regbits

Since at least one registrar has announced a refund, of sorts, to its customers to account for ICANN’s retroactive reduction in transaction fees (from 25 cents to 22 cents), we have received a handful of questions from registrars and individuals about how the fee reduction will work.

Here are the answers to the questions we’ve received so far:

Q. How is ICANN billing the 22 cent fee? Are refunds being issued?

A. ICANN didn’t invoice registrars until the fee schedule was approved by the registrars so the invoices registrars received reflect a per-transaction fee of 22 cents. Thus, we will not be issuing any refunds.

Q. What are the effective dates of the fee reduction?

A. All per-transaction fees billed during the current fiscal year (1 July 06 through 31 June 07) have been (or will be) billed at 22 cents.

Q. What should registrars do if they charged their customers a 25 cent “ICANN fee”?

A. Consult with your legal counsel. (Sorry, no free legal advice here.) Depending on the terms of your registration and reseller agreements, local law, etc., your registrar may or may not be obligated to act.

Q. When and how did this happen? The “adopted” budget says the fee is 25 cents.

A. After the budget (with a 25 cent transaction fee) was approved by ICANN’s Board of Directors, but before the fee schedule was approved by the registrars, the fee was reset to 22 cents and re-approved. We sent notice of the fee reduction to registrars’ primary contacts on 14 March 2007.