Registrar explains its expiration notification policy.
A lot of times domain name registrars get the blame when their customers forget to renew domain names. “I didn’t get the notice” is a common line.
Of course, you can easily say the opposite. Really, how many emails does GoDaddy need to send me about my expiring domain names? It may seem like they trip all over themselves to get you to renew domain names. And that’s exactly the point.
In the wake South African Airways forgetting to renew its domain name, Network Solutions has penned a blog post about why it pesters customers to renew. It explains its notifications:
We start sending domain renewal notices 75 days from the expiration date, then again on day 45, day 20 and day 10. If we get a bounce back from the email address that’s on file on day 20, then we send a written notice to the registrant’s physical address on file.
Sending postal mail based on a bounce back is great — and something most registrars don’t do.
In the case of South African Airways, it appears their outsourced technical team was actually the group to drop the ball. The email address in whois is dns(at)itnt.co.za, which is a South African web company.
ICANN has been looking into how domain names expire. My message has always been that more notifications to registrants aren’t necessary. The reason valuable domain names expire is because the registrant has incorrect contact information. More bounced emails won’t solve that problem.
Shashi Bellamkonda says
Thanks for the post, you are right updating contact info is the best way to prevent any expiry.
Thanks,
Shashi
Simon Pearce says
Sending postal mail is impractical. We manage thousands of domains, most operating at a very low profit margin. It would be even lower if we started mailing out reminders!
Andrew Allemann says
@ Simon – I wouldn’t expect all registrars to send out postal mail.
But you can also look at postal mail as part of your overall marketing strategy. GoDaddy sends some paper renewal notices, and I assure you they’re looking to do more than just get you to renew your domains.
Ms Domainer says
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I have no complaints about the notifications that I get from my registrars.
I’ll never complain about getting too many notifications–better too many than none at all. For the valuable domains, I leave on automatic renewal. Why take the risk?
😉
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Belmassio says
All those notifications look like junk mail. No wonder nobody ever opens them, and if they do it is a month after they arrived and they are standing over the trash can.
Domains get no respect although it is the lifeline.
John Berryhill says
Andrew is correct that a great deal of inadvertent expirations probably arise from incorrect WHOIS data. As a name proceeds towards its demise, several registrars will point the name to a renewal notification page. If the registrant is not answering email, then a failure of the domain name to resolve to a web page will certainly get the notice of someone expecting that page to operate.
Belmassio raises a good point. Even some of the email notifications will look like spam to some user’s systems. This is particularly true of registrars whose renewal notifications are in HTML format, include remote graphics, and/or include “upsells” for other services. The more a renewal notice looks like a commercial offer, the more likely it is to be lunch for the spam eater. I would guess a fair number of renewal notices are simply identified as spam.
The “more the merrier” approach to renewal emails increases the spamminess factor, as does the use of the admin contact email address by the registrar to send other marketing communications not directly related to maintenance of the domain name itself.
chandan says
godaddy renewal notices are nothing but the crappy ads