https://tldrisk.com/beyond-basics/reclassification/

> This basically makes the entire TLD unviable for serious use.

It doesn't just make the TLD in question unusable. I think it makes most of the new gTLDs unusable. Registries can enact policies and systems like this, regardless of the detriment to registrants, due to a lack of oversight and registrant consideration by ICANN. That creates uncertainty and makes it pragmatic for registrants to simply choose the gTLDs with lots of history and precedence; .com, .org, etc..

The only two TLDs I'd personally rely on are .com (gTLD) and .ca (ccTLD).

$6.99 looks like a first year discount at dynadot with renewals at $10.88 USD.

> Why such a huge difference?

A lot of registrants don't know what the wholesale pricing looks like and the difference between $10 or $25 / year for a business isn't a factor. The risk that comes along with transferring to a cheaper registrar isn't worth it to save $15 / year.

As long as your domain is in the standard fee class, aka non-premium, they can't target it for a price increase if it's a gTLD. They have to raise the price of all standard domains at the same time.

Everyone will tell you they can't reclassify a domain from standard to premium, but that's not technically correct. They can change the classification to whatever they want, but they have to charge you standard renewal fees if the domain had a standard classification when you registered it, as long as you haven't let it expire.

I created a website that has some info about domain reclassification.

https://tldrisk.com/beyond-basics/reclassification/

As far as I know, the ERRP rules describe the policies for the deletion of expired domains, which isn't required, so working off the auto-renew grace status was a good choice here. Most people don't realize that expired domains aren't guaranteed to go through the ERRP lifecycle [1].

> You should be aware that during the auto-renew period, the domain name may be available to third parties for registration, depending on your registrar's terms of service. You may also run the risk of having your domain name auctioned to a third party by your registrar during this period (depending on your terms of service)

The process described here sounds like a pretty reasonable approach to a hard problem. It won't catch everything, but it's a good approach and it's nice to see some effort put into the issue.

1. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registrant-about-errp-...