Registrar will charge a fee if you renew domains in the last ten days of the grace period.
Uniregistry sent a notice to customers today informing them that it has updated its Terms of Service, including adding a “late renewal” fee for domains renewed toward the end of the grace period.
The fee applies to domains registered during the final ten days of the 40 day grace period after a domain expires.
Uniregistry says it’s making this move in response to customers trying to renew at the last minute and missing the deadline:
We have observed a small number of incidents where some customers delay renewing their domain names until the last possible moment, as an expense management technique. While customers are entitled to manage their payment practices as they see fit, this practice has consumed an inordinate amount of customer support time and expense when customers fail to appropriately time these late renewals. In order to dis-incentivize this practice, we have instituted a nominal “late renewal” fee, which we hope will allow us to maintain lower costs for all of our customers.
The email notice doesn’t link to the actual terms of service, but the new language is in section 2.13.
It’s unclear how much the late renewal fee is. The Terms refer to Uniregistry’s pricing page, which does not currently list a late renewal fee. Presumably, it will be less than the $50 restore fee for .com domains. [Update: it will be $10 when it is imposed.]
There are two benefits to waiting to renew a domain. First, depending on how the registrar auctions expired domains, it could give you some intel into the domain’s demand. Second, it postpones the renewal expense.
But I’ve never really understood the expense management side of this. You effectively get 30-40 days of “free registration” but only one time. During this time, your domains will point to registrar default servers so your for-sale landers will not appear. If you really need this extra grace period, you should probably re-evaluate your finances.
Mike says
That will lose them a lot of business then.
Andrew Allemann says
Do you wait to renew until 30 days after expiration? I’m trying to understand more about why people do this.
John says
Speaking for myself, it’s about taking the extra time to decide whether to keep and renew or not, whether it’s 15 days, 18 days, or 30 days. You may be inclined to dump a domain, only to change your mind or have something come up which gives a new perspective. I only recently started renewing much earlier that I’m not actually using. I’ve just gotten rid of close to 1,000 that way. In the meantime, I’ve also acquired 100’s new.
And consider this: I’m definitely a user first, “domainer” second. My business model involves using many domains, the kind of number you would assume only sellers tend to have. My sales related activity or interest is not the main concern though it sometimes factors in as well.
mike says
I got this email, it had no actionable date, nor how much the fee was.
It would be nice to get to include such details if you are changing your TOS.
So Uni salesman called, and emailed say bring your business over to us, then they institute a monthly discount fee which penalizes you based on the higher value of you business, now once again they are changing the rules again in shortening their grace period, and instituting another late fee, on top of a $50 restorable fee they already charge.
It basically comes down to cash management, if a domain is renewed they get their money back, if a customer uses a longer grace period they have to put a deposit down, and get that money back if it is not renewed.
I guess GTLD’s were a bust, and once again customers are being expected to pay the brunt of this.
As stated above, they will lose a lot of business once again.
mike says
Another thing is this statement:
We have observed a small number of incidents where some customers delay renewing their domain names until the last possible moment, as an expense management technique. While customers are entitled to manage their payment practices as they see fit, this practice has consumed an inordinate amount of customer support time and expense when customers fail to appropriately time these late renewals. In order to dis-incentivize this practice, we have instituted a nominal “late renewal” fee, which we hope will allow us to maintain lower costs for all of our customers.
—> customers would pay a $50 restorable fee in such case, so I guess if they pay their employees $25 an hour, they could budget 15 minutes for such issue
Andrew Allemann says
This is different from the Restoration fee. But unless your domain goes through the auction with no bidders, you’re not going to get to the Restoration fee phase.
mike says
It’s a pure profit move, dyandot did the same thing a few months back, they are just copying them.
mike says
What auction, are they instituting auctions, maybe they should and keep fees down instead of letting companies like dropcatch, namejet make the money?
Andrew Allemann says
They auction expired domains at Dynadot.
mike says
It looks like that stream stopped about just over a week ago.
Andrew Allemann says
I see lots of Uni expired domains on Dynadot auctions right now.
mike says
Your right there back, they did lapse last week for a period of a few days.
Yi Sen says
This is obviously blatant marketing bullshit.
And they know it.
There is already a redemption period for this type of incident.
It is extremely surprising and disappointing if Frank authorised this.
Can anyone suggest alternative companies?
Andrew Allemann says
Redemption fee is very different. That’s doesn’t kick in until later.
mike says
Epik has been getting a lot of business based on their leasing, and easy payment channels, but they have a 15 day grace which kind of sucks, godaddy is 18 days, I believe name and namecheap are about 25 days, so namesilo is around 30 days, dynadot is also 30 days.
Andrew Allemann says
Uni is 40 days according to its TOS, but not effectively 30 if you don’t want to pay an additional $10.
mike says
Yes, which was a major selling point when they started out to get many large domainer based portfolios over there.
Rob Monster says
Epik has a standard grace period of 15 days.
Upon request, it can be extended to 35 days.
Customers who have liquidity issues have a few other options at Epik:
– We can help them sell domains.
– We can extend an interest-free loan.
– We can escrow a domain for up to a year.
– We can co-sell domains, where we fund the renewal and share proceeds.
Anyway, lots of options for folks who are navigating short-term liquidity challenges where they are domain-rich but cash-poor.
As for milking the grace periods, nobody really wins there. It is a band aid on the wound. It is much better to step back and do a strategic review.
snoopy1267 says
“Epik has a standard grace period of 15 days.”
That sounds far worse. Why are you injecting your sales pitch here?
Rob Monster - Epik.com says
If you trace the thread, you see that it was a specific response to mike’s comment at October 29, 2019 at 12:23 pm.
As for the content of the comment, I was addressing the root problem of domainer liquidity as I know a few domainers. 🙂
Most people don’t abuse grace periods for fun. They do it because they are being forced to cut bait on inventory.
For people who have plenty of liqudity, most will simply decide not what to renew, and leave it at that.
There are a few folks who think they will get offers towards the very end of the grace period. I am not sure the data bears that out.
So, my point is that if folks are dumping good domains, it might good to solve the root issue rather than beggar-the-registrar.
mike says
You two Washington boys should be nicer to each other lol
John Berryhill says
“Epik has a standard grace period of 15 days.
Upon request, it can be extended to 35 days.”
But that’s not what the Epik terms of service actually says.
Epik, like most registrars, does not promise that anyone will have any post-expiration renewal opportunity.
The terms of service actually say that Epik takes no responsibility at all for what happens after a domain expires:
“You agree that Epik.com will not be responsible for cancelled domain names that You fail to renew, either automatically or manually.”
The Epik terms also use “may” in relation to any post-expiration renewal, so it is entirely at Epik’s sole discretion to allow post-expiration renewals:
“If You fail to renew Your domain name, You agree that Epik.com may, at its sole discretion, renew Your expired domain name on Your behalf. If Epik.com decides to renew Your expired domain name on Your behalf, You may be eligible for a Renewal Grace Period during which time You may reimburse Epik.com for the renewal and keep Your domain name.”
That is by no means unique to Epik, so I’m not picking on Rob here. Like most registrars, Epik provides post-expiration renewal opportunities as Epik sees fit to do. Registrars do not have to follow the minimum requirements of their terms of service.
So to compare what are the ordinary business practices of one registrar to what are the terms of service of another registrar, is a false comparison.
Rob can say “Epik has a standard grace period of 15 days” but there is actually not a single word in the Epik terms of service to that effect.
Rob Monster says
John,
Our expired domains practices are here:
https://www.epik.com/support/faq/expired-registration-recovery-policy/
It is linked from paragraph 5.5 in the Universal ToS here:
https://www.epik.com/terms.php
I think it is quite transparent.
The edge case for registrars to safeguard against is where someone can register 100,000 .whatever domains and a year later they come up for grace renewal. In some cases, the registry expects the registrar to deposit the funds for the grace renewal. This has happened to us with Donuts so it is not theoretical.
For such a case, we would reserve the right to delete those domains in bulk if the alternative was that no other domain could be registered at the registry since we might not want to deposit $1 million with some registry for 30 days that we may or may not see back anytime soon.
When it comes to preserving registrant rights, the fact is that our track record has been one of being highly accommodating towards registrants. If someone needs more grace period, or some other special arrange, we are usually happy to accommodate.
If you have heard otherwise, please bring facts.
Regards,
Rob
Yi Sen says
Just imagine…
100 domainers with 100 domains costing $100 moving away from Uniregistry
How to lose $1m 101
Andrew Allemann says
Are there really this many people who wait until 30+ days after expiration to renew a domain? I’m perplexed.
Yi Sen says
Ok make it 10.
So just a $100k revenue loss.
Anonymous says
Revenue ≠ Profit
If there are 1000 domains that need manual renewal and it takes 15 minutes of employee labor each, as someone else commented, that’s 15,000 minutes or 250 hours. Again, taking someone else’s example of $25/hour, that’s $6,250 in wasted expense per year and those 1,000 domains are not even generating $2,000/year in renewal profit,
It’s like some of you guys never ran any sort of business before.
John says
I’ve been doing it for years to a large degree no matter how many days you get, all done in good faith and for perfectly good reasons that are important to me, whether my concern is end use or selling. It’s nice to have a grace period. Only recently have I begun renewing some domains earlier and making use of auto renew even to any significant degree. And I’ll bet some of the *many* I’ve dropped have been sold, so I’m guessing ones I’ve let go wind up making money for the registrar to begin with anyway.
mike says
Agreed, most of us don’t review our domains probably when they expire, or are close to it, smaller portfolios maybe can set auto renew, but larger should have manual to constantly refresh, and renew. So extra time does give you time to figure out why you own it, run a search, and see if it is worth it. Sometimes an offer does come in during expiry month, and if you can get an extra 5% window, you just never know. Nobody ever complained about having more time to make a desicion.
Jovenet Consulting says
My poor understanding of English makes me doubt if I will be ordered to pay a supplementary fee if I renew at the last moment. Is this the case?
JZ says
They are copying what dynadot did exactly because their expired domains are going to auction at dynadot after 30 days. I also noticed at some point they started moving any domain expired past 30 days into the ‘domain archive’. The 40 days is part of what made registrars like dynadot and uniregistry favorable.
mike says
Your right, and it looks like the $10 late renewal fee is in part with dynadot, and the compliants that 99% of the Uniregistry auctions were being renewed, enabling people with large dynadot account credits, instead of original funding source. This is probably in response to that, as well trying to add another revenue source at the expense of the customer, on top of the % share they would get from the auction stream now.
It looks like from their weekly sales they do a lot of big sales, as well as Name Admin has great sales also, is it really necessary, to nickel, and dime customers who have been loyal over the years?
Yi says
Is this a domain perk ?
joesaba2014 says
I am a client of Uniregistry, I receive a good deal in renewal, always make it manual and not automatic renewals in all registrars the same.
This year stop renewing 75 domains with uniregistry purchases at one price and renew for a higher one, now with the discount renew (.com) (org) and some new extensions, the others let expire very high prices there are other cheaper registrars without the discount, although focus on buying (.com)
Now change strategy to sell premium domains from Domain Agents, Media Options, I am also interested to find a Consulting domains with other services.
Right now to have 550 premium domain portfolio “the oldest year 2005 and still not know the domain market” although 100 premium domains for sale between 500 and 1000 USD, I will release on Social Networks.
paul says
Folks, we are in a death spiral!!!
First Verisign raising prices and now this!!!
I can not take it !!!!
Wayt Les says
Even more disturbing is this language in the TOS :
“In the event that you fail to renew your domain name prior to its expiration, your registration will expire as of its expiration date and we may, at our discretion, elect to assume the registration and may hold it for our own account, delete it or transfer it to a third party. You acknowledge and agree that your right and interest in a domain name ceases upon its expiration and that any expired domain name may be made available for registration or transfer to another party.”
Makes me want to move all domains away immediately.
If Frank and Uni think the domain is valuable, they can take it from you immediately after it expires, and keep it, sell it, etc… If they decide to, they can allow it to enter the grace period instead, but they don’t have to.
mike says
You make a very good point they can cherry pick your portfolio, and even a 15 day grace period means nothing, these days that can constitute tens of thousands of dollars on a single domain. WOW thanks for pointing that out.
mike says
So if I have a 3L.com, and am 3 days late renewing it, they can just take it, like $25K gone, poof? A tune up for Frank’s ferrari paid for.
snoopy1267 says
It is a money grab, BS by uniregistry to suggest it is something else.
Just say it is a new fee and don’t try to make up a story about it Uniregistry!
John says
In closing, I agree with those who consider it a money grab. Generally speaking, it seems the richer and more successful and rolling in money and profit a company is, the more and worse they do it. I could say my least favorite example of this in the industry but will not. 🙂
John says
And regarding this one in particular, have never used them, never intend to, and glad I dropped long ago the small number of Uniregistry domains I once had.
Pblont says
renew your names. If not Godaddy, Uniregistry, Namecheap or any other registrar will keep them. That’s how they all work no?
mike says
Looks like users have about a week to get their affiars in order before they have to pay the $10 late fee.
Anonymous says
Wow, 40 comments! None of which are from the guy who’s the biggest culprit.
Andrew Allemann says
I am surprised at the number of comments. I genuinely want to understand how many people wait until 30 days after a domain expires to renew it, and why.
Wayt Les says
Are you surprised at the language in the TOS that lets Uni cherry pick domains from it’s customers the minute they expire? I’d like to know your thoughts…
Andrew Allemann says
Yes, I suspect this means after the 30 days are up, but the language suggests otherwise.
Wayt Les says
Andrew, the next paragraph after the one I quoted above states this :
“If we have elected to maintain the domain name beyond expiration, we will provide you with a grace period of forty (40) days during which you may renew the domain name. During the last ten days of this grace period, an additional late renewal fee may apply, as listed at uniregistry.com/pricing.”
Clearly it does NOT indicate the period after the 30 days are up, but immediately upon expiration.
Are you willing to write another article pointing this out? I bet it would shock a whole lot of domainers.
Of course most people don’t let their domains enter the expiration period for some extended length of time, but the idea of a “grace” period is somewhat belied by the idea that if Frank and Uni think your domain is valuable they can take it immediately upon its expiration. What they are in effect saying is there is no grace period unless they feel like providing it on a case by case basis.
Andrew Allemann says
I doubt that’s what they intend, so I have reached out to Uni for comment and clarification.
Marc McCutcheon says
The argument that they are just covering the resource cost of the late renewal is being very generous. They are choosing to put your expired domain up for auction to try to profit from it, with that comes all of the difficulties of pulling the domain from auction and restoring it to a customer account, if they didn’t auction the names it would be a completely automated process. We had a conversation about implementing this at Moniker because we auction names there and have the same problem but we took the decision that this was the cost of doing business and we shouldn’t penalise customers. At Internet.bs we don’t even auction names because we want to give customers plenty of grace, I would recommend using internet.bs if this a deal breaker for you.
Mike says
I really believe Uniregistry should have given their customers at least 15-30 to get their accounts in order, 6 days notice is pretty short.
mike says
Well I just made the choice to move my names to Epik, do your own Due Diligence, but at $5.99 for .com transfers, and $8.99 for .org unlimited, I feel I need to stop the constant feeling of getting squeezed, plus nobody from Uni even bothered to comment here, which is not helpful. Good luck to all
Mike says
Perhaps the statement of Uniregistry should read “COULD but haven’t SO FAR” , because from what I understand they COULD take it if they so wished, according to what I read in this article. Is that not an “unfair contract term” under US law ?.
Mike says
Dynadot also do this and someone I know well pointed this out to ,Respectfully, YOU ANDREW and they were shot down by you by you saying “well they should renew earlier” or similar,
Mark Thorpe says
Renew your domains on time, simple as that.
Stop letting your domains expire and trying to see the current value of your domains and the price that someone is willing pay for them.
George says
Thanks I was wondering what Late renewal fee was on their updated pricing page:
https://uniregistry.com/pricing