Current renewal fees are $8.50. Sales at most registrars are for 1st year only. You can always transfer to a cheaper registrar for the 2nd year.
So true, last year I got a $1.99 (+ 0.25$ ICANN fee) domain at GoDaddy and it expired a few days ago because I'm not crazy to renew at $10.50 (+0.20$ ICANN fee) However getting a 77 cents flat fee for one year registration is not that bad. What if you hit the jackpot with that name to either renew it or sell it for big bucks?
imagine the scenario on 10-10-2010 the email will say Dear victim (your name here), we are in this business for xxxxx years blah blah blah blah..................and today is auspicious day to get .com's for just 111$ so dont waste this auspicious day and grab a memorable domain blah blah blah blah. Thank you, King scammer
.77 infos? .. I might buy a few "hundred" and transfer them away.. Which registrar are you reselling for?.. Owning ALOT of domains I'm not interested in a certain few to say the least. Godaddy and registerfly leave some recent bad tastes in my mouth. I prefer Dynadot.com of any.
True, we must take opportunities like this while they last and then we have 305 days to transfer domains elsewhere (60 day are reserved, you know)