One of my domain names was left to expire and is now in a redemption period. The domain was not registered by me personally, but through a web hosting company as part of a package. I contacted the hosting company asking them to have the domain renewed but they were of no help, they just said that I should wait for it to be deleted and re-register it. So I contacted the registrar, , and asked them to renew it. They say they will have it renewed for a $120 fee because "the registry will charge us much higher than the normal domain renewal price". I'm prepared to pay the fee, as I am losing that amount of money for every week the site is down, but I 'm just wondering why I have to pay such a fee in the first place. I mean, the domain has been registred in my name for the past 4 years and I'm asking for it to be renewed.
Because it's in redemption. Basically it's the registrar's way of putting the screws to you because you want it badly enough to not want to risk losing it when it's finally deleted because someone might snap it up. Sucks, but that's the way they do things. Sort of a punishment for leaving it until it's almost too late.
I guess one can see it that way. But here's another way of looking at it. The Verisign COM NET Registry charges the sponsoring registrar a fee for any and all redemption requests made in a timely manner. I think the exact fee is $40, not sure. Like any other business, domain registrars have every right to charge a fee for certain services. Many of them hardly make money from domain names only. Redemption requests are currently manual. It does take time money and effort to forward such requests to the Registry, especially when a registrar gets like maybe 20-30 requests every other day. If you don't want the registrar "milking" you the redemption fee, then be sure to renew your domain names on time. And make sure they stay renewed. Look on the bright side: at least your domain registrar choose to do it. What many of you don't know is that redemption grace period is actually optional, meaning registrars aren't exactly required or forced to avail of that.
ICANN currently charges the registrar $0.25 for every .com registration at the very least. And they don't get involved on domain redemption requests. Domain redemption requests are solely a matter between the registrar and the Registry of the extension in question.