More fresh TLD complexity: transferring premium domain names
Article points to further complexities with fresh top level domain names.
With fresh top level domain names now entering their renewal cycle, you might be tempted to transfer domain names from one registrar to another. This could prove challenging if the domain name you bought is a “premium” domain name in which the registry charges higher than standard pricing.
That’s what Kevin Lisota found out while testing out Google Domains:
Google Domains does sell .tips domains, so I tried to transfer a domain that I own called house.tips. I got a lovely error message that stated “We don’t support transfer of this domain since it is a registry premium domain.” What the heck does that mean?
Following going back to Name.com and looking at my account, the renewal price on that domain is $41.25, which is twice as expensive as other .tips domains. Of course neither of these sites describe this anywhere, but the wonderful error message I got essentially means that house.tips is a more costly “premium” name since it is short and uses a common word, so apparently I must renew this at premium prices at my existing registrar.
Strangely, I’m able to transfer another .tips domain that I own to Google Domains. So essentially these domain registries are playing games with super-secret lists of premium domain names that lock you in to certain registrars at inflated prices. For all the benefits that more gTLD domains could bring, these sort of anti-competitive domain restrictions do no one any good.
Google Domains supports Donuts’ premium priced domains. But it right now doesn’t handle the transfer of these domain names, and it’s not alone. Theo wrote regarding this issue when he tried to transfer a premium domain name to eNom a couple months ago. eNom had to manually transfer the domain name.
Premium tiers add a lot of complexity, and it seems like many of the registrars that support it are only doing it for fresh registrations.
Lisota’s comments are intriguing on another level. He had no idea the domain he registered at Name.com was a “premium domain”. Search for Dallas.coffee at Name.com and you’ll see a price, but not that it’s a premium domain name. Same goes for Google Domains. Some other registrars, such as GoDaddy, mark these domains as “premium” and denote what the renewal price will be.
