This is part of the e-mail/letter that went out to the registrars:

As ICANN does each year, we are writing to request your support and approval of the registrar-level fees as described in ICANN's Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2005-06 .

For this year, ICANN will maintain last year's two-part variable registrar-level fee structure: US$0.25 per transaction, and a per-registrar variable fee totaling US$3.8 million divided among all registrars. (As of 7 December 2005, there were 528 ICANN-accredited registrars.)

Now that it's approved, will the per registrar fee be fixed at the level where they've stated basically: $3,800,000 / 528 ICANN registrars = $7,238 / year / Registrar? Because in the link regarding the adopted-budget-12aug05.html stats that it's taking into consideration of only 200 registrars referenced at the bottom of the Proposed Schedule and Notes section of "FY '05-'06 REVENUE PROJECTION":

(4) Assumes reduction to approximately 200 registrar

Will the $3.8mm fee be divided up between the assumed (estimated) remaining 200 registrars that has been predicted? This would create a very sever burden on us (aka the smaller Registrars). Unlike other Registrars who have created about 20+ sub-registrars to beat the secondary domain drop market, some of us consist of only one, trying to compete with a very competitive market. I can see where those registrars who have multiple sub-registrars consolidate and then the number drops to just 200 active registrars.

I'm just curious if the $3,800,000 yearly operational fee won't be divided up by 200, costing each registrar $19,000 / year just to pay operational fees to ICANN.

Thanks! Both of these letters are important not just to registrars but to the larger community of registrants as well. I'm left wondering why ICANN doesn't post these things on its website itself?

Bret

19k seems like a fairly steep fee for some of the smaller registrars. I doubt if the big ones would notice that kind of cost