Domains do not “live” forever.
If you do not renew them they expire, which means that you can no longer use them and someone else may use them.
A working group within ICANN, which is the organisation that “looks after” domains, such as .com, .net and .mobi, is currently looking into whether the current way domain expiry is handled is “ok”.
NB: ICANN can only make policy regarding the extensions it controls ie. com/net/org/info/biz/mobi/tel/pro/travel/museum/coop/aero/name. ICANN has nothing to do with .eu, .co.uk or .ie.
Basically the group, of which I am but one of the members, has been tasked with getting answers to a few particular questions:
- Whether adequate opportunity exists for registrants to redeem their expired domain names;
- Whether expiration-related provisions in typical registration agreements are clear and conspicuous enough;
- Whether adequate notice exists to alert registrants of upcoming expirations;
- Whether additional measures need to be implemented to indicate that once a domain name enters the Auto-Renew Grace Period, it has expired (e.g., hold status, a notice on the site with a link to information on how to renew, or other options to be determined);
- Whether to allow the transfer of a domain name during the Redemption Grace Period (RGP).
If you have an opinion please please please share it with the working group, as without the public’s participation we have no way of knowing what people actually think, nor do we have any way of knowing about their experiences.
Email: pednr-wg-questions@icann.org – you’ll get an automated email within a couple of minutes asking you to confirm your submission, so please make sure that you confirm.
Where can I find out more?
There’s more information about the comment period on the ICANN site
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I have to admit that this post has made me go into a bit of a panic… I had just assumed that when a domain is due to expire, it was re-registered automatically, or at least that I would be definitely given notification of expiry. Now I realize I need to do some work to ensure everything is in order. But I certainly don’t think the amount of info I have been provided with is enough here.
Patrycjuz
Most registrars would notify registrants of renewal dates etc., or at least try to. However I can only speak of what we do or what the registrars I’ve personally dealt with in the past do.
So if your experience has been different please do share
Michele
I have found that generally you cannot NOT be aware that your Domain is expiring as you receive a multitude of reminders to continue your registration. In most cases with the various domains I have the credit card information remains valid until expiry of the credit card and I often only receive notification that very shortly the domain will be renewed. Of course when the card has expired then I am required to take additional action.