Why Do Domain Add-ons Cost Extra?
The domain was listed at $9.99, but the checkout page says about $30. Here is why add-on fees exist, which features are commonly paid, and how to work out what you will really pay.
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By Hyunjun ParkIt said $9.99, but checkout says about $30
Most people run into this the first time they buy a domain. The search results clearly say $9.99 for the first year. You add it to the cart, move on to checkout, and a few more lines have appeared. Privacy protection, domain security, advanced DNS management. Each one is only a few dollars, but together they bring the total to two or three times the price you first saw.
Many people start unchecking boxes, cannot tell whether an item is really needed or what happens without it, and end up paying for everything.
This post explains why add-on fees exist, which features are commonly paid, and how to work out the real price of a domain.
There is not much margin in the domain itself
A domain registrar does not create domains. It buys them at wholesale from the registry that runs .com or .kr and sells them to customers. The wholesale price is about the same for every registrar.
That makes it hard to compete on the domain price alone. If you are even slightly more expensive, the customer goes next door. Two approaches are common here.
The first is to drop the first-year price close to cost, sometimes below it. The loss is made up in the renewal price the following year. This is why a domain that was $9.99 in the first year costs over $20 in the second.
The second is add-ons. The domain price is shown low, and optional items attached at checkout produce the actual revenue.
It is hard to call either one wrong. But you should know that the price you first saw and the amount you actually pay will be different.
What is commonly charged separately
WHOIS privacy
When you register a domain, the registrant's name, address, phone number and email go into WHOIS, a public lookup system. Privacy protection hides that information. For an individual registering a domain, it is effectively required. Without it, the spam calls and emails start.
DNS
To connect a domain to a server or a mail service, you need to add DNS records. Some registrars include basic DNS but limit the number of records, or make certain record types available only on a paid plan.
Forwarding
This sends visitors who arrive at mybrand.com to another address. Companies with several domains use it to point them all at one.
DNSSEC
A security feature that uses signatures to confirm a DNS response was not altered along the way. It is sometimes bundled into a paid product called "premium DNS."
Transfer lock
This stops someone from quietly moving your domain to another registrar. Some registrars give you the basic lock for free and sell a stronger one under a name like "domain protection."
These features have something in common. You need them anyway to use a domain properly, and once they are turned on, the ongoing cost to the registrar is small.
Work out the real price over three years
A domain is not something you buy once and are done with. You renew it every year for as long as you use it. So the real cost only becomes visible when you add up several years, not when you look at the first-year price.
The calculation is simple.
3-year total = first-year registration price + renewal price × 2 + annual add-on fees × 3
Check these three things before you pay.
- What is the renewal price? If the search results show only the first-year price in large type, you have to look up the renewal price separately.
- Are add-ons checked by default? See whether you can uncheck them, and which features turn off if you do.
- Do the add-ons renew every year too? Sometimes they are free only for the first year and charged from the second.
It is not unusual for the registrar that is cheapest in the first year to be the most expensive over three.
How LETO does it
LETO does not charge separately for the features below. They are all included in the domain price.
- WHOIS privacy
- DNS records
- Forwarding
- DNSSEC
- Nameserver changes
- Transfer lock
- Organization sharing
- Auto-renewal
WHOIS privacy and transfer lock are on from the moment you register. There is nothing to check or uncheck at checkout.
Our price list shows the renewal price and the transfer price next to the registration price. You can see today what you will pay next year.
To be upfront, there are cases where you pay for something beyond the domain price. Premium domains are priced name by name by the registry, so they differ from the standard price list. Anything that needs its own server, such as mail hosting or web hosting, is a separate product. We do not slip these into the domain checkout. You choose them separately.
To sum up
Add-on fees are a practice that grew out of thin margins on the domain itself. They are not bad in themselves, but they are the reason the price you first saw and the amount you pay end up different.
When you choose a domain, look at the total over several years, including the renewal price and add-ons, instead of the first-year price. That number is what you actually pay.
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