Registrars received notification from auDA that the wholesale rates are to increase effective from 1 October 2024 and increase of $0.67 ex GST for a 1 year Registration or Renewal of all .au domain names.
Interesting timing to fall right before the the October 4th date where many of the new direct .au domains were released and registered.
There was no explanation given for this price increase as to why it was needed, not sure auDA needs more funds to manage the policy framework.
As a Registrar there is always a desire to have lower pricing to increase registrations and renewals, while also not being too cheap as to encourage domain abuse and scams. The fact is that any increase always reduces renewal rates, especially from domain investors who now face higher holding costs.
Make sure you get your lists ready and renew as many as you can early.
Unfortunately unlike most other domain extensions, .au domains can only be renewed that are in the 90 day renew allowed status. This means you can not renew early all of your domains and only those that have an expiry between now and the 28th of December. Domains that expire after this date can not be renewed early to beat the price rise.
Would be nice if auDA was more like DENIC that operate .de country code domain extensions, which is run as a true non profit where all profits made in a given year are given back to the Registrars in order to keep registration costs affordable. Great model as this also discourages price increases that have no real need to happen when the policy and registry operators are making a profit.
