The .info domain on my blog was close to expiring, so I went looking for a Godaddy coupon. That was when I found out Godaddy has pretty much shut down the coupon function: almost none of the popular codes floating around online work anymore. I didn't believe it at first. A year or two ago, a quick Google search would turn up pages of usable Godaddy coupons, and I figured the internet was big enough that at least a few would still slip through.
After nearly a month of testing them myself, the result was simple: I couldn't find a working coupon for an .info renewal. I tried one after another, got tired of it, and decided not to burn any more time on a pointless exercise. In the end I renewed the .info domain without a coupon.
One small trick I did notice: if the purchase page shows the amount in USD rather than CNY, paying with Alipay can save a few yuan. It may be because Godaddy and Alipay use slightly different exchange rates.
The renewal cost, for the record:
<table> <thead> <tr> <th>ICANN Fees*</th> <th>$0.18</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Unit Price</td> <td>$10.99</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total cost</td> <td>$11.17</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>Two years ago, with a coupon, I got it for $7.99:
<table> <thead> <tr> <th>ICANN Fees*</th> <th>$0.18</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Unit Price</td> <td>$7.99</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Total cost</td> <td>$8.17</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>Still, the exchange rate is a bit higher than it was a few years back, and Godaddy's free hosting has worked well and stayed stable for me, saving me a fair amount of money.
Running a website really does burn cash, especially for small, unknown site owners. Respect to all the struggling webmasters out there. And if your domain is coming up for renewal, don't wait—go renew it.