Domain Name Expiring?
SHORT ANSWER: An expired domain is a domain name that’s registration has expired.
LONG ANSWER: Your domain name can be registered to either you, personally, or to a company of your choosing. Domain names are registered for a year at a time. After that, each year, you renew your ownership of that domain name. Domain name renewal costs anywhere from $5 to $15, depending on which domain name registrar you use.
Most domain name registrars give you the option of a multi-year renewal, which saves a few dollars and the headache of renewing every year. Multi-year renewals are a good idea if you have a domain name you are pretty certain you will want for the foreseeable future.
Even if you decide to let go of the website attached to the name, you can always use it for PPC and affiliate ads like the big guys do!
A domain name with an expired registration, meaning no one owns the name at the moment, is known as an “expired” domain name. If you don’t renew your domain names at the end of each year, they become available for purchase on the open market.
Who would allow a good domain name to expire?
- Maybe the domain name wasn’t so good after all!
- Absentminded website owners who simply neglected to renew their domain names;
- Webmasters who got tied up in other ventures or interests;
- Webmasters who discontinued a site due to time constraints;
- Webmasters who ran out of money to continue to operate.
Your domain name registrar should send you several renewal notices prior to the name expiring so you don’t miss renewing a domain name you want. If your email address on file with your domain name registrar is invalid, you will miss your renewal notice!
When a domain name expires nowadays, domain name registrars assume control for up to 6 months afterwards before putting it back on the market. They do this so they can make money on any traffic you may still have finding its way to the name. The page will be filled with PPC ads, all profits going to the registrar. Smart!
Here’s the rub: if you decide you want the name back after it’s expired and the registrar has assumed control of it, the registrar will charge you anywhere from $50 to $150 (those are the prices I’ve seen) to pull that domain name out of limbo and reinstate it to you! (Even a domain name without much traffic might cough up a few pennies over time… even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then!)
The lesson here is, if there is any chance you can use that domain name, make sure your email address is good so you don’t miss your renewal!