Yahoo’s Domain Service is a Rip Off
Nothing upsets me more than when a company tries to take advantage of their situation. As I mentioned in my SEO Domain Strategy 101 article, I own great deal of domains - in fact the exact number eludes me but I know it is around 1,800 or so. I have been buying, building and collecting domains since at least the mid-90’s and for a few years in the late 90’s I used Yahoo’s Domain service for most of my domain purchasing and hosting. Even though I have since moved all of my hosting away from Yahoo I still have about 150 domains that are housed and auto-renewed with Yahoo. Most of these domains I have never done anything with or have just held onto since I registered them for whatever reason. Every year I get my annual auto-renew letter, the price usually fluctuates, but it has always stayed in the $9.95 to $14.95 range. Whatever, no big deal since all my good domains are housed elsewhere and I have it on my list to transfer all of my domains to one company (not Yahoo).
Well imagine my surprise when I received the below email from Yahoo this morning. Yahoo is now charging $34.95 for domain renewals. Are you kidding me? $34.95? I am shocked when I see domain renewals costs over $10…$34.95 had me thinking it was an error. So, I proceed to call Yahoo and their helpful customer service staff confirmed the price change that went into effect July 1st. Wow. I am absolutely stunned by this. Anyone with any sort of domain knowledge will say that this is an absolute rip off by Yahoo and will result in a mass exodus of domains.
After digesting this for a few hours I started to think about what was Yahoo’s reasoning behind the price increase considering they are now nowhere near competitive. My first conclusion was that they wanted out of the domain business, so basically if you don’t transfer your domain you would pay 3 - 4 times the going rate Fewer domains, higher profit margin. Hmm, doesn’t make much business sense since the new fee of $34.95 a year per domain would probably not cover all of the domains they ended up losing. My next thought was that they are trying to up sell me different services (like domain hosting and email), that when bundled together would decrease my overall renewal cost - for example, sign up for Yahoo’s $9.95 monthly web hosting and get your domain renewal free. This is a very common practice…however, when you look at the email below there is no mention of any other service. Housing a domain costs nothing except a $.20 yearly ICANN fee and a few bytes of space.
So what is the deal Yahoo? Did some moronic product manager slip this one by while Yahoo has been in chaos? If anyone has any idea as to Yahoo’s logic behind this ridiculous increase in domain renewal fee please share. In the mean time I will be busy transferring my remaining domains away from Yahoo.
- Domain Saga Part Deux - Yahoo Domains still sucks
- Find the next great domain name…
- SEO Domain Strategy 101
- Yahoo-AOL merger could be imminent?
Comments
Comment from Jason Adams
Time: July 19, 2008, 11:03 pm
That’s deranged. Also, it doesn’t jive with their new domain registration costs, which they claim are still $9.95/year. I think your “moronic product manager” theory is the correct one.
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Time: July 21, 2008, 4:05 am
[...] 1,800 or so. I have been buying, building and collecting domains since at least the mid-90??s…http://webtribution.com/2008/07/19/yahoos-domains-service-is-a-rip-off/Read “Gearing up for a boatload of people tonight at RFD to see danielmall talk about Flash & [...]
Comment from sm plm
Time: August 14, 2008, 9:24 pm
I had the same thing
happen. they said they are the middlemen for some otfit in australia. They cant do much about it/
I called the charge card
to dispute it/.
It is a ripp off
I now use the google services,
they have more integrity.
Comment from Rudisimo
Time: September 25, 2008, 11:45 am
The following excerpt comes from their Domain Pricing Details page…http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/pricing.php
How much does Yahoo! Domains cost?
It depends on the term you choose.
1-year term: $9.95
2-year term: $19.90
3-year term: $29.85
5-year term: $49.75
After term expires: $34.95/year
Comment from David
Time: September 26, 2008, 5:47 am
By the time i noticed the increase, yahoo had already gouged me for 4 domain renewals…$140!!
F****. That should buy me 14 domains!
Needless to say i’m in the process for transferring all my domains out before i get hit with the next renewal.
I can only think they want out of the domain name business, but can’t just shut up shop, so set a ridiculous price and let the market take care of itself.
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Time: December 21, 2008, 7:45 am
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Comment from rippedoff by yahoo domains
Time: January 3, 2009, 2:15 am
Not only that but they use very very dirty tactics to gouge you.
I was a bit slow transferring my domain out but I initiated the process before their autobilling date ie about 2 weeks before expiry. Having paid the new registrar, I went over to Yahoo Small Business (YSB) to say that they were history.
First I tried cancelling the plan, and this was before the autobilling date, to try to stop the autobilling. Here’s the first shocker, you go thru a few screens and finally it flashes a warning to not cancel the plan until the transfer is completed because you’ll lose all access to your control panel. It was like a threat … they might not co-operate in processing your transfer once you cancel. And this is with some two weeks before the expiry of what you paid for the current year!
I didn’t cancel thru their systems fearing my transfer will be jeopardised. So I look for a way to write to them. I look thru yahoo.com and find a “contact us” page . And F***, it’s an unending loop thru this and that help page with no F**king email address.
Desperate, I manage to find a contact us form where I could type in a message and I think that went to some technical dept. In all honesty, F**king yahoo, those bast***ds, are not interested in dealing with you as a human being!
A few days later, someone writes to me asking me for info to verify my identity. And that was sent to an email address they found on my account! For god’s sake, I’m in a different country and I’ve always communicated with them thru email. WTF do they need to ask me verification questions? All delaying tactics by unscrupulous bast**ds
I reply and tell them I am moving out because 34.95 does not make any freaking sense. Ciao! I tell them not to auto-bill me. I also tell them I want to cancel but fear that’s going to jeopardise my transfer - what should I do??
Instead of telling me how to go about the cancellation, they ignore me and do not reply till after the autobilling. F**king shit heads!
Oh, did I say that I tried to remove my credit card details from their system? Well, I found out there is no way you can do that! I asked them how and they simply ignored the question. Seriously, do they have any right to hang on to your credit card details indefinitely?
I hope the whole world will know the truth about these unscrupulous bast**ds.
Rip off!
Comment from Richard
Time: January 10, 2009, 11:46 pm
I am as shocked as everyone else here at Yahoo’s massive price increase for Domain hosting,
$34.95 up from $9.95 is an absolute rip-off.
Obviously they are not interested in small business clients anymore.
In fact the whole Yahoo site seems to be geared towards brainless teenagers.
So goodbye Yahoo its been nice knowing you and I wonder how many others will be cancelling their Yahoo domains, say a million or so people which equates to $10 million loss for Yahoo, maybe chapter 11 is on the cards, or perhaps they will ask for a government bailout when they finally crash
Comment from Jonathan Beacher
Time: January 21, 2009, 8:26 pm
Beware! Yahoo charges $34.95 for your domains EVEN AFTER you transfer your domains away from YAHOO! It is their standard policy to continue charging unless AFTER you transfer your domains to a new registrar you also know to log into your Yahoo account and CANCEL YOUR SERVICE, yes, it’s there hidden in the fine print. Otherwise, they charge your card $34.95 on the domain expiration date even though they are no longer the registrar! They charged my Visa $34.95 5 times for 5 domains I had previously moved to GoDaddy.com. I am filing a complaint on this practice with the FTC Federal Trade Commission, since Yahoo is essentiallycharging you for providing no service whatsoever. I tried to complain, but it is stated in their fine print that they will continue charging for service unless you cancel the account, which by the way, you cannot do at the same time you are transferring the domains. You must wait until after they transfer, then remember to back and cancel the account. Unbelievable, but very true. I am canceling every service for all my clients with Yahoo now as a result and moving them to GoDaddy.com, I am a web designer but I insist my clients not do business with Yahoo anymore due to their sneaky business tactics.
Comment from The Fitness Diva
Time: January 23, 2009, 9:36 pm
I just had the same experience as Jonathan. I buy the bulk of my names from Godaddy, but to diversify a bit, I bought 6 names from Yahoo last year @ 9.95 per domain name. Upon being notified this year that my domain renewal price was going up to 34.95 per, I transferred the names to Godaddy, who is, if nothing else, fair, and reasonably priced ALWAYS.
Don’t you know that these Yahoo bastards charged me 34.95 for one of the names anyway AFTER the transfer, and managed to get hold of m new credit card info somehow in order to do it? THAT is not just puzzling to me, because I never used the new card with them (the old one got lost, so I got a new one, which Yahoo DIDN’T have, or they would have charged me already for those renewals), but it really is an unlawful thing to do….sneaky, underhanded,VERY corrupt tactics this company uses. I will NEVER buy anything from them again, and will warn others not to either. I now have to go into a dispute with them somehow to get my 34.95 back for the domain name that is NO LONGER REGISTERED WITH THEM. They SUCK! I’m surprised that such a well known company gets away with such behavior.
Comment from Tommy
Time: April 30, 2009, 7:44 pm
Class Action Lawsuit?
I am serious. they just gouged me.
Comment from Kieran Hawe
Time: April 30, 2009, 7:51 pm
You arent the first to bring up lawsuit over Yahoo Domains
Comment from Eric Paul
Time: June 26, 2009, 8:15 am
It’s worse than that. After the domain has been moved to another registrar they WILL STILL BILL YOU a renewal fee, $4.95 to register the domain and $34.95 to renew it. RENEWEL ON A DOMAIN THEY DON’T EVEN MANAGE! They force you to log in and “cancel your plan” to keep from being billed for “domain renewal”.
Here is the e-mail:
Thanks for using Yahoo! Domains. We’re writing to remind you that it’s time for the annual auto renewal of your service.
Your Domains plan, associated with the domain xxxxxxxx.com, xxxxx.com, will renew on 06/28/2009. If your billing information is up-to-date, there’s no need to do a thing (except keep enjoying your service).
Important note: Beginning on July 1, 2008, Yahoo!’s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year.
Do yourself a favor and DON’T DO ANY BUSINESS with YAHOO. They will try to cheat you by hoping you ignore their reminder and bill you for a service they no longer perform.
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Time: July 19, 2008, 11:01 pm
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