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Your website and name online
Domain and website basics: who owns your web address, and when it renews
Your domain is your web address, such as yourbusiness.com. It is rented, not bought once, and the renewal is easy to forget. Here is what ICANN, the body that oversees domain names, says about renewals and what you can check.
What ICANN says
Your registrar handles renewals
The company you registered the domain with, or its reseller, handles renewals, cancellations and refunds. ICANN says that if you do not know who your registrar is, you can search for it at whois.icann.org.
Reminders go to your contact details
ICANN says registrars must send two renewal reminders, about one month and one week before expiration, and a notice within five days after. Those go to the contact details on file, so out-of-date details can mean missed reminders.
Keep your details accurate
Domain owners are expected to give accurate contact details and to correct them promptly when they change. ICANN's summary says intentionally giving inaccurate details, or not answering a registrar's accuracy inquiry within fifteen days, can lead to the registration being cancelled.
If a domain expires
ICANN describes a timeline after expiration. Your registrar may delete the domain, which starts a 30 day redemption period. During it the domain can be redeemed or renewed, which may involve a redemption fee. If it is not restored, it enters a 5 day pending delete stage, and then the name is released and anyone can register it first come, first served.
ICANN also says you have the right to transfer an expired domain, and that your registrar must restore it first if it is in the redemption period.
What you can check today
- Find out who your registrar is. Look through your email for receipts or reminders about the domain, or search for it at whois.icann.org as ICANN suggests.
- Sign in and look at the expiration date. Confirm the date and whether auto-renew is on. Check the payment method on file has not expired.
- Check the contact email and phone. Make sure reminders reach an inbox you read. If the domain was set up by someone else, such as a web designer, confirm the account is in your name.
- Write the date down. Put the renewal date somewhere you will see it, like a calendar.
If something went wrong
Complaints about renewals
ICANN lists a Domain Renewal Complaint Form for cases such as not receiving reminders, a renewed domain that does not work, or not being able to redeem a domain during the grace period. It says to allow 3 to 5 business days for a response. For a payment that did not result in a renewal, ICANN's page suggests consulting an attorney or a consumer protection agency, and says this is not legal advice.
What ICANN's pages do not say
- How much a domain should cost, or what a redemption fee is. Fees are set by each registrar.
- How long your particular registrar waits before deleting an expired domain.
- How to set up a website or email on a domain. That depends on the companies you use.
Your registrar's help pages are the place to ask about those.
Not sure which website points to your business? A Signals check shows the website that public sources point to, and tests it, so you can see whether it is the one you expect.
Check a business