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The .org registry announced it will charge an “excess deletion fee” as of May 26, 2007 in order to slow down domain tasting. The fee will be five cents per deleted domain if the total number of domains deleted within the grace period in a month is greater than 90%.

The 5-day grace period was meant to allow domain registrants to correct mistakes, for example if they accidentally registered a typo domain, but lots of domain investors and registrars have started to make use of the grace period to test potential traffic domains. This so-called domain tasting practice is controversial, because it allows domain registries and investors to register new domains or catch expiring domains that are likely to receive traffic at a minimum cost, not giving smaller domain registrants a chance to get domains they might need for their sites. Therefore, registries have started to look for ways to eliminate domain tasting while retaining the grace period. If the .org registry’s strategy shows positive results it is likely that other registries will use similar strategies and introduce an excess deletion fee too.