Yahoo.com $34.95 Domain Renewal is Not a Hoax

It's not a Hoax. I called and they told me that yes, domain renewals after July 1st, 2008 will be $34.95. That's too bad. I am transferring my domains to godaddy.com.

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This is part of the email I received on June 19th.

Important note: Beginning on July 1, 2008, Yahoo!'s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year.

Here's why I was thinking it sounded like a hoax:

1. There is no mention of it on the Yahoo website. I'm on hold with them right now and I'm going to ask them (1 hour and 40 minutes later). I will post what they tell me here. (no one's blog or news article is saying anything official from yahoo.com, everyone is just bashing yahoo.com).

2. (from the yahoo.com site): As long as your service is active and not past due, Yahoo! will automatically renew your domain registration (and pay the associated renewal fees) at the end of each term.

3. This part of the email is fishy: We're writing to remind you that it's time for the annual autorenewal of your service. I say that it's fishy because "autorenewal" means "automatic". That's what it's been this whole time. I don't ever get an autorenewal notice.

4. When I go to manage my domains on yahoo.com, they all say my renewal cost is $12.95. And although the email says that the price goes into effect on July 1st and won't be seen until after July 1st, it just doesn't make sense.

5. Why would yahoo.com do this? It doesn't make sense. Unless godaddy.com and all the other registrars are going to have to do it too, but I can't find anything that says that. Verisign increased prices at the end of last year, but not this high. ICANN is steadily going up too, but again, not this high.

6. I searched the yahoo.com small business help site using "domain renewal $34.95" and nothing came up. Nothing about the specific price. I even searched "Yahoo!'s annual domain renewal price increases to $34.95 per year." and nothing came up.

7. Yahoo.com is still selling domains for $1.99 for new first time users. OK, that's a loss leader...so if GoDaddy.com, but this is a direct quote from their site (on June 20th) $ 1 .99 /1st year for Yahoo! Domains ($12.95 / year after).

I'm just saying that this sounds like it could very well be a hoax by some yahoo.com hater, who wants to hurt yahoo.com.

I know that "sender" addresses can be "forged" and made to look like it's a legitimate company. I get fake ebay and paypal emails all the time.

I only have a few domains on yahoo.com, and have transfered a domain from them before and it was a total pain to do it, hopefully they have changed some things to make it easier (I noticed it's quite a bit easier to find the authorization code...that's nice).

jorge