ICANN has announced that the application fee for the upcoming round of new top-level domains (gTLDs) will be $227,000, an increase from the $185,000 charged in the previous round in 2012. The organization justifies the higher fee as necessary for the program to be self-funding, accounting for various costs involved in processing applications, delegating gTLDs, and managing related operations, including vendor contracts and pre-delegation checks.
ICANN’s calculations also include contingency and risk costs for unforeseen expenses, such as legal fees and fluctuations in vendor pricing. However, there is speculation that not all funds allocated for risk costs were utilized in the last round, leading to discussions about the possibility of application fee rebates, especially given that contention sets will likely be resolved through auctions that generate revenue for ICANN.
For many applicants, particularly those seeking one or two domain strings, the costs associated with legal, marketing, and technical preparations will significantly exceed the application fee itself.
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