Also called auto renewal · automatic renewal
Auto-renew, explained
Registrars attempt the charge on their own schedule, typically in the days or weeks before expiry, and ICANN requires them to send reminders about a month and a week before a gTLD name expires. A separate registry-level auto-renew also exists: for .com, a name not renewed by its expiration date is renewed by the registry the next day, and the registrar has 45 days to delete it for a credit. That is why a registry lookup can show an expiry date a year ahead even though the owner has not paid.
A common way to lose a valuable name is a failed charge: an expired card, a closed account or a contact email nobody reads. Keep a backup payment method and a current email on the account. For names you plan to drop, switch auto-renew off before the charge date. Auto-renew suits core names; review the rest once a year instead of letting every name renew by default.
Example. Auto-renew failed on an expired card, and the investor noticed only when the registrar's post-expiry notice arrived.
Go deeper Expired Domains and Drop Catching: How the Domain Lifecycle Works
Free to read, no signup. The list is for news of the course itself.
Join the waitlistSources
Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.
