Why do you have to pay for your domain every year?

Question

I wanted to know why do you have to pay for your domain name every year? Why can't you just pay once and be good for life?

Answer 1

As you may know a domain name is just a name, not a real website. If you are going to create your website: 1- Buy a domain name. A domain name is a name you want to call your website (ex: www.yahoo.com). To get a domain name, you have to pay an annual fee to a registrar for the right to use that name. 2- Buy a web hosting service to provide your online space and enable you to get your website online at your purchased domain name.



If you want to start your website I recommend purchase your domain and hosting together. In this way it is possible to get your domain for free. Some hosting services offer this gift today.



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They also offer "Free Site Builder" that helps you build your web pages without difficulty if you are not skilled in using any website creating program (WYSIWYG: What You See Is What You Get). You can use this service optionally. You can also create the pages offline with your favorite program (DreamWeaver, FrontPage, Microsoft Publisher, iWeb etc.), and then upload them to your web host. This is another easy way to get your website online.



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Hope this helps.

Answer 2

It could be done that way, but then if you only wanted the domain for a few years you'd wind up paying for lots of use you never had.



If you want a domain for life, just take 20 times the yearly cost and put it in an interest bearing account. Use the interest to pay the domain fees. That way, you'd get the best of both worlds -- you'd only have to pay for the domain once and you'd get some money back if you decided you didn't want the domain any more.



Most people prefer to pay for only what they use rather than being forced to pay for something they may not want.

Answer 3

That is a fabulous question. Well, it's good that people don't own them for life, since otherwise they'd forget about them and nobody would be able to get it back again. As it is now if someone loses interest in their domain it goes back into the pile eventually.



I'm sure you can find more information here. People work to maintain the NameServing system of the web and they need to make a living somehow too.

http://www.icann.org/

Answer 4

All of the reasons are accurate, it is the same reason that you pay for a telephone number every month, and you pay for your Internet Access every month, and you pay for a Post Office Box every month. There are people who have to maintain the databases so that your domain works, then keep track of what is availabe for use, etc. and they want to get paid.

Answer 5

..and to keep it fair by forcing the owner to decide if the renewal is worth it. If they don't want the domain anymore, then allow other people obtain it for their own purpose.



The majority of domain owners will buy a lot of domains to stake their claim to the domain name but they usually won't a website for it beside "parked" domain. In fact, there are too many of them !!



Beside what to do in case someone died?

Answer 6

Because you only "park" there for a while, and other people might want it. As long as you keep paying for it, it's yours. If you fail to pay or give it up, another person can buy it.



The real trick is getting a really good one, and then letting someone else buy it from you. Can you imagine what would have happened if you had purchased "ebay.com" before they did?

Answer 7

the reason is most of the websites which are getting registered everyday have a time prospect of less than a year, so there is no point in paying it for the entire year. one advantage with annual or more than a year subscription is the discount we can ourselves from such accounts

Answer 8

It's a way of freeing up "unused" domain names, if you stop paying it becomes avaliable again.



Plus it makes money.

Answer 9

It's possible for sure

Answer 10

thank you everyone for the answers!