Recode is reporting that a local domain registrars is charging up to $15,000 per domain name for sale, as opposed to the average of $1,000.
That means a registrar could charge a domain owner up to 10 times the normal price.
It’s not just a cost hike for the owner, either.
It means that, as Recode’s Jason Zweig writes, “If a company wants to sell a domain, it’s not going to be able to get a domain name from a regular domain registrant, which means a company could get the domain name through an intermediary.”
In other words, the registrar isn’t even able to do their job properly.
The registrar is not able to verify the validity of the domain, and the registrant has to get the name from the registrator.
Zweige says the registrains price for these domains is up to 20 times the typical price of the name.
So what can you do?
It depends.
Zwieg says that the best thing to do is to contact the registraing company and explain that you’d like to purchase a domain.
It will likely cost you nothing, but it could save you a lot of time.
That could mean contacting multiple domain registries to get multiple names from the same registrar.
“The more you contact, the more likely you are to have a good deal,” Zweiger says.
You could also try the bidding process.
Some registrarians offer auctions for sale.
But Zweigen says the bidding will probably be more expensive than the domain registraer’s regular pricing.