Best way to jump-start an expired domain name?

June 20, 2004 9:32 AM

Best way to jump-start an expired domain name?

So my fly-by-night domain company didn't tell me my site name was about to expire. Finding it full of generic travel and gambling ads, I filled out a "renewal" form last night, charged my credit card $10 and am still waiting for it to come back. The domain co doesn't provide much info.

So far I just see that it's gone from gambling ads to not resolving at all. Whois tells me that it's "locked." Do you think I have to wait until some human comes into their office Monday, or is this something that will resolve soon?

posted by inksyndicate to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Well, this is why you shouldn't use fly-by-night domain companies, and should keep track of when your domains are going to expire yourself instead of waiting for someone to send you an email.

You might get your domain back, you might not. I don't think there's very much you can do about it at this point.
posted by reklaw at 9:44 AM on June 20, 2004

I'm not looking for FingerWaggingFIlter here. I'm curious what the actual process is by which a domain gets revived, and how automated it is.

I was exaggerating when I called it "fly-by-night."
posted by inksyndicate at 10:43 AM on June 20, 2004

Did you lock it? When was the expiration date? There is usually a redemption grace period of around 30-35 days.
posted by anathema at 11:01 AM on June 20, 2004

What does whois say other than that it's locked? Is there any information for a registrant? If that shows anyone other than you, there could be trouble ahead. How about for a registrar? If it shows your domain company, that might indicate that you'll get it back once you get their attention.
posted by Zonker at 12:52 PM on June 20, 2004

I would check the whois. If it's you listed and it's a valid email address, I would do a transfer to a better regitrar (I recommend godaddy.com). The transfer will cost you $7 and you'll get to the end of the term with your current registrar plus one year. (So if you just renewed that will give you till june 2005 and then the transfer will make it June 2006).

When you transfer, it should automagically email you at the whois contact info with a "click to confirm" type link. When you've done that, it'll be at godaddy and "on". However, if indeed the domain is locked at your current registrar, you may have to go in with your current password and unlock it.

If you can't be bothered transfering, I do not believe the Lock element is important regarding renewal--it's only relevant when changing ownership or registrar, so technically that should affect the renewal you already did.

However, if the whois says it's not you, you're probably fucked (and I would assume that this is indeed the case if you're seeing banner ads on your site name). As anathema mentioned, you usually have a max of aboout 45 days beyond the expiration date to renew--after that it goes back in the hat and anyone can renew and if the name is anything decent, it'll be gone pronto.

As for the "does it have to be done manually at the registrar", I sure as hell hope not but I guess that depends on the outfit.

Sorry for the babbling.
posted by dobbs at 6:12 PM on June 20, 2004

I would do a transfer to a better regitrar (I recommend godaddy.com).

FWIW, the same thing happened to me with godaddy.com. (Not that I'm blaming them it was my fault, I should've tracked my expirations dates more closely.)
posted by IshmaelGraves at 9:57 PM on June 20, 2004

I have a couple of domains registered through active-domain.com. I forgot about one (home to my primary email address, no less) and found it pointing to some generic ad-ridden page.

The whois said it was registrar-locked, and mentioned a company I had never heard of before. I figured that was the end of it, but I contacted them anyways in case there was something they could do.

Apparently their policy is to place these "registrar locks" on domains so they can't be taken because a person forgets to renew. The other company was their parent company or something, I'm not quite sure. Basically they were holding it for me.

Anyways, their policy is that you pay an extra $10 to reactivate the domain if you let it expire, so it really is in their best interest to hold on to it. They always charge more for new registrations than renewals, and they'd miss out on that $10 reactivation fee.

So the point is it really is in their best interest to give you a bit of a grace period. I paid my money up front like you did, seeing it was "locked" and assuming all was lost. I was plesantly surprised. Hopefully they're holding it for you as well.

(Oh, and they tried to tell me my domain had expired, but I hadn't updated my email address. Not their fault at all.)
posted by mragreeable at 10:05 PM on June 20, 2004

FWIW, the same thing happened to me with godaddy.com.

i thought godaddy sent you reminders?

also, ink: what was the name of the fly-by-night domain co, just out of curiousity?
posted by bob sarabia at 10:17 PM on June 20, 2004

Usually the reason that you get the ad-ridden page is that the company has bought your domain and is now the legal owner. As I understand it, they hope to recover the $7 through ads and the occasional person who'll pay a premium to get their domain back. I host several thousand domains for people, and although they do get automated reminders, if they haven't confirmed what they want to do a few days before, I'll phone them up and ask. You get what you pay for.
posted by quiet at 2:52 AM on June 21, 2004