18(c) What operating rules will you adopt to eliminate or minimize social costs?

Prototypical answer:

We will have a four part process for the registration of .SHOP domain names.
1. We will have a set of reserved ʺPremiumʺ generic .SHOP domain names that will be reserved for an auction after the other stages are completed.
2. We will have the standard Trademark Clearinghouse process along with a trademark period of registration first.
3. We, then, will have a premium registration where applicants can pay a premium to purchase .SHOP domain names.
4. Open registration, first-come⁄first-served, round robin polling.

By conducting the registration this way, it lessens that load on the system and helps to ensure that the appropriate trademarks are considered. At step four, registration will become first-come⁄first-served.

Cost benefits such as advantageous pricing, introductory discounts and bulk registration discounts will not be offered on the wholesale side; registrars are encouraged to offer these as they see appropriate. Since this TLD will be a premium domain name, there is an opportunity for registrars to define their own mark-up thus increasing their profit per .SHOP domain name.

While domain name registration periods will be offered as required, there are processes that must be verified annually, such as owner verification and usage that may have an impact on the registration process. All processes, including price increases, will be written as required by the Registry Agreement. Any registrations that have been prepaid will not be impacted by the price increases.

We will protect vulnerabilities through SSL. We are dealing with businesses and this information will be made public. We do not accept credit card data. Registrars must wire money as in most Registrar⁄Registry operations.

Transparency in all transactions will be the norm. We will be verifying all owners.

Since our end-price is comparable to other verification process, there should be no negative impact on the end user. We will reserve specific premium names to be sold at auction in the second year of operations. (Antique.SHOP, Toy.SHOP etc.) We are planning on multi-stage application periods. First stage will be for trademark owners. The second stage will be for a premium open registration period. A higher fee will be charged for this round of open registrations. The final stage is open registration whereby domain names will be awarded on a first-come⁄first-served based usinga round robin polling mechanism to allow each registrar equal access to the new .SHOP TLD. See above.

Due to the verification process costs of this domain name, we will not be offering discounts. The verification process will be the highest fee structure in the process, but equivalent to existing structures on the Internet today in costs. The actual domain name registration will be less expensive than the verification process.

$1 per domain name is allocated to a worldwide foundation benefitting e-commerce, education, world health, and feeding the poor initiatives. This amount may be reduced if our projections are significant higher than actual registrations. In this case a proportionate amount pertaining to net profit will be allocated.

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