20:24 Your Question: Unable to renew luket.io, you're asking for $200, yet .io registrar doesn't mention this?
20:24 Please wait, an operator will be with you shortly.
20:24 You are now chatting with Eugenia Lysenko - Domains Support
20:25 Eugenia Lysenko: Hello Luke, you've contacted Live Support! Please give me a minute to look through the question you asked.
20:29 Eugenia Lysenko: I'm sorry for keeping you waiting; I'm back with you now.
20:32 Eugenia Lysenko: The domain with .io extension must be renewed a minimum of 12 days prior to the expiration date. Anything not renewed by this time will go into a redemption status and, if recoverable, will include an extra fee for recovery.
20:33 Luke Thompson: Well, how come from what I can see, you're the only registrar that does this. considering companies such as Gandi, and even nic.io's renew policy don't mention such a fee.
20:35 Eugenia Lysenko: We cannot but agree that redemption fee is very expensive. It is set by the Registry that is why there not much we can do to waive it.
20:35 Luke Thompson: The registry doesn't even mention it?http://www.nic.io/renewpolicy.html
20:37 Eugenia Lysenko: Unfortunately it is not up to me to change the policy.
20:37 Eugenia Lysenko: I understand the inconvenience that you are facing.
20:37 Eugenia Lysenko: We highly recommend that you take all possible precautions in order not to miss the expiration of your domain. If your domain is already in Redemption Period and you do not want to pay the fee, you may wait until it is released by the Registry into public pool (normally domains get released in about 80-120 days after the expiration) or backorder your domain using any backordering service (we recommend Namejet.com for this purpose).

20:38 Luke Thompson: According to whois, it's not in redemption, and the domain hasn't even expired. It doesn't expire to the 2nd of next month
20:38 Luke Thompson: until*
20:42 Eugenia Lysenko: Luke, I am very sorry that you have to go through all this trouble.
20:42 Eugenia Lysenko: Please use Auto-Renew option to avoid such inconveniences in future.
20:44 Luke Thompson: Where is this charge coming from? the NIC isn't asking for it, so from what I can tell you're the ones trying to get $200 out of me
20:48 Eugenia Lysenko: The price is set by our upstream Registrar and domain Registry.

20:49 Luke Thompson: The domain registry, nic.io doesn't mention this.
20:52 Eugenia Lysenko: Luke, once again I am very sorry for this issue that you are going through. Partly, it is our Upstream provider's policy and partly Registry's.
20:53 Eugenia Lysenko: I wish I could waive it for you, but there is not much I can do. Kindly set auto-renew option to avoid such issues in future.
20:54 Luke Thompson: who is your "upstream" provider?
20:54 Eugenia Lysenko: ENOM is our Upstream Provider.
20:58 Luke Thompson: considering others use enom, and don't have this policy , I strongly doubt this is the case, and it's more you making up for the loss on initial .io sales.
21:03 Eugenia Lysenko: We want to apologize for all the troubles and inconveniences you experience at the moment. Kindly be informed that before this state there were renewal notifications sent to Administrative e-mail address.
21:05 Luke Thompson: I understand this, but with every other provider, you don't stop me renewing a domain I CURRENTLY own, and am still in ownership of. the .IO renewal policy states I can renew it for up until the expiry date.
21:08 Eugenia Lysenko: I understand that this has caused you considerable inconvenience and I am sorry about it.
21:10 Luke Thompson: Name.com uses ENOM, they don't have this policy for IOs. I'm failing to understand how you as a company can see this is fine and act like it's set by upstream/registries
21:13 Eugenia Lysenko: I am not authorized in Name.com policies and restrictions. I only know what our Upstream Provider sets for our company. It is the policy and it is mentioned in the Registration agreement.
21:15 Eugenia Lysenko: If you do not want to pay the fee, you may wait until it is released by the Registry into public pool or backorder your domain using any backordering service.
21:20 Luke Thompson: That's no even an option, important e-mails go via this domain. Being a student, I don't even have $200 lying around.
21:20 Luke Thompson: Don't expect me to be a returning customer.
21:21 Luke Thompson: as policies such as this are quite frankly, stupid.
21:24 Eugenia Lysenko: I cannot but agree that redemption fee is very expensive.
21:24 Eugenia Lysenko: Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconveniences you are experiencing.
21:30 Eugenia Lysenko: Luke, I understand that this has caused you considerable inconvenience and I wish I could change the situation somehow, but unfortunately I am not responsible in this matter.```