While Yahoo share prices are down and news agencies are still talking about a Microsoft takeover, Yahoo has hammered another nail in their coffin by announcing a 350% increase in domain name renewal rates, costing Yahoo customers $34.95 a year. Most current Yahoo customers purchased their domains at huge sale prices (as low as $0.99) for their first year.

Yahoo's decision has not surprisingly been met with anger, with one disgruntled blogger callings it the “The Big Yahoo Domain Rip-Off” repeating the wording of the e-mails Yahoo! are sending round to customers. It does clearly state the fact the price is going up, but also contains the following:

Please note that the billing center will not reflect the new $34.95 domain-renewal price until July 1. Until that time, you will continue to see the old renewal price next to your plan.

Now many disgruntled customers with the recent news are flocking away from the tanking search giant to smaller companies that offer a more personalized and better prices, promising not to exponentially raise prices. Some former customers have already been victims of Yahoo's renewal policy; for example, canceling or stopping automatic renewal of a domain two weeks prior to it's renewal date is against customer terms of service.

While 99 cents to $34.95 maybe a large jump in domain prices, $35 for domain registration is not unheard of. Companies like Network Solutions and Register also charge around $35. Network solutions used to cost around $70 prior, per domain, per year prior to 1999.

Thank you to BlueBallDomains.com, Justin for assistance with this article.