With the TLD Application System (TAS) for New gTLD applicants still down, ICANN is doing everything it can to keep applicants happy. They have now stated they will offer refunds to applicants who withdraw their application before the “Big Reveal”. This is the day when ICANN will let us all know what New gTLDs have been applied for. This could be the future of domain names , as domain extensions that could be used for years to come begin to appear.

ICANN have said:

"In recognition of the inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of the TLD application system, ICANN will provide a full refund of the application fees paid by any new gTLD applicant that wishes to withdraw its application prior to publication of the list of applied-for new top-level domain names."

This is likely to be the response to a number of comments that the hefty price tag of a New gTLD application should have ensured that “glitches” and “technical issues” were non-existent. However with such a complex application system and so much data being produced from so many different applicants all over the world there is always the likelihood of encountering technical issues. ICANN has previously said that they will use the time that TAS has been down to improve the system to make response times faster for applicants.

ICANN have still not stated when TAS will be back up. ICANN have not said if they have informed applicants if their data was affected by the glitch. They will be disclosing which applicants data may have been seen in the glitch, but not who may have seen the data. This may cause a number of applicants to withdraw as they are concerned for the privacy of their application. However the number of affected applicants is very low. Just 50 applicants may have seen other applicant’s data. In total there are over 1200 applicants.

The domain name industry will be waiting on news regarding the total number of applicants that decide to withdraw now ICANN has offered them a full refund. The future of domain name registration lies with New gTLDs and ICANN has worked hard to ensure the process goes smoothly. However with such a long road, there was bound to be a few bumps along the way!