>>I am going to have a hard time telling customers that they now have to pay
>>and extra $125. When we were selling our services... as im sure many other
>>isps were.. and the client asks 'Do I have to pay any more' and we honestly
>>answered 'Nope.. thats it'.... we are going to be accused of lying for a
start,
>>Melbourne IT is going to generate a LOT of animosity against themselves
>>from clients, and many people will elect I think to DUMP .com.au and go to
>>the USA and register a .com or .net domain.
>
>Promising clients that there will be no further fees does seem a bit naive 
>in a changing environment.  Furthermore, ISPs generally charge in the region
>of $200-$250 for a registration service that involves filling out a few forms
>and creating a DNS table entry.  It does seem a bit rich to be bleating
>about Melbourne IT's fees when ISP's have indulged in similar behaviour.
>I'm sure you could could cop the initial $125 out of the registration fee
>you have already charged, and still make a good profit!
>
>By all means let's complain about unfair charging practices, but not through
>pots calling kettles black.

Point taken, but for some of us who charge less than $125 to register(and
delegate) a domain and charge no ongoing (unlike our friends at MIT) wearing
that cost on behalf of our clients is not an option.

We have made it clear to our clients who have been looking at registering
com.au domain names for some time that an ongoing charge may come into
effect in the future...  But I'll bet there'll still be mutterings of
discontent from them (along with those who registered earlier, with no
warning of potential ongoing cost).

Cheers

Brett

----
Brett Caird		Chief Executive/Director
brettc§bit.net.au	http://www.bit.net.au/
Brisbane Internet Technology Pty Ltd