Is it just me, or are renewal rates on the rise?

[mole]

Like everyone else here, I target and monitor names in the .COM/.NET/.ORG namespace that could possibly expire. In the past year, I have noticed that most of my targeted names are being renewed. Is it,

1. The registrars have found a way to bug the current registrant to death so that they will renew with persistent email reminders or worse, auto-renew is now an automatic feature built into every domain? or,

2. People are starting to appreciate their domain names more?

I suspect its more of (1) i.e. registrars have perfected over the past 2 years the scripting on how to retain domain names even if a registrants isn't interested anymore.

Is it just me, or do others here have the same high renewal rate observations on their watched domains?

 

[seeker]

there is a definate increase in renewal rate mole.
I have noticed that not just now, but over at least the last 3-4 months.

As an example, I left a domain to 'expire' a while back.
left to expire, is not accurate of a description, as I actually forgot about it.
it should have expired 2 months ago.
upon checking whois, I saw that it was now showing the registrar as the owner, and not me.
Nothing to do with redemption periods etc...
When I inquired, the domain was brought back to my account (+fee).
I susprect, well, more than suspect, that it was renewed by the registrar, as we all know how .coms work, and was I not to 'intervene', it would have probably ended up in a registrars' friend account...
I think it is #1 from your above options, especially for high value domains.

Also, the amount of 'renew it now' emails have been increasing drastically.
3 years ago (or even 2), I barely got a reminder. Now, it is an almost daily one!
...

 

[mike031]

lately... i have seen u.l.t.s.e.a.r.c.h somehow get his hands on domains that are just about to expire (redemption period) from a bunch of registrars before the actual drop... mostly being and including names from network solutions... i am not quiet sure how he gets the name when a big huge company owned or shall i say still owns the domain!

 

[mole]

Also, the amount of 'renew it now' emails have been increasing drastically.

Yeah, seek. I notice that for certain registrars too, especially those hosting companies.

Eg, Verio hosting will bug you add infinitum and if you have a credit card details that is still usable, you can be sure they will just charge your card automatically. In my case, my card expired and had a new expiry date, so attempts to charge the card failed, but boy, I got an email every single day for over 2 months to inform me their attempts to charge my card was unsuccessful. I had to email the billing department to stop the spam.\

I think registrars are wising up to the fact that unrenewed names are not just "Good riddance, you didn't give us money, so get lost" to "I must maintain my market share at all cost as ICANN is introducing 100 new registrars every month. Better get the programming people to do everything to ensure a name doesn't drop".

Ahh, the good ol' days seem to be fading like a gorilla in the mist. A time when people were not so savvy and gold magically fell from the sky like manna from heaven.

I'm sure the old vanguards of the drop game like Ults and BD are feeling it too. BD raised a name I was eyeing to triple the amount 4 months back @#%&^&*@

The drop game has evolved into a very vicious and calculated and precise process. Skipping a monitoring beat months in advance, or having just $1k less to attack a name at an auction, is getting to be the defining line between success and failure for radar-atrracting names.

This may be a good thing for those with good old world namespace portfolios already accumulated. But be prepared to wait a long long time (I notice that BD names can sit for years unsold, and still sit unsold despite this flutter and flubber about "rising" demand today) For the rest, new namespace is the new wild wild west, hey, remember the gorrilla in the mist?

 

[clemzonguy]

lately... i have seen u.l.t.s.e.a.r.c.h somehow get his hands on domains that are just about to expire (redemption period) from a bunch of registrars before the actual drop... mostly being and including names from network solutions... i am not quiet sure how he gets the name when a big huge company owned or shall i say still owns the domain!

Please make this public information so we can actively pursue the legality of this.