Usually, if you act quickly. An expired domain can be renewed during a grace period by whoever held it when it expired. For .au names that's 30 days, during which your website and email stop working. For names like .com, the rules come from ICANN and the details vary by registrar. Once the grace period ends, the name is deleted and anyone can register it, so renew today, through the registrar where it was registered.
What's the problem
Your website and maybe your email have stopped working, and the domain shows a registrar's parking page or nothing at all. The renewal reminders went to an old email address, or to the developer who registered it.
Why it happens
- Renewal reminders went somewhere else. To an old address, a former employee, or the developer who set it up.
- Auto-renew failed. The card on file expired, or auto-renew was never on.
- The site goes dark during the grace period. For
.audomains, the website and email stop working as soon as the domain expires, even though it can still be renewed. Registrars of other domains are also required to interrupt the domain once it expires. - After the grace period, it's gone. The name is removed and becomes available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
How to fix it
- Find out where it's registered. Check old invoices and emails, or a WHOIS lookup (for
.au, auDA's lookup), which shows the registrar. - Log in to the registrar and renew it now. If you can't log in, use the registrar's account recovery. For
.au, you can also renew through a different provider during the grace period. - If it was registered in your developer's name, the registrar will deal with them, not you. See my developer registered my domain.
- Once it's renewed, check the website and email come back. They can take a few hours.
- Prevent it happening again: turn on auto-renew, renew for several years, keep the card current, and make sure the contact email is one you'll always read.
- If it's already been deleted and someone else registered it, you can only try to buy it from them, or dispute it if you have a legal right to the name. Get advice.
When to call Preventionlabs
Renewing a domain is between you and your registrar, and it's something you can do today without us. Call us when the domain comes back but the app behind it doesn't, because the hosting lapsed, the server is gone, or nobody knows how it was deployed. A resurrection gets the app running in your own hosting account, and every account we set up is handed over in your control, so renewals reach you.
Submit your project for a free assessmentFree assessment. $10,000 AUD flat to get it live, only if we take it on and you go ahead.
Sources
- auDA: How to renew your .au domain name.au domain administrator
There is a 30 calendar day grace period after your domain name licence expires in which you can renew it through your existing .au domain name provider or via a new provider.
- auDA: How to renew your .au domain name.au domain administrator
You will not be able to use or update your .au domain name during the 30-day grace period after expiry, which means your website and email services will stop working during this time.
- auDA: How to renew your .au domain name.au domain administrator
If you don’t renew your .au domain name within this grace period, your domain name will be removed from the registry at the end of the 30 days and become available to be registered by the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policydomain name policy
Beginning at the time of expiration and through the DNS resolution interruption period described in paragraphs 2.2.2 and 2.2.3, the RAE must be permitted by the registrar to renew the expired registration.