It's a great time for Swiss Gandi customers. Not only is the .swiss extension currently in the Sunrise phase (other phases forthcoming) but now for our European customers, Gandi is now accepting payment in Swiss Francs (CHF).

So for your next .swiss or .ch order (or any other order, really), you can select CHF as the currency.

If you already have a prepaid account with Gandi, you'll need to deplete the funds in that account before being able to add CHF value to it.

Following the deregulation of the Swiss Franc (CHF) by the Swiss Central Bank, the exchange rate with other currencies has experienced a major and highly-criticized change (+20%!).

This decision is not without consequences for companies purchasing products from Switzerland. In our case, this effects the extensions operated by the Swiss registry SWITCH which manages the .CH and .LI extensions.

This is why, in accordance with our contract, we are forced to apply an increase of €1.50 excl. VAT per year for .CH domains, as well as an increase of €2 excl. VAT per year for .LI domains in all price rates.

This increase takes effect immediately.

We will be monitoring the exchange rate over the next few weeks, and if it turns out that the currency returns to a more "normal" value, we will adapt our price accordingly.

Additionally, please note that for the first quarter of the year, we are going to be working on the integration of our catalogue into Swiss Francs, so that our Swiss customers are not penalized.

Finally, we want to remind you that simultaneously with this financial issue, the registry, SWITCH, will be totally stopping its activity as a registrar and releasing all the .CH and .LI domains that they administer. Several months ago we started a .CH and .LI transfer campaign to Gandi, accompanied by a promotion. This is still vaid, though updated of course with regards to the current news mentioned above.

As you may know, SWITCH, the Registry in charge of the .CH TLD, is ending its activities as a registrar at the end of the first 2015 trimester.

All holders of a .CH domain name will need to have chosen a new registrar by then.

Whether you're already a Gandi customer or just checking out your options, we've prepared an offer we hope you'll find appealing:

For those who have already chosen Gandi, we're lowering our prices! Renewals (all prices quoted  excl. VAT) have dropped from 14.00€ HT €15.50  in A rates to €12.80  €14.30. New registrations now cost €10,00 HT € 11.50 and transfers are free of charge. (Note that transfers do not alter the expiration date nor the DNS of the domain.)

To sweeten the deal even more, we're offering a promo code for 30% off your first renewal for all .CH domains transferred to Gandi before the end of the yearJanuary, whether you're coming from SWITCH or another registrar. The promo code will appear in your account within 7 days of the transfer and will allow you to renew your domain for  €8.96 € 10.01 until the end of January  until February 15th, 2015.

Still not sure we're the registrar for you? Check out all the features that come free with each domain at Gandi!

Ready to make the switch? Transferring your .CH to Gandi is simple and fast.

First, you just need to get your domain's transfer authorization code.

Once you've done that, you just need to enter the list of domains in the domain transfer form and follow the steps!

UPDATE: as you notice above, the prices have all increased. This is due to the news concerning the Swiss Central Bank. More info on this here.