Sunday, June 29, 2008

Yahoo ups annual domain registration fees

Starting July 1, users who have registered domains with Yahoo's small-business site will see their annual fee for the service jump from $9.95 to $34.95.

The news came in form of e-mail for anyone who has registered a domain with Yahoo Small Business, and a Yahoo representative told CNET News.com Friday that the e-mails have been sent 90 days, 60 days, and 30 days before users were set to renew their domain registration.

But some blogs are expressing dismay at the price increase, which is three and a half times what domain owners have paid in past years.

Yahoo said the $25 price increase is primarily being instituted to match the cost of doing business, and that registering domains--the process of creating a new Web address--can cost even more with other Web sites.

However, other competitors have much lower prices, including GoDaddy.com or Google Apps, both of which charge annual fees of around $10.

Since domain registration is not the core of Yahoo's small-business site, the company said its prices can not be as low as those of sites that focus on registering domains.

Low domain registration fees, though, can be a foot in the door to coax customers to upgrade to more profitable services.

According to Yahoo, new domain registrations will still only cost $9.95 and after a year, the fee will go up to $34.95.

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