Redemption fees for .ca (1.Viewing)

At WHC

A little bit exorbitant in my opinion

Is there any more work involved on the registrar side or is it just a money grab?

I'll tag @bmetal , he's usually very forthcoming about stuff like that and can probably enlighten us all on the process and costs, or if its literally just the same as a regular renewal (and therefore a cash-grab).

MapleDots said:

A little bit exorbitant in my opinion

Is there any more work involved on the registrar side or is it just a money grab?

Click to expand...

there's no technical or financial justification for charging a redemption fee in the .CA world. It costs the registrar nothing. Purely a business decision.

As an example, consider that some of the .ca registrars "delete" expired .ca domains immediately ... any renewals at that point are automatically redemptions, and it would be insane for those registrars to charge a redemption fee (IMHO).

(edit: There are some technical hoops to jump, but any competent registrar has to have already written the software. The redemption process is a different sequence of a API calls than a normal renewal... but as I said, there is no extra cost to the registrar.)

Yeah, I thought that as well

Gonna have to see what they charge for .com redemption as well.

Anyone know of registrars that don't charge redemption for .ca & .com?

Having an investment portfolio means you are VERY price and feature sensitive, and you have a lot of decision making to do when it comes to renewing/expiring domains. This can be time consuming or just inconvenient timing. Having a cost and feature effective registrar that won't screw you if you dilly-dally a little too long is incredibly important.

One issue I've seen is that certain registrars refuse to give you the auth code once the domain is expired, or they at least make it as difficult as possible. CIRA's form that allows you to request your own auth code is great to get around that - but ONLY if the "lock" feature most registrars have isn't used. If your domain is locked, then having the backdoor to get an auth code doesn't help you, you're still held hostage by the registrar.

This is why as a large portfolio holder it is important to first and foremost, use a registrar that appreciates your business, not one that looks to take advantage of you when the opportunity arises.

This is why I've always been loyal to baremetal, they've never screwed me, in fact quite the opposite, they've looked out for me. If you have a good registrar, all of this other b.s. goes away.

rlm said:

This is why I've always been loyal to baremetal, they've never screwed me, in fact quite the opposite, they've looked out for me. If you have a good registrar, all of this other b.s. goes away.

Click to expand...

With CatchDrop/RegisterDomain dropping into the great abyss it got me to be more conscious of one man type of operations to assure there is a succession plan in place in case something happens.

I do agree, I like Canadian Companies where you can pick up the phone and work out any issues but with WHC and FM parting ways things are not the same. There are a number of WHC employees registered her but all of them combined cannot do what Frank did.

MapleDots said:

With CatchDrop/RegisterDomain dropping into the great abyss it got me to be more conscious of one man type of operations to assure there is a succession plan in place in case something happens.

I do agree, I like Canadian Companies where you can pick up the phone and work out any issues but with WHC and FM parting ways things are not the same. There are a number of WHC employees registered her but all of them combined cannot do what Frank did.

Click to expand...

I'm not worried about the fact that Baremetal is small, what matters right now is trust/price/features. Let's say Tom got hit by the proverbial bus, then I might have to make a decision about what to do, but I don't even see that as a big issue, nor a likely one. For one, if that happened, I would know right away and could start making plans. With CD (where no one has trusted them from day one, despite at cost pricing), its a black hole. There's a HUGE difference.

I am not commenting on the fairness of charging a redemption fee, but I will note that $50 CAD is a pretty low redemption fee compared to what most registrars charge, many of whom charge three-digits. NetSol charges something like $400 USD, but that's 'on brand' for NetSol and just one of the many reasons we all try to avoid NetSol.

Edit: I'm not aware of any registrar that does not charge a redemption fee. Would love to know if one exists.

In the .com world, the registRY charges the registRARs a fee ($40? $50? I think that was the price I was told way back ... it was originally a manual process and that was the justification). So you will NOT find a .com registrar that does NOT charge a redemption fee, but the pricing does vary wildly.

There is no redemption fee for .CA. Not sure why anyone would charge it. Unless the registrar is charging it for all extensions regardless.

WHC gives 40 days of grace period after expiry where you can renew normally. That is more than Godaddy and other registrars I’ve used. Namespro gives 30 days grace on .ca, then it’s gone. 30 days is fine with me.

I have done a few redemption renewals and I agree, it hurts to pay more. But I feel like the Registrars are “punishing” the domain investor for being so undeceive on renewal. I believe a normal renewal fee for a said domain will get domain investors to renew more of these undeceive domains.

There are some pros and cons with most .CA registrars.

Tom at @bmetal is probably the best, as his system is so flexible it even accommodates a bozo like me taking forever to deep-dive my entire portfolio to determine 'renewal ratings' once and for all. I am so behind on BM renewals it's not even funny (I can finally see the end of the tunnel), but Tom's a good guy and just smiles, grits his teeth, and tries to make sure none of them get deleted. OTOH, the second the domain expires, it's off the grid and no longer resolves, so no selling during the grace period.

WHC certainly has a 'robust' .CA Redemption Fee, but I have less domains there so it's less of a problem. It's still a bit of a cash grab, but on the flip side, if a domain expires, WHC keeps the DNS live for a period of time (a week? two?) before it goes dead. This is a useful feature for domain investors hoping to get some late sales.

NamePros is a nice company to deal with, but man, you let a domain go for 30 days without renewing and it's gone, sayonara, adios, see ya later. That's pretty hardcore and I bet it's caught some people unawares.

I have always thought getting 30 days grace after the domain expiry date was a nice feature! It seems like plenty of time to make a decision. though from a domainer standpoint longer is always better, which is why I was amazed WHC gives even longer.

domains said:

I have always thought getting 30 days grace after the domain expiry date was a nice feature! It seems like plenty of time to make a decision.

Click to expand...

My issue is that this is different from every other .CA registrar I've used, so it's easy to get into trouble and lose a domain.