Domain Expiry: Keep Your Domain From Lapsing
A domain is rented, not owned. Registrations run for one to ten years at a time, and if nobody renews in time, the domain stops working: the website goes dark, and so does every email address on it. It happens to large companies too, usually because the renewal card expired or the person who registered the domain left.
What happens after the expiry date
The exact rules depend on the domain ending and the registrar, but for most generic domains
(.com, .net, .org) the sequence looks like this:
| Stage | Typical length | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Expired | day 0 | The registrar may stop DNS: site and email go offline, sometimes replaced by a parking page |
| Renewal grace | up to ~45 days | You can still renew at the normal price |
| Redemption period | 30 days | You can get it back, but with a restore fee that is often far higher than a renewal |
| Pending delete | 5 days | Nothing can be done |
| Released | after that | Anyone can register it, including people who buy expired domains for their traffic |
Country domains such as .com.tr, .de or .uk have their own rules, and some have much shorter
windows. Don’t count on a grace period.
Losing a domain that has been in use for years is worse than downtime. Whoever registers it next can receive email meant for you, including password reset links for accounts registered with that address.
What we check
We read the expiry date from the domain registry’s public RDAP service, the modern replacement for WHOIS. We only read dates and the registrar’s name, never the owner’s contact details.
| Days until expiry | Result |
|---|---|
| 30 or more | Pass |
| 14 to 29 | Needs attention |
| fewer than 14 | Fails |
Some registries don’t publish RDAP data (several country domains among them). In that case we can’t tell, and the check doesn’t count toward the score.
The date shown is when the current registration ends. If auto-renew is on, your registrar will usually renew a few days to a few weeks before it, so a date that is close isn’t always a problem. It is a reminder to make sure auto-renew really is on.
How to make sure it never lapses
- Turn on auto-renew at your registrar.
- Keep the payment method current. An expired card is the most common reason auto-renew fails.
- Use a shared or role address (such as
domains@yourcompany.com, delivered to more than one person) as the registrar account email, not a personal one. Renewal reminders go there. - Make sure that address isn’t on the same domain, or have a second contact outside it: if the domain lapses, mail to it stops too, including the registrar’s final warnings.
- Renew for several years for important domains. Most registries allow up to ten.
- Write down where each domain is registered and who has the login. Domains are often lost because nobody remembers which registrar holds them.
Also turn on the registrar lock (transfer lock) and two-factor authentication on the registrar account. A stolen registrar login is as damaging as an expired domain.
A PerfoMetrix scan shows the expiry date in Site Profile, so a quick scan now and then doubles as a check that the renewal really happened.