As per the requirement of the registry and as listed in the RRA, there is an application fee (otherwise referred to as the verification fee) that is charged for the registration of 'first category' third level domains for .BH. This fee is in place for .com.bh, .net.bh, .org.bh, edu.bh and is non-refundable.
Unfortunately the registry system is not configured to handle a fixed non-refundable fee as a permanent requirement and this is why these third level .BH domains will always require the launch phase extension as a part of the registration process. More detail on this process can be found here.
In a addition to the limitation mentioned above, we have identified an issue in which the system is charging registrars the registration fee at the pendingCreate stage and then again when the domain is approved in the verification portal by the registry. As we can't decouple these actions altogether and remove the registration fee field during the initial pendingCreate process, we have set this as a 'negative' price point that will be visible to registrars during the initial registration process.
Moving forward, the pricing will appear as following:
- Initial application - as a registrar submitting the initial application, you will be presented with the registration fee and then a line showing a negative price of -$13.27 for the application fee. The total fee charged at this stage will be $26.52 (10 BD). DESPITE the charge in the console saying that it is the registration fee, this is considered as the verification/application fee and is non-refundable.
- Domain approval - when the domain is approved and allocated by the registry, the registrar will be charged $39.78 (15 BD) for the domain registration. If the domain is rejected, no charge will be invoiced for the registration fee.
We understand that this is very confusing and contradictory, but is the best we can do to avoid registrars being charged twice for the same domain registration. Please note that we have set this up on the OTE for registrars to test how the pricing reacts for all first category third level domains (.net.bh, org.bh, com.bh, edu.bh).
Thank you for your understanding!