dotPH taps PR to justify Domain Prices

An email sent to me by a reliable source narrates a recent story about domain Registry/Registrar dot.PH taking on a Public Relations agency to spin the idea why PH domains still costs $35 a pop.

I say good luck to the PR agency and the team that handles the purportedly “Disini” account. The agency is actually looking to hire more people on board to handle the new account. The continued pressure from lobby groups and the negative press might have prompted this.

This discussion has been ongoing now for years and you look back at my old posts about the issue:

12/19/2005: CICT to ask ICANN to revoke dotPH control

10/25/2006: Why dotPH is still expensive?

12/18/2006: Will the .PH issue die a natural death?

03/30/2007: Joel Disini responds to dot.PH Pricing discussion

At least that $35 is now just Php1,435 compared to years ago when it was Php1,925. Technically speaking, the PH prices have gone down by 25%. That’s due to the stronger peso against the dollar and not dotPH actually lowering the domain prices. Come to think of it, if the exchange rate of $1 goes down to Php10, the PH domains will cost as much as the .com prices today.

My suggestion, use the PR funds instead to give out discounts, long-term promos and other price-cut sales. There’s so many I can think of — annual one-day one-dollar sale, 50% off on 10 year registrations, buy .com.ph get the .ph free or register for 5 years and get free hosting for life. I’ve actually had a short chat with the guy in charge of their other business (email/web hosting) and I hear they’re trying to do some promos, though it was about 2 years ago.

In any case, it would be really interesting how the PR team will spin this one.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

26 Comments

Eugene says:

17 years ago

Just how expensive is it to run a registry? I don’t think that the costs are nowhere near as high as that of a web hosting business (cheap local ones being around $20/yr for one account) that charging $35/yr for just a single domain name is outright greedy.
- Reply
ia says:

17 years ago

Yeah, not having promos in over two years and resorting to PR instead of actually talking to their customers says a lot about the company.

Are other countries (aside from the US) this unfortunate?
- Reply
Arnel says:

17 years ago

Sana maging $6 na lang din per domain….. mas dadami ang kanilang customers….

:D
- Reply
Christian says:

17 years ago

I bet the PR uses the “Pinoy Pride” angle. “Buy a .PH to show your Pinoy Pride” – yuck….
- Reply
Miguel says:

17 years ago

zZzZzZzz
- Reply
Emil Avancena says:

17 years ago

Hi Abe,

Interesting rumor, but that’s all it is — no truth to it whatsoever.

We do hold promotions along the lines of what you described in your post, and as one of our Registrars you’ll be sure to know when we get something going for this year.

cheers,
emil avancena
dotph
- Reply
Abe Olandres says:

17 years ago

Thanks Emil. My source even mentioned the name of the owner of this PR company who used to be a media executive. And btw, the last promo that we had from dotPH was way back Feb 2007. Maybe we can have more of them this year.
- Reply
Andre says:

17 years ago

We probably can’t expect dotPH to drop price, they are the main, dropping prices is bad for them. It would have to take a reseller and some investment to sell domains real cheap around $15-$20 . So far it looks like noone has wanted to take that risk, would people buy a .COM.PH if it cost only PHP800 per year ? vs $1435?
- Reply
BrianB says:

17 years ago

Why even bother with a dotph site. There are an infinity of domain possibilities out there. Ask me what kind of domain you need and I’ll give it to you for a fee.
- Reply
CallCenterVet says:

17 years ago

I hear the dot me market will soon be open and there should be a lot of people looking forward to buying in these because of the market appeal.

Check out my post about the dotme domains.
- Reply