I had a good chat with a GoDaddy support lady.

* It took me about 10 minutes waiting to find a live person (worth the wait)

* The website too feature-rich, so hotline is a much-needed help.

* if we worry about price increase, then we could lock in the price by buying up, say 2 years till Oct 2016. If subsequently we find a lower renewal price (by the current registrar or a competing registrar), we can buy another 3 years, till Oct 2019. Transfer fee may apply, but not same thing as renewal fee.

* brand new domain sales price is much lower than renewal price, but it's irrelevant. Just don't look at that new domain price.

* Currently, I turned on auto-renewal to take place on 17 Oct 2015. The actual renewal price on that day may be lower (lucky) or higher — you can lock in the 2nd year price by buying the 2nd year now, at the current price.