Facts have proven that many companies really cannot afford to do so. Even though their own problems are clearly their own fault, they end up having users foot the bill. The latest case is the domain name registrar NameCheap, which previously launched a free NEWS domain name registration event.
On December 22, 2024, NameCheap sent an email to users stating that they could use the special discount code FREEDOM24 to register a NEWS domain name for free for one year. After one year, it will be renewed at the original price.
There are actually a lot of free domain name registration activities in the first year. Therefore, a large number of users registered NameCheap accounts and successfully registered their own NEWS domain names at that time. They can stop renewing after expiration in 2025.
But I didn’t expect that NameCheap is also a company that can’t afford to play. Since yesterday, a large number of users have received email notifications saying that the NEWS domain names registered for free do not meet the conditions. Users must pay the full registration fee of US$8.48 and the ICANN fee of US$0.18 to retain the registered NEWS domain names.
As for why it is said that it does not meet the conditions? The explanation given by NameCheap is that the FREEDOM24 discount code is only available to invited users (old users who have registered before) and is not applicable to new users.
So why can it be used by new users? This is the behavior of NameCheap’s grassroots team. Maybe they have not set the conditions for using the discount code, which means that both new and old users can register and use it directly.
There are only two options before users: pay the full registration fee of US$8.66 or give up the domain name. Currently, these registered NEWS domain names are locked and cannot be parsed and used, and may be forcibly deregistered in the future.