The beauty of monopoly is you can charge what you want. But if you are a consumer its not so great. For users contemplating buying a .COM or .NET that monopoly is controlled by VeriSign, Inc. At the end of last year, they annouced increases coming into effect as of July 1st 2010. The registry fee for .com domain names will increase from $6.86 to $7.34 and that the registry fee for .net domain names will increase, from $4.23 to $4.65. One of the largest domain registrars Godaddy reminded their users of the impending price increase with an  email on Thursday:

On July 1, 2010, VeriSign®, the registry for .COM and .NET, will increase prices – .COM will go up 7%, and .NET by 10%.

The increase will be passed to registrars like Go Daddy and then, unfortunately, to consumers like you.

As of July 1, we will be forced to raise registration and renewal prices for these two popular top-level domains.

If you wish to avoid this price increase, you can renew your domain names by June 30 and add another year to your current expiration dates. You have the option to register or renew for multiple years and lock in long-term savings.

While the time  to grab the name you want before the price increases come into effect, Morningstar Credit Committee has some interesting comments to consider. We have bolded the important parts:

Morningstar is initiating credit coverage of VeriSign VRSN with an issuer rating of A, reflecting the firm’s solid Cash Flow Cushion, offset somewhat by uncertainty surrounding its core Internet address registration business. Our biggest concern about VeriSign is that the contract granting its monopoly in the Internet address registration business expires in 2012. In addition, the firm faces an antitrust lawsuit tied to this contract brought by the Coalition for ICANN Transparency. The range of possible outcomes around this lawsuit is wide. The firm could be forced to charge lower fees for its naming services, or it could lose the contract after 2012.

So we recommend you either buy your name you have been considering before June 30th, or wait until 2012 and see how things pan out.  Regardless of what you decide make sure you search for some coupons online before you pay full price for your domains. We prefer Retailmenot.com, a great place to make sure you save a couple of bucks. Happy bargain hunting!