"Premium Domain" - is there anything I can do about it?

Vilandra

Vilandra

Active member
Hello friends :) I was hoping to pick your brains as folks more knowledgeable than myself. I have owned a domain for 5 years, and suddenly it has been marked as "premium" and instead of a $13 yearly renewal they want to charge me $990. Is there anything I can do about it other than give it up? Any ideas? Thanks!

:)
 
Vilandra said:
Hello friends :) I was hoping to pick your brains as folks more knowledgeable than myself. I have owned a domain for 5 years, and suddenly it has been marked as "premium" and instead of a $13 yearly renewal they want to charge me $990. Is there anything I can do about it other than give it up? Any ideas? Thanks!

:)
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need to transfer it to a new registrar. There's no such thing as a "premium" domain and this sounds like some sort of scam your registrar is trying to pull on you.
 
Sounds like you didn't own the domain, but somehow rented it. In that case they can ask whatever they want and you can't do anything about it, except stop using the domain.
 
Mr. Jinx said:
Sounds like you didn't own the domain, but somehow rented it. In that case they can ask whatever they want and you can't do anything about it, except stop using the domain.
Click to expand...

Yeah if this is the case I agree, you're basically screwed if you want to keep/get it.
 
Never been with namecheap before but I have been with GoDaddy and still I am and I have witnessed stunts like this before. I remember looking up a domain I wanted to buy and have been waiting for it to expire, it was available and then next thing I know when I go to purchase it, I get an error. When I go to check I see it's a premium domain, now owned by GoDaddy lol. Unbelievable!
 
Yep. I actually got the auto renew notice email which is how I noticed it.

Is there a way to truly "own" a domain or are you basically at the mercy of the registrar?
 
Vilandra said:
I got "Your domain is not supported for transfer to us at this time. Please try another domain."
Click to expand...
Was this message from namecheap or the new registrar?

There is a process you need to go through to transfer a domain: see How to transfer a domain to your GoDaddy Account from another Registrar - Escrow.com - this is how to transfer to GoDaddy (my preferred registrar for 20 years) but the same would apply to other registrars. Note that if you've made any recent changes to your domain with the registrar I believe there is a standard 90 day waiting period before you can transfer that domain.

Also, due to years ago having my first domain name held hostage by my host, I make it a policy to never have my domains registered by my hosting company. I have changed hosting many times over the years. I've never had a reason to change my registrar but if I did they are not the same company.
 
Vilandra said:
I got "Your domain is not supported for transfer to us at this time. Please try another domain."
Click to expand...

Domains are generally not marked as premium by a registrar, but by the registry itself (ie the company which maintains the TLD).

Not all registrars support registering / transferring premium domains - you'll need to find one that does.

I have several domains currently trapped on a registrar because they are marked as premium and my preferred registrar does not currently support transferring premium domains to them - I get a message similar to the one you received when I try to transfer them in.

You could try someone like name.com - I've used them in the past (this is where my domains are currently "trapped" - but it's not name.com who are causing that, but my new registrar) and they do support a very large number of domain TLDs including premium domains.

At the end of the day though, if the registry has set the "wholesale" premium price at a particular level for that domain - the registrar isn't going to be able to offer to renew it for less. It then just becomes a matter of how much the registrar chooses to gouge you on top of that for the premium domain. For example, if the registry has set the wholesale renewal price at $900, then it won't matter where you move to - you're going to pay more than that to renew it.

Personally, I think this is an unconscionable "bait and switch" strategy employed by the registries - but they can get away with it because you only license the domain you don't actually "own" it and they can change the annual renewal fee at whim.
 
djbaxter said:
Was this message from namecheap or the new registrar?
Click to expand...

New registrar. I had unlocked the domain and received the transfer code from namecheap. Had made no changes to the domain since I registered it five years ago.

Thank you Sim (and everyone) for the valuable information. I am lucky in that the domain isn’t my livelihood but it’s still crappy lol
 
Never had issues with Namecheap in the 9+ years i've used them and their support is pretty amazing compared to other domain services i've used in the past. Seems really odd does this, have you spoken to them directly via their website ticket system about it?
 
Namecheap is fine and a lot less scammy than GoDaddy they are moving in that direction though which is worrisome. Anyway as per above this isn't namecheap's doing but the registry's. You'll likely need to relinquish it unless you can sell it.
 

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