I was billed $34.95 by Yahoo! Domains

This site, wanginternet.com is currently registered under Yahoo! Domains.

When I first subscribed to Yahoo! Domains way back in year 2005, it was on a real good promotion which cost only $2.95.

For year 2006 and 2007, I was billed $9.95 which was ok and I still considered it affordable.

Today, without any email alerts what so ever, I saw a bill of $34.95 in my credit card statement. Ouch!

Without hesitating I quickly contacted the online chat support from both Bluehost and Westhost and asked them about the possibility of transfering my domain over to them since they are my web hosting providers. What I found out from both hosting provider was that in order to ensure a successful domain transfer from my current registrar, which is Yahoo!, I had to make sure that my domain:

Has not expired or is not within 14 days of expiring
Has not been renewed within the last 45 days
Has not been registered within the last 60 days
Is not involved in any legal or payment disputes

One thing for sure is that my site has expired and it has been automatically renewed within the last 45 days. So no matter what, I will still need to pay Yahoo! Domains $34.95! This is the price to pay for being ignorant about when my domain expires.

So for those of you whose domain are registered with Yahoo!, my suggestions would be for you to:

Decide if you want your domain to be auto billed via credit card.
Take some time to evaluate other companies which are able to register your doman for a price below $34.95. From what I found out, in order to transfer to Westhost, it’s just $10 for a one time transfer fees and $14.95 for a one year domain name, a total of $24.95…. still cheaper than Yahoo! Domains.

I think Yahoo! should have invoiced me earlier or even notify or warn me that the price will shoot up from $9.95 to $34.95 but so far I didn’t receive any notifications. If I has known, I would have switched. From what I found out as well, if I choose not to pay Yahoo! for this domain renewal, my domain will be locked for a year. Meaning no one, including myself will be able to take over the domain via another host. Something I learnt today.

This rant must be because of the economic slowdown! I used to be generous Hope this post warns any of you out there who doesnt know when your domain expires and what the next renewal bill will be like. Don’t be a donkey like me!

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Comments (59) Posted in Website Management

59 Responses to 'I was billed $34.95 by Yahoo! Domains'

Writers Needed- No Experience Necessary- Make $200/hr - December 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I feel with you on the domain issue. It is hard finding a good domain hosting site. So does the wanginternet.com really give a good service with free hosting? Because all the free hosting sites I used that do not have ads will spam the crap out of your email box!! I usually like to use hostgator.com because they let you pay monthly at it is only $10/month I would suggest trying that instead.
Gerry Graham - December 5th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Great thing about the military: even though you know that they know that nobody knows what the hell they’re doing, everybody pretends that that ain’t so.
social issues - December 6th, 2008 at 9:17 am
yahoo is starting to get on my nerves pulling that stuff
WangInternet - December 17th, 2008 at 5:09 am
Let’s see if Yahoo!s move will increase more revenue for them or prove to be costly, driving existing and potential customers away.
Greeze - December 17th, 2008 at 5:12 am
Let’s see if Yahoo!s move will increase more revenue for them or prove to be costly, driving existing and potential customers away.
Shopping - December 18th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Wow $34.95! How can they justify that price when you can get domains for under $10 from just about anywhere? I’ve turned off auto billing for all my domains, just have to make sure I keep my email updated.

Shopping’s last blog post..Petunia Pickle Bottom
Trent - December 26th, 2008 at 4:09 am
Merry Christmas!

Trent’s last blog post..Perfect Last Minute Christmas Gift Idea
Business Credit - December 29th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Another 1 to watch out for is the Free Domains from Office Live MSN. Its free for the first year then they will rebill you $39 for the renewal.

Jason Myers aka The Business Credit Expert
Business Credit - December 29th, 2008 at 7:46 am
To find it just search http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/

Business Credit’s last blog post..Ask the Expert
international shipping - January 1st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
dat was sad.thnx for sharing.
Oliver - January 1st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I can’t believe that they would do that… that’s a really sneaky technique… do you think the credit crunch has much to do with it? Or do you think that’s what they had planned all along.

Also, did you get no warning to say you was going to be billed that much? Or did it just happen?

Thanks a lot
mmo - January 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 am
sorry to hear that..could be worse you could lose the domain if you really wanted it..happened to me on another website.
Mike - January 7th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I had a simular experience about two years ago. It was here in England. Fortunately it wasn’t with Yahoo. It was with Central Domains. I was able to switch within an hour and and saved major money. Since then, I have researched prices on the internet and have dropped prices on hosting as well. It pays to shop around. Nice of you to post this for others to hopefully not get caught out. Nice one!
Frank - January 14th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Ouch! I’m sorry about that! That’s why I’m always skeptical of good deals for domain registrations or hosting plans. They usually wanna tack on an additional $$ whenever possible or have RIDICULOUS fee’s like this upon renewing. One hosting company I went with had a special deal for $5 hosting, then auto charged my card for $100 the next year. Outrageous!
Josh - January 20th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
I didn’t even realize Yahoo had a domain service, but I will make sure to avoid them now.
Will Lowrey - February 1st, 2009 at 6:14 am
Ya know – it is happening all over. When I took over my church’s website, they were paying $45/year to register their domain name. the only way to get it down to $9.95 was to register the domain name for 100 years. How insane is that!

I hope you get it worked out. If you end up doing a bunch of web hosting – you may want to consider looking into a Reseller account. With HostGator, they get you your own domain reseller account too, with enomcentral. Just at thought.

Will Lowrey’s last blog post..Secrets Of Success – Screw Affirmation
bosq - February 4th, 2009 at 6:03 am
may be yahoo thought that your domain had more higher price than was….

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bull - February 4th, 2009 at 8:20 am
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George Snyder - February 6th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
No offence to your host, but you should consider transfering to godaddy or a similar registrar, I like to keep my host and domains seperate, had my fingers burnt before. Most of them offer a free years domain cost for the price of the transfer.

George Snyder’s last blog post..Free Facebook advertising
Hernando - February 11th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Your blog is great with beneficial content that is helpful to everyone. Here I came to the point’s that I am not aware of.

Hernando’s last blog post..Cash Advance Applications
starting business blog - February 13th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
oh my god !are they charging that much just for a domain name ?this is crazy.

starting business blog’s last blog post..Madagascar loves jQuery too much
Thomas - February 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Patents - February 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
I just got a bill from Yahoo domains for $34.95 to renew my domain name?Can this be correct? There is nothing on there site even close to this price, and I’m pretty sure the email is not spoofed, all links go to yahoo.com
Yvonne - February 18th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I had very little knowledge on Google adsense but having seeing this post I had gained a lot of knowledge on it. Thanks for sharing a few things here that finds interesting.

Yvonne’s last blog post..Erie, Pennsylvania
Music - February 18th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
How do I get to my Yahoo Domains? Where is the link to edit, build, work on my Yahoo domains???When I log-in to Yahoo, where is the link that takes me to my small business domain controller, etc?
affordable vacation - February 19th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Great so after i registered with Yahoo I am hearing everyone complain how much they suck! Never again!
Phil - February 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 am
Sheesh, with godaddy you can get them for about $9. What I don’t get though is why people still pay places like network solutions. $75 for a domain is a rip off. Transfer as soon as you can.

Phil’s last blog post..Pay Per Click – what is it?
Lorraine - February 22nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I had the same experience with Yahoo. And at a time like this, when money is pretty much hard to find, it can get really annoying. I hope they change their policies or atleast inform us a few days before so we may have an option to continue with the service or not. Tsk..tsk..tsk…

Lorraine’s last blog post..A Guide for Choosing the Right Affiliate Programs Merchants Online
MIke@DoFollow Blogs - February 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Wow – $34 for one domain, and the price increase without notice? I would be mad as you know what and let Yahoo know about it. I would them start moving any domains I have registered with them to another registrar.

Mike

MIke@DoFollow Blogs’s last blog post..New DoFollow Blog Comment Strategy
Make Money - February 24th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
What do you expect? It’s Yahoo!, although you sould have tried 1and1 or hostgator, they’re the best!

Make Money’s last blog post..What to do when you have Empty Ad Slots
Rap - March 15th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I guess that’s a good reason not to have autorenew set… generally using godaddy I wait for sales to renew. Be lucky you were never part of the registerfly nightmare, the renewal fee isn’t too bad in comparison.

Rap’s last blog post..Rick Ross ‘Mafia Music’ Video
Thomas - March 18th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
You know, auto renew are not allways a bad thing. Sometimes it’s more bad, that to not auto-renew a domains and then loose it.

There are services, where you maybe pay 10 USD for domain, and 10 USD for a auto-renew. 10 USD… that’s okay.

I’m using iPower.com and mydomains.com, when I want to auto-renew domains. On both the prize are 10 USD

Thomas

Thomas’s last blog post..20090308-08: FOAs forbundshus aftenarrangement,markering af indgangen
Anonymous - March 20th, 2009 at 8:20 am
That’s way inflated over the normal value of domains.
ppc coach review - March 30th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
oh..its so sad..learn by mistake..
Victor - March 31st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I wonder if google domain will also do that. I’ve only availed of a google domain 2 months ago. I wouldn’t mind if they increase their fees, but it would be better if they will notify me beforehand.
Patrick - April 10th, 2009 at 3:11 am
I too just got charged $34.95 for a domain name… If this has happened to you and you live in Massachusetts please let me know. I’m an attorney and will be filing suit to get this BS stopped !!!! Its better if I represent someone other than myself.

Thanks
Patrick AT PFBULL.com
Dofollow - April 24th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
I thought I was the only one billed 34 for only one domain. That is why I have already transfered all my domains to GoDaddy
fuadi - April 25th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Let’s see if Yahoo!s move will increase more revenue for them or prove to be costly, driving existing and potential customers away.
ADAIDM - April 29th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Unfortunately, the cost of everything is just going up and up. Did Yahoo! need to tell you about this exorbitant increase. No. Should they have? Yes. I do dental marketing, dental website design and have found that all hosting services are going up all the time.
Pagerank Checker - May 9th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I strongly recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section. I’ll watch Google Webmaster Tools, and if the links don’t show up after a couple of weeks — I won’t go back to that blog again. Another suggestion: you should have a Top Commentator widget installed. Do Follow and Top Commentator will ensure that you have a successful blog with lots of readers!
rathi - May 17th, 2009 at 9:33 am
This seems really interesting.. It’s bad to start with a free site and then suddenly say you’ve got to pay.. anyway, now free things will end soon..
nywebdesign - May 17th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Thanks for the information.. Very useful for beginners..
dating - May 21st, 2009 at 7:26 am
i got the mail from yahoo. yahoo said that Get the domain only in $1.
cristi - May 31st, 2009 at 2:49 am
Yes yahoo changed their prices without any notice,the smart choice is to cancel auto-renew for any service to avoid this surprises.
That’s just a ripp off from them,such a big company..
Self Help Advice - June 5th, 2009 at 11:55 am
That’s true, the only way they can afford such a low prices ($1.99 for .com) is by charging high prices at the time of renewal or force you to by their hosting packages for the first 60 days!

Self Help Advice’s last blog post..Time shortage! Imagination or reality
Ber2 - June 16th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Yeah yahoo is so expensive. try some other great services host with low prices.
edson francisco bonfim - June 26th, 2009 at 3:13 am
aqui è billed5.@yahoo.com edson fr bonfim …
Modern Technology - July 30th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Its really funny condition for domain transfer. $34.95 is not a suitable rate for domain. They should warn about rate increment. I hope you can get very cheaper rate then yahoo charging you.
142141 - September 23rd, 2009 at 4:13 am
I got ripped off too!

I suggest that you search yahoo on google, live/bing and click on the yahoo paid advertisement …

for those who got ripped off …
keep talking to them, pressuring them to refund your money
I did … day after day after day …
finally, they give me a refund …

this is so that yahoo will close the business for good, sparing a lot of people who’d trapped by their business model …
Thomas - November 18th, 2009 at 12:05 am
What the heck – after I found it that yahoo jacked up the price to $35 a year, I transferred to namechep for $9 a year.

Yahoo charged $35 on an EXPIRED credit card they had on file.

What do the people at yahoo think ? When I transfer the domain, and I do not update my 5 year old credit card on file ? Isn’t that I hint enough that I do not want to pay their overpriced service anymore ?

We will dispute the charge with the credit company, and take all out business away from Yahoo
Vlad - December 15th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I have the same problem you have! Yahoo took $35 from my account because I haven’t canceled the renewing of my .com domain. I had an expired cred card registered on yahoo but this didn’t stop them from taken money from my account. What were you able to solve with your credit card company?
Humphrey - January 12th, 2010 at 7:54 am
I was also a victim of Yahoo! Small Business. I paid $9.95 last year and now $34.95 ($34.95/$9.95 > 350%). I have one complaint with the ftc (ftc.gov) on this issue but I doubt that I get any of the money back.
Business Law cases - January 31st, 2010 at 3:41 am
So it is suggested to pay with Paypal rather than Credit card to avoid expensive payment for second year?
Free iPad - February 3rd, 2010 at 2:55 am
Pretty stink that a large company like Yahoo did this to be honest
norespect4yahoo - March 13th, 2010 at 12:40 am
They have done this three times to clients of mine. last instance being where yahoo apparently “acquired” previous registrar. no notifications of acquisition….9.95 domain was billed 34.95 by yahoo domains. talk about low grade.
Jay - April 18th, 2010 at 12:09 am
I am in the same soup.
registered the domain with Yahoo and paid 9.95 now they are asking to pay 34.99 and the account is suspended.
I am getting better offer from others who are charging 10 dollars for domain name as well as hosting. And the service is great as I have been using this other vendor for over 6 years. Now if I renew I have to pay 34.99 to Yahoo and 10 dollars to the host. If I go to yahoo for hosting they are charging 40 to 50 dollars for hosting. This means one has to pay 70 to 80 dollars a year to keep your site on with Yahoo. or at least about 50 to keep domain name registered with them and another host.
Their free email also sucks. You can not have auto forward facility or PoP settings. You need to pay 20 dollars for that. Gmail is all free and you can auto forward to any e-mail and also POP as well as IMAP support. I recently also configured my other site email accounts using Google applications. With free support from our website host, it went like knife in butter. Now all e-mail accounts are configured through gmail (The receiver does not see the google reference at all: And this means that you can log on to your account using google. (www.google.com/a/your websitename and that is all) you can configure 50 e-mail accounts make groups and subgroups and lot more.
So my strong recommendation is to avoid registering your domain through Yahoo or register.com and also do not have a yahoo free account , it is full of hassels and very restrictive.

Jay
arakno - April 21st, 2010 at 1:17 am
I was also ripped off. I can’t even find NOWHERE where to cancel this auto-renew feature anywhere on their site.
I have called my credit card company and there is nothing they can do, even though my card has expired for 2 years now!!!
Can someone please give some way to contact Yahoo, as they don’t provide any easy to find way to do so…

I want my money back for all those years they charged me without consent, and without even notice!!
learn piano software - April 26th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
This same thing just happened to me as well… That’s how I found your site, only I wish I had found it much earlier lol. Oh well…live and learn.
International Couriers - July 25th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
This is really disappointing to see that Yahoo has increased the domain name cost to 35 $, does anybody have an idea what is the price Yahoo charges for a new domain. We are in the process of building various shipping and courier sites, so we need to know if the terms and conditions contain the information that Yahoo can increase the price in as and when they feel like.