3,200 PLN a year for a server and domains. How is that possible?

Short answer: with the big Polish domain companies, the domain itself is not what costs the most. What costs the most is everything that grows around it over the years: renewals at 260 PLN and more, a padlock next to the website address that is free elsewhere, and a mail server billed every quarter. One of the companies I am moving paid about 3,200 PLN a year for that. Companies that have moved to me pay at most 450 PLN net a year afterwards, including the care of several mailboxes.

I am not naming names. I am writing about the two largest Polish domain companies. If your domain is with them, you already know who I mean.

They lure you in, then you pay

A bill like this does not grow from one big price rise. At the start you get a bargain, and the real price arrives in the years that follow. Examples from the invoices of companies that come to me:

1. The domain: a few złoty at the start, then 260 PLN, or even almost 300 PLN a year. In the first year the domain costs next to nothing. After that the renewal goes at the full price list, which rises every year. Clients come to me with invoices for 260 PLN for a domain. At the company I am moving now, one .com.pl domain in a "secure domain" package costs 295 PLN a year. At a cheaper registrar, renewing it costs about 53 PLN.
2. A padlock for 370 PLN a year, even though it is free. The padlock and the "https" next to a website address come from an SSL certificate. Today it is free and renews itself, and many providers simply include it. Here they charge for it as if it were gold: 185 PLN every six months, which is 370 PLN a year. On top of that, for a domain that only redirects to the main website and where nobody looks at anything.
3. Paid add-ons on every domain. On the invoice they are called things like Anycast DNS or DNSSEC. They sound serious, but they are technical safeguards that many providers include in the price of the domain. Here you pay for them separately, every year, for every domain. With three domains, that is the same surcharge three times.
4. Bought the domain more cheaply elsewhere? You still pay extra. A domain bought from them comes with handling included. For a domain from elsewhere you pay separately, usually about 100 PLN a year. That is more than the domain itself costs at a cheaper registrar (.pl about 73 PLN) 😳
5. A mail server billed every quarter. An invoice for 460 PLN looks harmless. Over a year it comes to about 1,845 PLN and is the biggest item on the whole bill.

I used to be a customer of a company like that myself. I started at about 400 PLN a year, a few years later I was paying about 1,500 PLN, and I moved out. I took all the registrars' tricks apart separately in how registrars milk you for domains.

What this company paid 3,200 PLN a year for

The company has three domains and a dozen or so mailboxes. The website runs on one domain, the other two only redirect to it. Per year, from the invoices (gross amounts, rounded):

• mail server: about 1,845 PLN,
• three domains with paid add-ons: about 885 PLN (about 180 PLN at a cheaper registrar),
• the padlock next to the website address: about 370 PLN (0 PLN elsewhere),
• handling of a domain bought elsewhere: about 100 PLN.

Altogether about 3,200 PLN a year. All that is really needed here is the email and the domains. The rest are surcharges that many providers do not have at all. I worked out some of the amounts from the price list, because the panel only shows invoices from the last six months.

How to work out your own bill in fifteen minutes

1. Collect your registrar's invoices from the last year. You will find them in the panel, in your email or with your accountant.
2. Convert every item to a yearly figure. A quarterly invoice times four, a six-monthly one times two.
3. Add it up. That is your real yearly cost, not the amount on the last invoice.

On the invoices, look above all for: domain renewals over 100 PLN, a paid SSL certificate, add-ons on every domain, and services nobody uses that keep renewing themselves. More on what should be included in hosting: what you pay for in hosting you do not need.

How to move out without losing a single email

Moving sounds scary, but it can be done so that your customers notice nothing. The most important rule: email first, domains second. A domain can stay with the old registrar for a few more weeks. Lost emails will not come back.

In short, it goes like this:

1. I list everything you have with the old provider: domains, mailboxes and settings.
2. I copy all the emails to a safe place before I switch anything over.
3. I switch the email to the new mailboxes and test every address.
4. I move the domains last. You switch off the old services only once everything works with the new provider.

You usually have one task: click the link in the email that arrives when the domain is being moved. It goes to the address registered with the old provider, so it is worth checking beforehand that you can access it. If someone else once registered the domain, start here: who owns your company's domain.

What it costs with me

For that maximum of 450 PLN net a year you get:

1. Domains registered to your company. You renew them with a cheaper registrar. I do not sell domains and take no margin on them.
2. Email on mailboxes I run myself. When something does not work, you write to me, not to a helpline.
3. The padlock included. Certificates renew themselves and you do not pay a single złoty for them.
4. A move I carry out myself, from the inventory to testing every address.

Your name does not need an expensive home. It needs someone who knows where to click.

Want to know what you really pay? Write to me and send your registrar's invoices from the last year, or just the list of domains and mailboxes. I will work out your yearly bill, tell you what it would come to with me, and plan the move so that not a single email gets lost. I charge nothing for checking.

Frequently asked questions

Will I lose emails during the move? No. I copy every mailbox before I switch anything over, and the emails that still land in the old mailbox on the day of the change, I pull across afterwards.

Will my customers notice a break in email? Usually not. For a few hours some emails still reach the old mailbox and some already reach the new one. Nothing is lost, because the old mailbox keeps working until the move is finished.

Do I have to move everything at once? No. Email usually costs the most, so I start with that. The domains can follow later, ideally a few weeks before they renew.

Is a free padlock worse than a paid one? For an ordinary company website, no. It gives the same padlock and the same "https", and the browser treats it the same way.

Are those add-ons on the invoice a bad thing? No. They are good safeguards. The problem is that many providers include them in the price of the domain, while here you pay for them separately on every domain.

Does moving a domain change its owner? No. The owner stays the same. Only the company that handles the domain changes.