Do You Know the Lifecycle of Your Domain?

It is important to understand the lifecycle of your domain, so you don't let it "die" and lose your domain.

January 1, 2012: You registered your domain for 1 year with Dynadot.

March 1, 2012: 60 days after the registration, the domain can be transferred to another registrar.

November 1, 2012: Most registrars start sending renewal notices. Dynadot sends out renewal notices starting at 60 days out and again at 30 days, 10 days and 3 days giving you every opportunity to renew before your domain expires. We also offer auto-renewal that can be easily set up in your Dynadot account.

January 1, 2013: Your domain has expired. Most registrars hold the domain, which means your website and email will no longer work. You can still renew your domain at the regular renewal price for the next 30 days during what is called the grace renewal period, but you cannot transfer it unless you renew first.

January 30, 2013: 30 days after a domain has expired, most registrars delete the domain. You can still get your domain back by restoring it, which is more expensive. This is known as the redemption period and lasts for 30 days after the domain is deleted.

March 2, 2013: The 30-day redemption period has lapsed and the domain can no longer be restored. The only way to get the domain back is to wait until it is dropped from the registry at which time anyone can register the domain. Dynadot features a drop catching service that allows us to grab the domain as soon as it's released to the general public for registration. You can search for pending delete domains in our marketplace and place a backorder request. *Please note that there is no guarantee that you will be able to re-register your domain this way. Click on the links above for more information.

March 7, 2013: After 5 days the domain is dropped from the central registry and can now be registered by anyone. If the domain is valuable or has lots of traffic it will be snapped up in seconds.

If you want to keep your domain name, the best policy is to renew early. Remember you don't lose any time by renewing early: a domain expiring January 1, 2013 and renewed on November 1, 2012 will then expire on January 1, 2014. Another easy option is to set up auto renew in your Dynadot account.

We hope this post has helped you understand more about how the domain registration and renewal process works. Visit our help page on the lifecycle of a domain for further reference and then start registering your perfect domain!

*Please note that the lifecycle described above applies to COM & NET domains. ORG, INFO, BIZ, US, & CN domains have a similar lifecycle, but the status names may be different. WS domains do not have a redemption period, and are dropped 25 days after expiration.