Sibername Increases .ca Prices for Second Time in a Year
September 10, 2008 · Print This Article
I just received an announcement from Sibername that they are increasing their prices for .ca domains from $14.95 to $16.95 (Canadian). This follows on an increase earlier in the year that increased prices from $12.95 to $14.95.
I am somewhat surprised at this aggressive pricing move, especially in light of Godaddy recently entering the .ca market. Sibername blames the increase on the fact that “.CA domain names require lengthy procedure and communication for changes like administrative email change, registrar transfer.” .Ca domains are definitely more complex than gTLDs, but this hasn’t changed recently and a lot of these functions are automated (although the CIRA process is so confusing, I bet Sibername gets a lot of requests for support).
In the past, Sibername was one of the top registrar choices for Canadian domainers due to their low prices and TBR success. To me, this price increase signals a change in business strategy by Sibername away from catering to domainers. Given the recent very vocal criticism of Sibername by some domainers (and I’m really not sure about the merits of this criticism), this is perhaps a good business decision by Sibername.
By comparison, CIRA charges registrars a wholesale rate of $8.50 per domain. Namespro.ca, my Canadian registrar of choice, charges $12.88, and often runs $1 off specials and offers discounts to large portfolio holders. Godaddy charges $12.99 USD, which currently works out to about $13.84. 10dollar.ca charges $10.45. Netfirms.ca charges $9.95. DomainsAtCost.ca charge $12.95. Baremetal.com charges $12.50.
At least Sibername is still cheaper than Internic.ca, the registrar of choice for people with money to burn, which charges a mere $50, and yet manages to be used by most large businesses across Canada.
Written by admin · Filed Under Canadian Domains
Wow the reason behind the change is complete BS! Yes .Ca domains are more complex than other TLD’s but this is nothing new as you’ve pointed out, things have been this way since day one. The lengthy process and communication needed is all between CIRA directly and the registrant. sure maybe they get some support requests because CIRA’s system is less than clear but this is part of running a registrar. CIRA hasn’t made any recent changes that would have resulted in increased supports requests that I have noted.
Thanks for dropping by Jason!
Get used to this. It’s best the registrars go ahead and start training their users to expect this. While servers and resources get cheaper over time, expect the bureaucracy at CIRA and ICANN as well as the greed at registrars to push the price of domains skyward in years to come. And eventually, you won’t even notice.
It is all about MONEY – that is the game – they bump up the price.
Great post