.uk renewal promotion issue

[Murray]

I thought id take advantage of the promotion running for September, £2.50 for 2 years .uk renewal

I only have about 130 domains I wanted to renew so well below my credit limit of £500, I did that on September 1st

However looking again today I realised I still had domains I renewed suspended and my credit limit was -£100 which left me unable to register or renew any domains; Apparently Nominet dont apply the promotional price until the end of the month when the invoice is generated

I called Nominet and asked for help and customer service said they might be able to increase my credit limit but I was later emailed and told that wasn't an option, and given no alternatives

I had to come up with the solution myself which was just adding unallocated funds which increases credit limit

Im thankful that none of my suspended domains were due to drop yesterday or today otherwise I would have been stuffed thinking id renewed them

Im sure others have run into this issue but just a heads up for anyone else still planning on renewing a lot of domains in September/October

 

[Siusaidh]

I thought id take advantage of the promotion running for September, £2.50 for 2 years .uk renewal

I only have about 130 domains I wanted to renew so well below my credit limit of £500, I did that on September 1st

I'm trying to understand what you're saying.

130 domains renewed for 2 years is going to set you back about £1200, and you only get that refunded at the start of next month when they should refund about £810.

I only ever operate via topping up unallocated funds, and don't use credit limits, so maybe I'm not understanding you, but until next month you are paying around over £9 a domain when you add VAT, and the £2.50 will also have VAT added, so I imagine your 130 domains will set you back around £390 in the end.

My idea of your account this month would run something like this (with the proviso that I don't know how the credit limit system operates for you):

Money OUT Sept 3rd to renew 130 domains for 2 years: circa £1200

Money REFUNDED to your account early Oct: circa £810

 

[Paullas]

But the £810 refunded to your account, can you transfer that back into your bank/back on your card?

Or is that stuck in your Nominet account.

 

[Siusaidh]

But the £810 refunded to your account, can you transfer that back into your bank/back on your card?

Or is that stuck in your Nominet account.

No, I contacted Nominet in advance, and was told that I can subsequently request that any refunded money gets transferred back to my bank. I have that in writing:

"Thank you for getting in touch with us.

You will need to add the full amount to the account as they discounted rate is applied when the invoices are generated. The invoices are then paid from the unallocated funds. Any leftover funds we can refund and all you would need to do when the invoices are generated is to let us know and we can refund the remainder back to the card you use to make the initial payment. .

I hope that helps."

 

[Murray]

I'm trying to understand what you're saying.

130 domains renewed for 2 years is going to set you back about £1200, and you only get that refunded at the start of next month when they should refund about £810.

Yes my problem was not realising the discount was applied at the invoicing stage and not the renewal stage

But the £810 refunded to your account, can you transfer that back into your bank/back on your card?t.

They said they will refund

Other people seem to have had their credit extended, not sure why that wasnt available to me

I will ask Monday if they will generate me an early invoice so they dont have to hold the extra money

 

[fuzzer]

Only just seen this - thanks Murray.

It says .UK domain family - doesn't that include .CO.UKs too? If so, sounds like a great time to renew all domains for 2 years - good deal!

 

[stevelook2]

Yes fuzzer, it includes the whole gang

 

[jasman]

Does anyone know if there is a way to see which domains you have recently renewed (like in the last few days) in Nominet's registrar console? I renewed a load of domains with the 2 year promotion, then realised they are using the daft accounting method as mentioned above (which reduces the amount of business we can put through during the promotion) so ran out of credit before I could renew the rest.

Now I've got funds back in the account but I'm not sure which domains were just renewed with the promotion and which had >2 year expiry dates from before. I would like to renew them all with the promotion, but don't want to renew again any domains that have just been renewed for 2 years in the promotion by mistake as I would get charged at the full price then.

 

[jasman]

Cheers Pedigree, that does appear to work. But you have to go into the View Domain page for each individual domain, which is a pain if you have hundreds of domains to trawl through! Still, at least there is a way. Much appreciated.

I can't believe Nominet don't have a transaction history showing each renewal or registration. Most registrars have that, it's really lame that the registry itself doesn't. It appears you have to wait until the following month until they create an invoice for the previous month or look for a quirk like the one you found.

 

[diablo]

The invoice will list all renewals by name if that helps.

 

[Murray]

Does anyone know if there is a way to see which domains you have recently renewed (like in the last few days) in Nominet's registrar console?.

You can order them by expiry date? presuming ones you renewed most recently will have the longest expiry

 

[stevelook2]

If you download your entire list of domains the spreadsheet will have a record of 'changed' just sort the domains in that order and it should give you the info you need.

 

[jasman]

You can order them by expiry date? presuming ones you renewed most recently will have the longest expiry

That's the annoying bit, I spent over a £grand on renewals the month before the damn promotion as I didn't know it was coming! So many of the ones I renewed before the promotion had similar expiry dates to those I renewed in the promotion.

But all is not lost. Since the limit of the renewals discount is 2 years, I can still renew all my domains for an extra 2 years at the bonus rate and the money I spent on renewals before the promotion at the normal rate I would have had to pay in 2 years when they will need renewing again anyway. So 3 years down the line I'll have paid the same as if I had waited until the promotion began to renew them.

 

[jasman]

If you download your entire list of domains the spreadsheet will have a record of 'changed' just sort the domains in that order and it should give you the info you need.

Very useful tip Steve, thanks a lot. That's what I was after - a list of all the domains that had not been renewed in the last week or so and as you point out there is a 'changed' field so it is easy to list them in order of that and just grab the ones I want. Top marks to you sir.

 

[webber]

That's the annoying bit, I spent over a £grand on renewals the month before the damn promotion as I didn't know it was coming! So many of the ones I renewed before the promotion had similar expiry dates to those I renewed in the promotion.

You can unrenew them before the invoice is paid/issued then renew under the promotion.
Check with Nominet support to confirm this just in case

 

[jasman]

You can unrenew them before the invoice is paid/issued then renew under the promotion.
Check with Nominet support to confirm this just in case

Yes, I know this. I wasn't signed up for marketing emails so didn't know about the promotion at first. In fact I heard about it on this site not long after I had put a load of renewals through! But by the time I found out the invoice had been paid. I phoned Nominet and asked if they could refund me the difference or allow me to unrenew them so I could re-renew them via the promotion but they wouldn't budge.

It's OK though. You guys were able to renew your domains for 2 years at the discounted rate but in 2 years time you'll have to pay full rate to renew the 3rd year. I renewed the 1st year at full rate, but now I'm signed up for the promotion I am renewing the 2nd and 3rd years at the discounted rate. 3 years down the line it amounts to the same thing, we'll all have paid the same amount per domain. It's just that I've had to stump up more money to pay for 3 years right now. I'm not too bothered about that though, as long as I get the discount I have benefited so I don't really care when I pay for it.

I've had to add funds to my account though to cover all the renewal costs. I think it's really daft they charge us full price when debiting our account funds, then apply the discount later. It's as though they don't want us to make the most of the promotion! And I guess that may be true.

 

[super-whois]

in 2 years time you'll have to pay full rate to renew the 3rd year. I renewed the 1st year at full rate, but now I'm signed up for the promotion I am renewing the 2nd and 3rd years at the discounted rate. 3 years down the line it amounts to the same thing, we'll all have paid the same amount per domain.

That's assuming there isn't a price review, and the costs go up or down, or there won't be another promotion. The price has gone up over recent years with no justification other than to fund loss making vanity projects, and a review may result in a future price cut. Of course, I could be wrong, and we end up with hyperinflation...

 

[webber]

That's assuming there isn't a price review, and the costs go up or down,

"Your Board is committed to fair pricing and will freeze the annual wholesale price of a domain until at least 2024"
https://nominet.uk/chairs-update/
I'm hoping the UKRAC can request a review of pricing that could see prices decrease, but this will have to be next year.
And only if candidates like David Thornton don't get elected (see his video about pricing).

 

[super-whois]

And only if candidates like David Thornton don't get elected (see his video about pricing).

His time's up, the fact that he fails to mention the USP of .uk and insists on a comparison with .com says everything.

 

[webber]

His time's up

I completely agree, but there are over 2500 other members that might think differently
Still can't believe members voted for him in the first place... twice
Jim Davies has been very vocal about returning to cost-recovery pricing model and not-for-profit ethos.
Caveat emptor