We’ve hit the final four years of the negotiated six year periods between ICANN and Verisign. A “fiscal” year in this case goes from September through October. As reported last year in .COM Price Increase is No Big Deal, “Verisign and ICANN may agree to amend the .COM Registry Agreement to permit an increase to the price for .COM registry services, up to a maximum of 7 percent in each of the final four years of each six-year period (the first six-year period commenced on October 26, 2018).”

We get the news about time and price from Domain Name Wire, Verisign announces .com price hike to $8.39: “.Com domain name registry Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) announced today that it will increase the wholesale price it charges registrars for .com registrations and renewals from $7.85 to $8.39. The price hike will go into effect on September 1, 2021.”

And that means that Verisign will be increasing wholesale prices by the MAX ALLOWED 7%. How much of that 7% increase will domain name registrars pass on to customers? Not to be too cynical but my guess is that it will actually be more than the 7% to the end user.