Break out ICANN “tax” — Enom to

On October 20th I wrote regarding GoDaddy and its practice of not counting the $.25 ICANN “tax” in its registration prices (see GoDaddy ought to drop ICANN tax). eNom, which right now has almost 6 million domains registered by it and its resellers, has disclosed it will begin breaking out the fee as well. The difference is that eNom isn’t tacking it on to its existing prices but just breaking it out. For example, instead of listing domains for $8.95 they will now list them for $8.70 plus the $.25 fee.

eNom isn’t doing this for the same purpose as GoDaddy- which is basically trying to advertise lower prices- but instead since this fee might soon increase due to the ICANN/Verisign proposed settlement. eNom is opposed to this settlement (as am I and most of the domain name industry). In a note to eNom resellers, eNom CEO Paul Stahura writes:

eNom is specifically showing this fee to domain purchasers since of recently disclosed potential contract changes taking place between ICANN and Verisign. ICANN and Verisign have proposed a settlement to their long-standing dispute. The proposed settlement covers multiple subjects that resellers ought to be aware of. In particular, there are notable rule changes in growth rates of fees. As stated by this proposed settlement, eNom anticipates that fees for domain purchases could possibly increase to $0.50 per domain, plus an additional 7% per year above that. ICANN is seeking feedback on these changes. Comments can be made through November 10th at http://icann.org/announcements/annou ncement-24oct05.htm