Testing lower .com prices on deleted domain names — Verisign is

.Com registry offers $2 discount on deleting domain names.

Verisign is testing lower wholesale prices for deleting .com domain names later this month.

From December 15-31, registrars will be able to register .com domain names on the day they delete for $5.85. Regular wholesale pricing is $7.85 per year.

The domain names must be registered ahead of midnight on the day they are deleted. They must be registered through the auto batch pool, which is a secondary registry-registrar connection. Most domain names registered are done through a “live” pool, which will not qualify for the discount.

This is an interesting test. The timing could be that Verisign is trying to push up its numbers just ahead of the quarter ends. But it also could be that they are trying to figure out how to improve long term re-registration of domain names that expire. (Or maybe both.)

Verisign has considered offering tiered pricing on expired domain names, essentially discounting the price over time if there are no takers when the domain drops. But in this test the discount is only good on the day the domain expires, and the discount is the same if you grab the domain immediately following it drops or later in the day.

End user clients are unlikely to see any price decrease from the test.