.uk for £1

[diablo]

I believe we are very unlikely to ever see registration and renewal fees cut below what they currently are at the moment.
(from iPhone)

Reg and renewal fees are not an issue at current rates imho.

Transfer fees of £12 are (and I know not everyone now has to pay them, but for those that do...).

 

[diablo]

I'll note that part. I'm unaware how many paid for transfers occur at the registry these days but imagine it will be far less now self managed registrars are able to conduct them for free, as can accredited channel partners (although they likely charge their customers instead).


(from iPhone)

Thanks. It will be less, maybe far less, but that doesn't excuse others still having to pay the £12 transfer fee. Can't see any justification for it as Nominet's involvement is minimal / automated.

 

[AssetDomains]

I'll note that part. I'm unaware how many paid for transfers occur at the registry these days but imagine it will be far less now self managed registrars are able to conduct them for free, as can accredited channel partners (although they likely charge their customers instead).


(from iPhone)

I don't have to pay the fee anymore which is good but having to mess about getting an inputting all the buyers details as they want them to appear on the whois then checking the email address they use is the same one they use a the receiving registrar is all a pointless ball ache

Why don't they just make the old system free for everyone and do away with the needless hassle.

Its been brought up on the nominet forum in the past they said they would look into it but nothing ever came from it.

Maybe you could bring it up again for us

 

[bonusmedia]

Come on, .co.uk is an effective monopoly. There is no equivalent to a .co.uk domain for running an online business in the UK.

Of course the audience is captive, once you have a site the upheaval of changing domain is enormous.

If the registry was put out to tender (not that it should be) it could certainly be run a lot cheaper.

In my view the interests of registrants should be the top priority and the best way to serve them is to run an efficient service.

The registry is essentially infrastructure which should be run for the benefit of users as cost effectively as possible

 

[diablo]

I suspect there is a cost for work undertaken when looking into suspicious transfers and in reversing those that are found to be invalid.(from iPhone)

My guess would be that such work applies to an insignificant amount of transfers and would be no greater to similar work involved in the registration of domain names.

Given Nominet's operating profits, there should be no need to charge significantly more for a transfer than a registration or renewal and it's now at the stage where Nominet should either justify the price charged or offer free transfers for all.

 

[spiderspider]

Would it be able to donate to a highly respected Trust involved in the tech arena?

In your pre nom days, you would have jumped on a comment like this, and said 'Highly respected by who? please provide examples'.

There is nothing to say that if nominet was put out for tender, and run cheaper that there would be a drop in service. As I understand it, we are not told how much staff are paid (per post), expenses, hardware etc etc. To say that it won't continue with the current level of customer service, or 'donate to a highly respected Trust' is just speculation.

I am sure there are many private companies who would like to run Nominet (everyone form a queue behind the top 5 registrars), and many who could implement change and improvement quicker and more efficient than the current structure.

 

[AssetDomains]

I seem to remember that a forum (here) member had developed something to make the task easier. It involved EPP. It seems something like that could be useful if it were made available as a tool for all?

Its not that its currently technically difficult its just that it adds a an extra layer of messing about. Buyers often approach using a disguised free email or via there web designer if I simply release to the correspondence email to someone like 123-reg then the domain gets stuck in limbo for a little while as they have no customer to match it to.
Or it gets put in the designers name often requiring another transfer the big registrars will charge for.

I understand that self managed registrars might want to input an email address and click a button to allow the recipient to accept the transfer for free and input their new registrar tag of choice. However if a mistake was made in the email address there would be no barrier for the unintended recipient to accept the transfer of the domain name. At least by requiring the registrar to create a contact, transfer the domain name and then tag change the onus is firmly on that registrar not to make any mistakes.

We always just put in an email I don't remember hearing of any major problems with miss typed emails. surely the more data the seller has to enter increases the chance of a mistake.
At least the old way the onus was on the buyer to supply nominet with the correct details at there leisure.
Plus it will cut down on one potentially unnecessary whois validation at the nominet side
Making the old method free for everyone is a win for all and it wont stop the big registrars charging if they want to.

 

[monaghan]

If you don't like the transfer process, why not write a simple web form to collect the registrant's data and stuff it into an EPP request, not technically difficult to do and then it removes the need for you to input customer details.

Regarding the trust, I do still have concerns though, if there's too much in the pot then put less in don't hand it all over, after all it is our money that fills the pot and it's not as though the trust are really doing anything new.

If they need something to do with the spare cash, why not set up facility to provide SSL certificates with domains or some other security initiative that benefits all of us?

 

[diablo]

If they need something to do with the spare cash, why not set up facility to provide SSL certificates with domains or some other security initiative that benefits all of us?

Excellent idea.

 

[AssetDomains]

Quote:
Originally Posted by monaghan
If you don't like the transfer process, why not write a simple web form to collect the registrant's data and stuff it into an EPP request, not technically difficult to do and then it removes the need for you to input customer details.

I feel that this seems a better way of doing things because the onus is on the customer to complete the form correctly. It also allows the registrar to check the data before submitting it to the registry, rather than auto acknowledging it, should they prefer. The registrar also has the option to charge separately for a tag change rather than offering it for free via this method. Could there be an opportunity for someone here to offer this as a hosted service?

I suppose it's different for accredited TAG's and self managed TAGS but as there customers are completely different.

I dislike the new system as there is no official registry notification a transfer has even taken place.

Sure I could code an epp script to collect the details but then I would feel the need to host all this on vps I was sure was secure rather than just a simple site on shared hosting as I have now.
All added extra cost's a complexity that doesn't need to be there should just be able to pop there email initiate the transfer an let nominet take it from there without a charge to the receiving party

 

[AssetDomains]

I understand. Of course it's a registrant change at the same registrar you are conducting. The registrar change occurs after, assuming you elect to release the domain name to another registrar tag. Why would you want a notification from the registry? Isn't any kind of notification at all sent to the registrar (I've forgotten as haven't done many)? I presume not because the registrar itself has conducted the transfer.

The old system as you know the recipient got an official email from noninet to do the transfer Then when it was concluded you would get an email to say the transfer was successful.

With the new system there is nothing the buyer receives nothing so all you can do is point them to the whois and explain how they can log into the nominet account if they want to be sure.

I'm curious to know how much it might cost to host such a script securely these days.

If I worry about all the security on the vps about £5 a month I don't want them headaches though so your looking at about £40 a month for a managed VPS.
Even this is only virtual though so I guess could be as susceptible to a breach as shared hosting.

I'm noting the comments about transfers and will endeavour to find out more about it all.

Thanks it's not a massive deal just be nice to have

 

[Edwin]

The amount donated can fluctuate. I hope to see members being able to gain a greater awareness of the Trust in the near future.

The Nominet Trust has nothing whatsoever to do with Nominet's core business of managing and growing the *.uk namespace. As such, it has no business being funded from registration/renewal fees (which constitute > 90% of Nominet's revenues)

It's high time Nominet gets on with its purpose, and stops mucking around with sidelines (that includes business ventures unrelated to *.uk domains, AND the Nominet Trust).

Of course, Nominet love the N.T. because it gets them mega brownie points with Government and makes them look really, really good as an organisation. If anyone doubts that, you just have to see how much Nominet themselves brag about the N.T.'s activities (which is, remember, supposedly a separate organisation entirely - albeit one funded by syphoning funds out of Nominet)

Hopefully Sir Michael's review will address this.

 

[monaghan]

The Nominet Trust has nothing whatsoever to do with Nominet's core business of managing and growing the *.uk namespace. As such, it has no business being funded from registration/renewal fees (which constitute > 90% of Nominet's revenues)

Agreed, perhaps if the trust were promoting some amazing projects, but there's nothing really new or outstanding in the list of projects they've supported, seems like a poor way to divert funds away from the tax man.

Does that fulfil a public purpose and also not step on the toes of commercially focussed registrars that sell SSL certificates along with domain names?

Why would offering SSL be seen as a negative (unless of course you are making shed loads out of selling SSL!). Nominet are already supposed to be validating the registrant so have already done the bulk of the work involved in the basic SSL certificates and I'm sure there would still be a market for enhanced SSL's as a premium product (either 3rd party or Nominet provided). Make it a subsidised offering and you increase security awareness AND still offer the registrar something to re-sell to the customer.