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NOMINET DIRECTOR SPEAKS ON DOMAIN TRANSFER FEES
28th April, 2003
Nominet - the UK naming authority are set to introduce a charge of £30 for transferring .uk domains between registrants. But what is the new charge for and why should registrant transfers of UK domains be any different from .coms - which are often free?
The new system is set to come into place next month and will apply to all transfer forms received by Nominet from 19 May onwards. Demys.net asked Eleanor Bradley, Director of Operations at Nominet why, when .com transfers are generally free, Nominet will charge £30 for what could appear to some to be the same service:
Nominet will continue with its process of due diligence to ensure domain names are not transferred in error, and it is these checks which cost Nominet £30 to execute. Therefore, even once the transfer process moves online [due later this year], the amount of work for Nominet will not substantially reduce as we will continue with these checks. Our understanding is that other registries do not offer the same due diligence and any comparison of costs needs to take that into account.
She added:
You also have to bear in mind that our initial registration fee is considerably less than that charged for .coms. And whereas Registrars carry out transfers themselves under .com, in the UK this function is only carried out by Nominet. Part of the reason we take so much care over making a transfer is because we accept the legal responsibility for making such a change. The £30 fee is based on what it costs us to conduct the necessary checks to make a transfer.
However, the new system will be reviewed and should the costs prove to be too expensive, Nominet will lower them, with Bradley noting that:
[Nominet] have committed to review the fee after six months and if indeed the online process reduces what it costs us to make the change the fee will be adjusted accordingly.
More details at: http://www.demys.net/news/2003/04/28_nom.htm
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