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Dark patterns
Dark patterns in the domain business.
A domain name is one of the simplest things you can buy online, so why do so many carts make it hard to work out what you’ll pay? We collect the tricks here, with a guide to each one, real examples, and what we do instead.
What is a dark pattern?
A dark pattern is a design choice that steers you into something you didn’t set out to do: paying more, signing up for more, or staying when you meant to leave. UX designer Harry Brignull coined the term in 2010, and his site now calls them deceptive patterns.
They’re rarely lies. The real price is usually on the page somewhere: in grey type, at the end, or in a box you have to open. The trick is in where it goes, and in what you see first.
Domains suit the tricks well. You pay for years, so the first-year price and the renewal price can be very different. You often buy one in a hurry, alongside a new business. And once your website and email depend on the name, leaving takes effort. We sell domains too, so treat this as a seller’s view. We’ve tried to keep it to what anyone can check.
Pattern guides
One guide for each pattern
Each guide shows the pattern in a made-up example, explains why it works on us, and gives you a way to spot it or get around it. We started with the domain business; the last four turn up everywhere online.
Intro pricing
A 99-cent first year, and a renewal you only see in small type. How to add up what the name really costs.
Read the guide → In domain cartsPrices before GST
Every line shown before GST, with the full price only in the order summary, sometimes with a fee beside it.
Read the guide → In domain cartsExtras in the cart
Protection, email and a website builder, switched on, pre-ticked or one bright button away.
Read the guide → In domain cartsFree trials that turn into paid plans
“Free for 3 months” today, and a charge later that can be bigger than the domain itself.
Read the guide → In the domain businessAuto-renew tricks
Switched on for you, charged weeks before you expected, at a price you weren’t shown.
Read the guide → In the domain businessMaking it hard to leave
A transfer code you have to phone for, a fee to leave, and a lock you can’t switch off yourself.
Read the guide → In the domain businessScare emails and fake renewal notices
“FINAL NOTICE” in red, and bill-shaped letters from companies you’ve never dealt with.
Read the guide → Everywhere onlineFake urgency and scarcity
Countdowns that reset, “only 1 left” and “3 other people are looking at this”.
Read the guide → Everywhere onlineConfirmshaming
The decline button that insults you: “No thanks, I don’t mind if my domain gets stolen.”
Read the guide → Everywhere onlineTrick wording
Double negatives and flipped tick boxes that get a “yes” you didn’t mean.
Read the guide → Everywhere onlineFalse notifications
A bell with a red 1 that opens on an ad, and a badge that comes back every time you clear it.
Read the guide →Case files
Patterns we’ve found in a real cart
Each case file takes one real offer through to the checkout button and adds up what it costs. We don’t name the seller: the patterns are common, and the point is how to read the cart.
How much does that $0.01 domain name really cost? The cart it came in could cost $415 a year.
The domain itself: $23.10 inc GST for two years. Add the extras in its cart, an add-on and two free trials, and it’s an estimated $415.03 inc GST in its first year if you cancel nothing.
Read the case file → Case file 2 · 23 October 2026How much does that $0.05 domain name really cost? $48.35 for three years, and $94.38 at checkout once we’d made an account.
The domain itself: $48.35 inc GST for three years. With the add-on that was already switched on, the checkout said $94.38 inc GST, and only after we’d created an account.
Read the case file →The patterns, and what we do instead
Twelve patterns that turn up in domain carts, renewal emails, dashboards and cancel flows. Each one says what we do instead. Most match a written promise on our how it works page; the rest are how our pricing works.
1. Intro pricing
What it looks like: a first year for 99 cents, or one cent, and a renewal price you only see in small type. The headline sells the name; the renewal pays for it, every year you keep it.
What we do: one list price, the same to register and to renew, and the same for new and existing customers. A .com.au is $20 a year inc GST, and renews at $20. If we give out a promo code, it takes money off the payment it’s used on, never off a renewal, so you always know the renewal price.
The full guide: intro pricing →
2. Prices before GST
What it looks like: every line in the cart is shown before GST, and the 10% appears only in the order summary. Sometimes other fees join it there. The total is on the page, but only at the end.
What we do: every price we charge is shown including GST, from the first page you see to the checkout. The price you see is the price you pay.
The full guide: prices before GST →
3. A discount against the seller’s own price
What it looks like: “SAVE 50%” next to a struck-out price. The struck-out price is the seller’s own, so the saving only means something if they really charge that price for that term. Check the full price, and what it renews at.
What we do: one list price, with no struck-out “was” price beside it. Renewals are always charged at the current list price, the same price a new customer pays that day (promo codes never apply to renewals), and if a list price changes, it changes for everyone at the same time.
4. Extras in the cart
What it looks like: you search for one domain, and the cart holds three or four things: privacy, “protection”, an email plan, a website builder. Sometimes they’re added for you, sometimes there’s a pre-ticked box, and sometimes they’re one tempting click away.
What we do: the checkout has the domain. That’s it. No pre-ticked add-ons.
The full guide: extras in the cart →
5. Free trials that turn into paid plans
What it looks like: “Free for 3 months” or “Free until November”, attached to a domain purchase. Nothing is charged today, so it’s easy to forget, and the first paid charge can be bigger than the domain itself.
What we do: we don’t sell trials or website builders. Our optional mailbox renews at its list price with no intro discount, and it doesn’t renew automatically. The pricing page says who we’d use for team email and hosting.
The full guide: free trials that turn paid →
6. Fake countdowns
What it looks like: “Price expires in 4:59”, or “3 other people are looking at this name”. The clock is there to stop you comparing.
What we do: no timers. The price is the price. Take a week to think about it.
The full guide: fake urgency and scarcity →
7. Auto-renew tricks
What it looks like: auto-renew switched on by default, or a renewal charged at a price you weren’t shown, weeks before you expected it.
What we do: auto-renew is off by default and never pre-ticked. If you turn it on, we email you the exact price at least 7 days before we charge. Nothing is charged without that email first.
The full guide: auto-renew tricks →
8. Making it hard to leave
What it looks like: a transfer-out fee, a transfer code you have to phone for, or a retention call before you can go. Easy to get in, hard to get out.
What we do: no transfer-out fee and no retention call. Sign in and reveal your transfer code any time. (Our ad The Breakup is about this one.)
The full guide: making it hard to leave →
9. Scare emails
What it looks like: “FINAL NOTICE” in red, emails dressed up as invoices, letters in the post. Some come from your own provider; some come from companies you’ve never dealt with. Our guide to domain renewal scams covers the second kind.
What we do: plain-text reminders 30, 7 and 1 day before expiry, which stop as soon as you renew. No fake invoices. Never paper letters.
The full guide: scare emails and fake renewal notices →
10. The cancel-flow gauntlet
What it looks like: turning something off takes five screens, each with a reason to stay and a button that says “No, I don’t care about my business”. A smaller version turns up in carts: remove an extra and a warning asks if you’re sure, with the option to keep it as the filled, coloured button. Case file 1 has one.
What we do: turning auto-renew off is one click in your dashboard. Letting a domain go takes no action at all, and we stop emailing after it expires.
The full guide: confirmshaming, the “are you sure?” screens →
11. An account before the full price
What it looks like: the cart shows a subtotal that “does not include applicable taxes and fees”, and the full price only appears after you’ve created an account and agreed to terms. By then you’ve handed over an email address and you’re halfway through. Case file 2 has one.
What we do: our cart shows the total, inc GST, before you sign in or create anything.
12. False notifications
What it looks like: a bell with a red 1 on it, or “Action required: your domain is unprotected”, and behind it an upgrade offer. Often there’s no close button, only “buy” and “remind me later”, so the 1 is back next time you sign in.
What we do: no bell, no badges, no red dots. Your dashboard lists your domains with their expiry dates and settings. If something really needs doing, we email you and say what and why.
The full guide: false notifications →
Spotted one?
If a domain cart, renewal email or cancel flow has tricked you, or nearly did, send us a screenshot. We’ll check the sums and may write it up as a case file, without your name or the seller’s. Please crop out your name, address and card details first.
Prefer to see the hoops in action? We’ve built free browser games on these patterns, like Just the Domain, Please, a two-minute checkout where you buy one domain and nothing else, and Jack’s Renewal Run. See all our games. And our ads take on a few of them in 40 seconds or less each.
Our prices and promises last checked: .