After a long period recently of being unable to contact the mail servers on a domain I own(ed), it suddenly occurred to me that the worst had happened: the domain had expired without warning*, and sitting in its place was one of those awful 'holder' pages with a generic search engine embedded into it.

However, I thought I might be OK. The domain was well within the 30-day 'grace' period, so surely all I had to do was go and re-order it... after all, my information was (and still is) in the WHOIS database. In fact, using Namecheap's (the domain's registrar) 'transfer' system, it looked like I might be able to just transfer the domain back into my account... except that it was in regsistar-lock mode. And of course, being expired I can't now change the WHOIS information to unlock it.

I'm a bit confused. What happened to the 30-day 'grace' period? And shouldn't the domain now be in either registrar-hold or pendingdelete mode? Should I just wait until the 30 days are up and hope nobody else is interested in buying up the domain?


(*Allow me to admit straight away that this situation is mostly my fault, for failing to update the WHOIS information for my domain. Specifically, the email address: I had indeed received many warnings, but delivered to an email address which I now check only very rarely. Oops.)

Might want to read up on this grace period thing:

http://www.afilias.info/faqs/rgp

One of the first links I found on google.com

You should just contact the domain registrar for that domain and ask them about it. You might have to pay for them to restore the domain.

Yes, it's your fault not to check message at the Admin Contact e-mail address. But don't worry, you will have your share of registry-level RGP (Redemption Grace Period). Usually, with most decent registrars, you will have an extra 30 - 40 days registrar-level grace period before you need to pay extra recovery fee. If you don't mind, what is the expiry date?

Originally posted by alpHOHOHO

You should just contact the domain registrar for that domain and ask them about it. You might have to pay for them to restore the domain. Hence why I am considering just letting it slide until it goes back to the public domain, and then paying the cheaper (riskier) fee.

Originally posted by nameslave
But don't worry, you will have your share of registry-level RGP (Redemption Grace Period). Usually, with most decent registrars, you will have an extra 30 - 40 days registrar-level grace period before you need to pay extra recovery fee. If you don't mind, what is the expiry date? This is just it. I didn't get a grace period. The domain expired on December 15th, but it's still in registrar-lock with all my information.

I hope I don't sound like I'm ranting - I'm not angry at anybody (apart from myself for being so forgetful), I'm just confused because the system doesn't seem to be working in the way I thought it did.

Who's the registrar or reseller?

If the domain name indeed expired, it's up to the registrar to keep
it or kill it within 1-45 days. ICANN's site doesn't give any minimum
grace period time, only a max.

If the name's indeed expired but still on registrar lock, what are
its WHOIS details saying, if any? What does the Registry say what
its status is?

During the renewal grace period, some registrars (eNom, Dotster) change the nameservers to their own instead of putting it on REGISTRAR-HOLD, to show a "domain expired" page (with advertising). You will not be able to transfer the domain to another registrar, contact your current registrar/reseller to renew.

godaddy, too. they forwarded a recently expired name of mine to their site.

godaddy allows 30 days after expiry for you to renew then another 45 days grace period where u can buy it for around 90$ or 80 redemption fee
Netsol would charge around 150$ and so on , why dont u contact your registrar to determine the fee ?

Originally posted by TACD
This is just it. I didn't get a grace period. The domain expired on December 15th ...
Like I said, you will get your RGP, it's a registrar-level, ICANN enforced thing. Moreover, eNom (which NameCheap resells for) usually renders their own registrar-level grace period. You'll need to contact their support to sort things out. But most decent registrars would actually contact you immediately after expiry: they still want you to renew it with them.

Originally posted by nameslave

Like I said, you will get your RGP, it's a registrar-level, ICANN enforced thing. Moreover, eNom (which NameCheap resells for) usually renders their own registrar-level grace period. You'll need to contact their support to sort things out. But most decent registrars would actually contact you immediately after expiry: they still want you to renew it with them. If I did get one, it must have lasted for less than a week. The WHOIS information has been updated today; the expiry date is now set for December next year, although the contact information is still mine.

I guess I will try emailing Namecheap - if they're not willing to sell the domain back to me (at a reasonable price, I don't care about it that much) then I would at least like the WHOIS information for the domain to not contain my personal information.

Thanks everybody, and merry Christmas! :)

Sorry for not stating it clearer, but your domain is probably still in their registrar-level grace period. Expired domains are usually automatically renewed at the registry level UPON expiry.

Originally posted by nameslave

Sorry for not stating it clearer, but your domain is probably still in their registrar-level grace period. Expired domains are usually automatically renewed at the registry level UPON expiry. I think you might be right - I just found out how to renew my domain (it wasn't obvious). Hooray! :clap:

(For other potentially confused Namecheap users: Log in to your account, and enter your domain in the field just under 'Quickly manage one of your domains'. You should get a screen with 'This domain has expired' or something similar in big red text, and on the right is a yellow dropdown box titled 'More Options'. In there, click 'Extend Domain Registration' and go through the checkout procedure, and you're back in business!)

As an aside, does anybody know what is preventing Namecheap from being an officially accredited reseller?

Originally posted by TACD


As an aside, does anybody know what is preventing Namecheap from being an officially accredited reseller? [/B]

I think you mean icann accredited registrar not accredited reseller