Domain Name Registration > Registering and Renewing Domain names

What happens when my domain registration expires?

If your domain registration expires, we—the domain registrar—attempt to automatically renew it for you. If that fails, we send you up to three expiration notifications by email. Following the third and final auto-renewal attempt—12 days after the domain registration has expired—the domain enters a redemption period, during which you may retrieve your domain name for an additional fee and renew it by contacting customer support. The redemption period lasts 30 days.

One week into the redemption period, the expired domain—assuming that its registration has not been renewed—is placed into a 10-day domain auction, allowing prospective registrants to bid on the domain. The winner of the auction obtains the domain registration ownership two weeks after the auction end date if the original owner fails to renew the domain by the end of the redemption period.

Once the redemption period ends—and the domain has neither been renewed nor obtained through auction or backordering—the domain is deleted at the registry. The domain name re-enters the public pool of available domains, and it is no longer redeemable.