Yahoo Increases Renewal Rate to $34.94/yr

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

I have a total of 19 domains registered with Yahoo, so I periodically get renewal notices throughout the year, and I usually ignore them as they all auto-renew. I'm glad I read this one, because it said this:

Important note: Beginning on July 1, 2008, Yahoo!'s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year.

This is an increase from $12.95/yr. I just wanted to point that out for anyone else that doesn't pay attention to their renewal notices. Smiling

silverwing's picture

He has: 79 posts

Joined: May 2008

Highway Robbery?

Did they say why they were increasing it that much?

~silverwing - happy as I can be with GoDaddy...

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

silverwing wrote:
Highway Robbery?

Did they say why they were increasing it that much?

~silverwing - happy as I can be with GoDaddy...

No they didn't. I called them up and made sure that it wasn't a mistake. The guy said that it wasn't a mistake. The intro rate (currently @ $9.95) is going up in July as well. What's worse is that I told this guy that they are more than triple than their competition, and without hesitating, the guy just agreed and gave me domain transferring instructions. One would think that they would make some sort of effort to keep my 19 domains hosted with them...but whatever, their loss and GoDaddy's gain Smiling.

It's almost like they are trying to get rid of their domain customers. Why would they increase their price over 150% while offering no new benefits?? Their domain management tools are horrible. Domains have to be managed one by one. It took me over an hour to modify my WhoIs email addresses, unlock the domains, and get the transfer codes - and that's with 15+ Firefox tabs open working on multiple at once. GoDaddy's domain management tool is much more efficient.

silverwing's picture

He has: 79 posts

Joined: May 2008

One would think that they would make some sort of effort to keep my 19 domains hosted with them...but whatever, their loss and GoDaddy's gain

I wonder if Godaddy will have a "Yahoo! Exodus" promotion? Smiling

silverwing - Bob Parson is probably smiling right now....

Greg K's picture

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

They figure people are crazy enough to pay that much at Network Solutions, they will pay it there too...

-Greg

teammatt3's picture

He has: 2,102 posts

Joined: Sep 2003

happy as I can be with GoDaddy...

I used to be that way until they started to upsell me EVERY time I tried to do something. I go to renew a domain and I have to sift through 10 billion other products just to get to the checkout button. But they have a decent price, so I'm sticking with them.

silverwing's picture

He has: 79 posts

Joined: May 2008

teammatt3 wrote:

happy as I can be with GoDaddy...

I used to be that way until they started to upsell me EVERY time I tried to do something. I go to renew a domain and I have to sift through 10 billion other products just to get to the checkout button. But they have a decent price, so I'm sticking with them.

That's exactly what I meant Smiling I can, however, handle a few pages of upsell for the $10/year for the domain names -after all, I don't have to deal with them all that often.

~silverwing

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

I agree, I can't stand that. I'd even pay a bit more to not have to put up with that. I almost wish Google would do domain names. They wouldn't have all that crap in there. But you know what I mean - some company should be able to offer reasonable domains without the incessant ads.

Michael James Swan's picture

He has: 400 posts

Joined: May 2008

I can see this one is going to end up down the pan. I think it is mad that they are doing this. How can they be so greedy. Silly Yahoo

They have: 112 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

Godaddy.com or Namecheap.com seem to be the cheapest registrars around.
Plus Directi.com.

They have: 1 posts

Joined: May 2008

Hi

I'm glad to see its not just me that's infuriated by this.

I just cant understand the logic that thinks it can be a good idea to increase prices from 12.95 to 34.95.

Who on gods earth is the guy who dreamed this scheme up? Has he been promoted or fired?
words like... ridiculous crazy stupid come to mind - but my names not Yahoo!

I emailed Yahoo CS complaining about the emailed price increase (I'm not in the US and an expensive phone call isnt an option I wanted to take up) and Billing have written back with this gem:

------------------------------------------------------------------
I am very sorry for the frustration you are having regarding any
possible price increases for Yahoo! Domains.

Just to let you know, there have been no announced price increases
released by Yahoo! at this time. If there were to be any price
increases, you will be directly notified by mail and email.
------------------------------------------------------------------

So given I have already been notified by email I guess that just goes to show what a mess they must really be in!

So no choice but to pull out then.

G.

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

He has: 1,502 posts

Joined: Sep 2006

Hi GeneEts, and welcome to the forums. Smiling

They have not announced and price increases publicly yet, and that's probably what they are talking about. They only announced it to the current customers. New subscribers will be sucked into the $9.95 deal and then hit with the large renewal fee. Nowhere on their site did I find the disclaimer that the $9.95 fee is introductory.

They have: 91 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

It seems to be the way of the world at the moment whether it is fuel prices or food and energy bills or domain names the cost of just about everything seems to be rising.

They have: 5 posts

Joined: Aug 2008

I have seen the same thing amongst the top domain registers out there. Maybe not an increase in price by that much, but still price increase non the less.

It could have something to do with the economy, but I cant how rising prices would cause the profit margin of the domain name to shrink. Its not like they have burn fuel to register your domain name. It might just be natural inflation and the register trying to cope with it.

tummy's picture

They have: 121 posts

Joined: Mar 2007

Can you update info?

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

Sure, Yahoo charges a bundle when they can get away with it, to subsidize their free services

I've had a site hosted at GeoCities for about ten years, since way before Yahoo bought it, and haven't paid a cent for hosting...

Michael James Swan's picture

He has: 400 posts

Joined: May 2008

It seems crazy, Yahoo are just trying to defraud people out of their money by getting them involved and trapping them.

I feel sorry for those registering and not realising till last minute.

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