a few bucks when renewal time comes. NSI's
current customer base (although eroding due to price and poor service) is a
cash cow because most customers renew without considering alternatives.
It is apparent the people at OpenSRS are watching the registration numbers
closely, and I'm sure they will respond if and when those numbers indicate
they are not getting their share of new registrations. The transfer
promotion is an example - it made perfect business sense as a way to gain
market share at little or no cost. (I'm surprised it hasn't been extended.)
So my position is this: I would welcome a decrease in the wholesale
registration cost, and I will continue to consider all my options and to do
business where I find what I perceive to be the best value.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kit" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2000 6:34 AM
Subject: NameBargain, $5.99 a domain name! Register.com taking over!!!
Okay, there has been a lot of talk about about OpenSRS lowering their price
down from $10. First of all, I am not going to tell Tucows how to run their
business. However, we should bring it to their attention about current
domain name market price. Currently, we (OpenSRS RSP) has no way of
competing with NameBargain, a subsidiary of Register.com, in terms of price.
They are selling a domain name for $5.99 a year. They are losing a penny
for every domain name sold. Why are they doing that? Guess...
register.com!!! Register.com has recently purchase both NameBargain.com and
Afternic.com. Register.com is price discriminating domain names. They are
going after all the different markets for domain names. Valued added domain
names, low cost domain names, after market domain name auctions and etc...
With namebargain.com, they are trying to kill off all the low price domain
name sellers. Is it legal? Yes. Selling at loss to kill competitors has
exist for the longest time. Is it right and ethical? I don't think so.
Register.com is trying to create a monopoly for domain names and they are
succeeding. That is Register.com's business plan. Kill off competitors and
monopolize the market. If I was running Register.com, I would have done the
same thing.
So, currently there is no way for us to compete with Namebargain.com
(Register.com) in the low cost domain name market. Our only hope of
competing with Register.com and Networksolutions.com is in the Value Added
domain names, unless of course you are interested in the after market
auctions.
Yes, I do want OpenSRS to lower their prices. I don't see why others are
complaining about RSP asking OpenSRS to consider lowering their prices. If
OpenSRS is keeping prices artificially high, they will lose a lot of RSP and
that in my opinion is not a good business plan. Please don't tell me "why
don't you go buy $5.99 domain names from NameBargain.com then", cause it
means you miss the point. I resell domain names for OpenSRS at a cost of
$10 per domain name, I don't buy them. At namebargain.com, you buy domain
names, not resell them. I and others here are just bringing to OpenSRS's
attention about our (RSP) potential competitors, not a OpenSRS replacement.
--Kit
