I have received emails telling me my websites have to be renewed by Feb 3, also emails about the increase in prices - apparently this is now $11.99, but on the front page of Dynadot it still says $8.99. I have paid $11.99 for one website www.gailkavanagh.com but apparently this was only for web hosting. I still have to pay again for the domain name. I have two sites, how much do I have to pay overall before Feb 3. I'm thoroughly confused.
The $11.99 renewal is for your one of your web hosting plans. It does not include the renewal of your domain. The cost of a 1-year renewal for a .COM domain is $8.99. So the total cost of renewing both a domain and its web hosting package is $20.98. (This is assuming you are using the smallest web hosting package.)
If you have another domain with its own web hosting package, the total cost for both domains and the 2 web hosting packages is $41.96.
You need both a domain and a web hosting plan to build a website. A domain name is like a mailing address while a web hosting plan provides the actual land space or "lot" at that address. You cannot have one without the other.