| Reseller Help: General Domain Help : Expired Domains | |
| My domain is offline, but WHOIS says it expires next year! Why? | |
| What is the .com and .net Redemption Period? | |
| How do I bring a domain out of REDEMPTION PERIOD status? | |
| What happens when a domain expires? | |
| Once an expired domain has been renewed, how long does it take for the services to begin working again? | |
Q:My domain is offline, but WHOIS says it expires next year! Why? | |
A:WHOIS is a great tool, though it does require some knowledge of how the registration system works between the Registry and the Registrars in order to get a clear picture of the true state of the domain. In this situation, if the domain's status is "REGISTRAR-HOLD", "CLIENTHOLD", "REDEMPTIONPERIOD" or "PENDINGDELETE", the domain has expired. If you look at the anniversary date of the domain it will be sometime within the past 75 days. The reason the date in WHOIS displays next year’s date is because of the way domains are maintained by the central domain Registry when they expire. Once a domain hits its expiration date, the following things happen: - The domain has a "temporary auto renewal" made to it by most Registries, and the Registrar is charged for this renewal. Funds are _not_ taken from the Registrant (owner) of the domain or the Reseller to do this. - The domain is put on Hold (either a CLIENTHOLD or a REGISTRAR-HOLD) by the Registrar in order to take the domain offline and give some indication to the domain owners that a renewal needs to be attended to since it wasn't made before the expiry date - The domain is held for a duration of around 40 days, after which point OpenSRS submits a request to DELETE the domain to the Registry - Rather than delete the domain immediately, the Registry will hold the domain for 30 days in a "Redemption Grace Period" The expiration date may or may not change after the domain enters into the Redemption Grace Period. This depends on what type of domain it is: - COM/NET - expiry date will revert to the original expiry when going into REDEMPTIONPERIOD - ORG/INFO - Expiry date stays the same through the RGP period (one year in advance) - BIZ/US - Date does not advance during the first 45 days | |
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Q:What is the .com and .net Redemption Period? | |
A:The Redemption Period is a 30 day hold period for expired domains which begins once a domain has been expired for 40 days without being renewed by the owner. The REDEMPTION PERIOD provides the owner with one last chance to recover the domain before it’s dropped and potentially re-registered by a new owner. The Redemption process is costly ($80USD), and Registrants should be encouraged to renew domains before expiry or during the grace period when a renewal can be completed for no additional cost. If you have a customer who wants to redeem a domain: In the RWI, click Domain Redemption and complete the Redemption Request Form which authorizes us to charge your Reseller account $80USD for the domain rescue. Note: The domain can only revert back to the original Registrant (original whois information), and it will take approximately 2-3 business days to complete the process. | |
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Q:How do I bring a domain out of REDEMPTION PERIOD status? | |
A:"The Redemption Period is a 30 day hold period for expired domains which begins once a domain has been expired for 40 days without being renewed by the owner. The REDEMPTION PERIOD provides the owner with one last chance to recover the domain before it’s dropped and potentially re-registered by a new owner. The Redemption process is costly ($80USD), and Registrants should be encouraged to renew domains before expiry or during the grace period when a renewal can be completed for no additional cost. If you have a customer who wants to redeem a domain: In the RWI, click Domain Redemption and complete the Redemption Request Form which authorizes us to charge your Reseller account $80USD for the domain rescue. Note: The domain can only revert back to the original Registrant (original whois information), and it will take approximately 2-3 business days to complete the process." If you have any questions about the Redemption period, please feel free to contact your Account Representative or sales@opensrs.org for the Account Management Team. | |
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Q:What happens when a domain expires? | |
A:Expired domains will be held at OpenSRS for a grace period defined by the registry. For .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, .US, .NAME, .CC, and .TV the grace period is 40 days. For .CA it is 30 days. There is no registrant grace period for .CN domains. There are no grace periods for .DE domains. They are deleted on the day after the expiration date. During the grace period all associated services will cease working until the name is renewed (if and when this happens). As well, name server/DNS changes will not be possible. | |
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Q:Once an expired domain has been renewed, how long does it take for the services to begin working again? | |
A:Assuming that the domain DNS and hosts are still in place, the domain will begin working within 48 hours of its renewal. We put the domain back into the root immediately, the delay is caused by propagation out from the root. | |
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