A number of domain name investors ponder the question “should I apply to start my own registrar?”. There are obvious benefits, not the least of which is being able to return domains for a refund within 5 days if you decide you don’t want them.
If you want to start your own registrar you need to have some cash. Here are the costs:
-$2500 non-refundable application fee
-$4,000 annual accreditation fee
-$.25 per name fee on gTLD registrations, renewals, and transfers
-Variable fee
The variable fee is a doozy. In the most recent budget ICANN determined that it needed $3.8M to cover “efforts associated with each registrar regardless of size”. So the $3.8M fee is divided by the total number of registrars (around 224 at the time), so this fee is about $17,000 per registrar. However, ICANN gives a break to some small registrars. And these numbers are the suggested ones in the 2004-2005 budget…the numbers are subject to change. You also have to pay to set up your infrastructure and management tools, plus work with the registries.
Still want to become your own registrar? 🙂
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