I have just found out about a domain registration firm NetNames and I was shocked when I saw their pricing list. .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .name, .mobi, .eu - $70 .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk - $50 How come they can be so expensive? What extra service do they provide than GoDadddy or Namecheap? Who will ever buy from them for that price?
I saw a thread on here where some company said it cost $xxx,xxx to renew a .com domain. If a few people pay it, you are set.
Aside from what's listed on their site: My guess is support for handling mission-critical issues, including hijacking. I'm just guessing, of course.
They can charge whatever they want, that's business. Extra services, probably not much. Who'll buy...some noob who doesn't know the other companies pricing.
Most likely they have many satisfied customers - who are well aware of Godaddy's pricing, if they care. The difference between $70 and $7.15 to a large corporation is essentially nil. The difference between a 20 year old minimum wage customer service rep and a immediately available highly competent professional is beyond calculation for a "Mission Critical" domain. I expect there are domain registrars charging ten times that much. And getting it.
Thats silly... then again i was idiotic enough to be paying $20 per name with 1 and 1 .co.uk back in the day and i thought that was ridicoulous!
On the other side of the coin, be leery of domain names going for as little as $1. They'll let you have it for that price for 30 days. If you read the fine print, they then jack up the price after your 30 days are over. Always read the fine print.