An email sent to me by a reliable source narrates a recent story about domain Registry/Registrar dot.PH taking on a Public Relations agency to spin the idea why PH domains still costs $35PHP 2,054INR 2,966EUR 33CNY 255 a pop.
I say good luck to the PR agency and the team that handles the purportedly “Disini” account. The agency is actually looking to hire more people on board to handle the new account. The continued pressure from lobby groups and the negative press might have prompted this.
This discussion has been ongoing now for years and you look back at my old posts about the issue:
12/19/2005: CICT to ask ICANN to revoke dotPH control
10/25/2006: Why dotPH is still expensive?
12/18/2006: Will the .PH issue die a natural death?
03/30/2007: Joel Disini responds to dot.PH Pricing discussion
At least that $35PHP 2,054INR 2,966EUR 33CNY 255 is now just Php1,435USD 24INR 2,073EUR 23CNY 178 compared to years ago when it was Php1,925USD 33INR 2,781EUR 31CNY 239. Technically speaking, the PH prices have gone down by 25%. That’s due to the stronger peso against the dollar and not dotPH actually lowering the domain prices. Come to think of it, if the exchange rate of $1PHP 59INR 85EUR 0.95CNY 7 goes down to Php10USD 0.17INR 14EUR 0.16CNY 1, the PH domains will cost as much as the .com prices today.
My suggestion, use the PR funds instead to give out discounts, long-term promos and other price-cut sales. There’s so many I can think of — annual one-day one-dollar sale, 50% off on 10 year registrations, buy .com.ph get the .ph free or register for 5 years and get free hosting for life. I’ve actually had a short chat with the guy in charge of their other business (email/web hosting) and I hear they’re trying to do some promos, though it was about 2 years ago.
In any case, it would be really interesting how the PR team will spin this one.
YugaTech.com is the largest and longest-running technology site in the Philippines. Originally established in October 2002, the site was transformed into a full-fledged technology platform in 2005.
How to transfer, withdraw money from PayPal to GCash
Prices of Starlink satellite in the Philippines
Install Google GBox to Huawei smartphones
Pag-IBIG MP2 online application
How to check PhilHealth contributions online
How to find your SIM card serial number
Globe, PLDT, Converge, Sky: Unli fiber internet plans compared
10 biggest games in the Google Play Store
LTO periodic medical exam for 10-year licenses
Netflix codes to unlock hidden TV shows, movies
Apple, Asus, Cherry Mobile, Huawei, LG, Nokia, Oppo, Samsung, Sony, Vivo, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Infinix Mobile, Pocophone, Honor, iPhone, OnePlus, Tecno, Realme, HTC, Gionee, Kata, IQ00, Redmi, Razer, CloudFone, Motorola, Panasonic, TCL, Wiko
Best Android smartphones between PHP 20,000 - 25,000
Smartphones under PHP 10,000 in the Philippines
Smartphones under PHP 12K Philippines
Best smartphones for kids under PHP 7,000
Smartphones under PHP 15,000 in the Philippines
Best Android smartphones between PHP 15,000 - 20,000
Smartphones under PHP 20,000 in the Philippines
Most affordable 5G phones in the Philippines under PHP 20K
5G smartphones in the Philippines under PHP 16K
Smartphone pricelist Philippines 2024
Smartphone pricelist Philippines 2023
Smartphone pricelist Philippines 2022
Smartphone pricelist Philippines 2021
Smartphone pricelist Philippines 2020
Eugene says:
Just how expensive is it to run a registry? I don’t think that the costs are nowhere near as high as that of a web hosting business (cheap local ones being around $20/yr for one account) that charging $35/yr for just a single domain name is outright greedy.
ia says:
Yeah, not having promos in over two years and resorting to PR instead of actually talking to their customers says a lot about the company.
Are other countries (aside from the US) this unfortunate?
Arnel says:
Sana maging $6 na lang din per domain….. mas dadami ang kanilang customers….
:D
Christian says:
I bet the PR uses the “Pinoy Pride” angle. “Buy a .PH to show your Pinoy Pride” – yuck….
Miguel says:
zZzZzZzz
Emil Avancena says:
Hi Abe,
Interesting rumor, but that’s all it is — no truth to it whatsoever.
We do hold promotions along the lines of what you described in your post, and as one of our Registrars you’ll be sure to know when we get something going for this year.
cheers,
emil avancena
dotph
Abe Olandres says:
Thanks Emil. My source even mentioned the name of the owner of this PR company who used to be a media executive. And btw, the last promo that we had from dotPH was way back Feb 2007. Maybe we can have more of them this year.
Andre says:
We probably can’t expect dotPH to drop price, they are the main, dropping prices is bad for them. It would have to take a reseller and some investment to sell domains real cheap around $15-$20 . So far it looks like noone has wanted to take that risk, would people buy a .COM.PH if it cost only PHP800 per year ? vs $1435?
BrianB says:
Why even bother with a dotph site. There are an infinity of domain possibilities out there. Ask me what kind of domain you need and I’ll give it to you for a fee.
CallCenterVet says:
I hear the dot me market will soon be open and there should be a lot of people looking forward to buying in these because of the market appeal.
Check out my post about the dotme domains.
Emil Avancena says:
posting on behalf of Joel Disini re:
Why even bother with a dotph site. There are an infinity of domain possibilities out there. Ask me what kind of domain you need and I’ll give it to you for a fee.
Hello Yuga,
Joel Disini here. Like it or hate it, a PH domain plays a unique function that a COM does not – it establishes a business as being based in the Philippines, or catering to the Philippine market.
When one searches in Google for a beach resort in the Philippines and chooses the “look only for websites from the Philippines” option, Google restricts the search to (1) websites physically hosted in the Philippines and (2) websites ending in a PH domain. Because the local Telcos are notorious for not interconnecting with each other, many – in fact, a huge majority of – Philippine webhosting companies actually choose to host abroad. I believe your own Ploghost is one of these Webhosting companies.
In cases like these, the only way Google will know that a local site caters to the Philippine market is by its PH domain. So if a business has clients in the Philippines, it may make sense to get a PH domain (even if it already operates with a COM domain). The additional $35/year expense is generally small when compared to the additional traffic and business that comes with greater search engine visibility.
Christian says:
Regarding: “look only for websites from the Philippines option” in Google. The average juan doesn’t use Google advance search. Most just type their search in Google.com. BTW, 1 .PH came up searching for beach resort in Google advance searching for pages in the Philippines.
ex: beach resorts
CallCenterVet says:
When using Google to search “beach resort in the Philippines”, Only one out of 10 results come up with a dotph TLD. Even for a Google search of “beaches philippines” has the same result.
So I don’t know how they can justify having a dotph will get better results in the search engines. I’d have to agree that an average Juan will not know or would not do an advanced search in Google. First instinct is always to do a normal search.
Abe Olandres says:
Emil & Joel,
I’ve actually discussed those SERPs *advantages* in my previous posts about the PH domains.
However, those advantages have been introduced by Google and Yahoo only recently. They may actually revise these advantages too in the future. I don’t think we’d want to rely on those factors when they are not inherent benefits.
Emil Avancena says:
Hi Yuga,
I don’t think we’ll see these advantages disappearing soon. The trend is moving towards localized search, which makes for more relevant search results. Look at yahoo providing local ads for Philippine surfers, and google.com.ph which has the “pages from the Philippines” button that Joel mentioned.
So unless an RP-based site is hosted locally (not likely because of higher bandwidth costs and the reasons Joel mentioned), the .PH domain is really the only way to be identified as such.
CallCenterVet says:
@Emil
I actually find localized searches annoying! I hate it when it shows “pages from the Philippines” and totally ignore it. 99% of the time I insist on using “google.com” and NOT “google.com.ph”. The tagalog version and translation of searches in Google is annoying and most of the time does not correspond to the actual meaning of the word.
Abe Olandres says:
@Emil, it could also go the other way around. Individuals or companies that have sites on PH domains can suffer lower SERP rankings on other countries as opposed to when they have a COM domain.
Emil Avancena says:
Yuga, using a .PH domain in addition to a .COM domain (or any other gTLD or ccTLD that helps drive traffic to your site) should take care of that.
Christian says:
Why is dotPH focused on businesses and their use for their domains? It’s like they (dotPH) feels a little sore if you make money with your .PH domain. While there might be SEO advantages in getting a PH domain, the average Juan could care less. Businesses have all the $$$$ to pay for the domains but how about the masses who just want their name.ph? I would respect dotPH if they were simply honest rather than relying on all the technical mumbo-jumbo they use to get internet n00b businesses to pay for their outrageous prices. They have a monopoly and it’s a simple as that. I believe they have the right to charge whatever they want but be transparent about it.
Andre says:
If someone sold .COM.PH domains at $16/year ($1 profit) each and everyone bought from that reseller, then dotPH would lose out on all the extra money it would normally make, about $19 per domain per year. So then for dotPH to compete with that reseller it would either have to offer more services or drop its retail price. Then on the other hand, the cheaper reseller has to sell 19 more domains to match dotPH’s profit, not counting the real profit they make off each domain.
CallCenterVet says:
@Andre
what’s the point? Nobody’s buying…
Abe Olandres says:
@ CallCenterVet, we’ve been reselling PH domains for a couple of years now and we’ve had some fair success with it. From our experience, we could have sold double the number if we had it lower.
CallCenterVet says:
Of course the statement was an exaggeration Yuga.
ёклмн says:
Пожалуй, Ñто один из интереÑнейших блогов, которые Ñ ÐºÐ¾Ð³Ð´Ð°-либо видел :). Отличные Ñтатьи, Ðктуальные комментарии. Так держать! :)
PH Domains says:
Hi,
Our company is selling PH Domain Registrations at $25 or PHP1075 per domain. We are setting up new website but for now you may contact PHDOM****@****.*** for information on how to get your PH domains from us.