What registry was this? That's not supposed to be possible -- registries are only supposed to be able to designate domains as "premium" if they aren't registered yet.
I suspect that any domain that gets used becomes "premium."
The problem is that it only takes a few hits at $2500/yr to make it worth it to screw a bunch of people out of an already overpriced domain.
So if you serve 15,000 people with .party domains at $29/yr each, you only need 175 people to pay $2,495 and you've already made more money.
I don't mind paying more for a domain, I might even pay a measurable amount of money every month for the right one, but trying to insist that jacki.party is worth $210/mo is bananas.
Re:The .blog Bait and Switch
by TheGrumpyBrit on Friday November 18, 2016 @04:14AM
(#12985430)
This is the bit that really gets me. $2,495 for a domain I can understand. If somebody is willing to pay that, more power to them. But once they've bought that domain, pricing should be at the registrars listed rates. It's unconscionable to charge a premium price for renewal, and even more so to jack up the price after it's already been purchased.
Yikes. Just extended my lastn.ame domain hack to 2026.
Re:The .blog Bait and Switch
by shavingspiders on Thursday November 17, 2016 @07:29PM
(#12983229)
That makes me feel very good that I locked in .party for 10 years and $3/year with Gandi.
Why is a very specific spelling (note the lack of "e") of a not terribly common name so expensive? No clue, but I'm guessing the same forces are at work (i.e., $$$).