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Redemption grace period

domain redemption period / RGP / recover an expired domain

In short

The redemption grace period is the 30 days after an expired domain name is deleted during which it can still be restored for the registrant who held it, usually for a restore fee. The registry switches off the domain's DNS during those days, so the website and email tied to it stop working.

ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy sets minimum rules for generic top-level domains such as .com. Registrars must send at least two renewal reminders before a name expires, about one month and about one week ahead. If the name expires and is deleted, the registrar must send at least one more notice within 5 days after expiration.

Between expiry and deletion, a registrar may offer an Auto Renew Grace Period of 1 to 45 days, depending on its terms. ICANN warns that during that period the name may be available to third parties, or even auctioned by the registrar, depending on those terms.

Once the registrar deletes the name, generic top-level domain registries must offer a Redemption Grace Period of 30 days. During it the registry disables DNS resolution and blocks transfers, and the deleted registration can be restored at the request of its former registrant by the registrar that deleted it.

Every one of those notices goes to the registrant email address in the domain's contact information. A name registered with a former employee's or an old agency's email can expire without anyone at the business seeing a single warning.

In practice

A clinic's domain is registered in the clinic's name, but a web designer who has since closed shop set it up with the designer's own email. The renewal reminders go to that dead inbox, the card on file has expired, and the registrar deletes the name. The clinic's website and email go dark. Within the 30-day redemption grace period, the clinic can still have the name restored through that registrar, with a restore fee.

Why it matters to you

A lapsed domain takes the website and the business email down together. The prevention is dull and cheap: a registrant email the business reads, a current payment method, and renewal set well ahead. The redemption grace period is a last resort for getting the name back.

What to ask or check

  1. 01Whose email address is the registrant contact on the domain, and does anyone at the business read it?
  2. 02When does the domain expire, and will it renew automatically on a current card?
  3. 03What does the registrar charge to restore a name during the redemption grace period?

What people get wrong

That a registrar must hold an expired name for its owner before deleting it. Any Auto Renew Grace Period is set by the registrar's terms, and ICANN warns the name may be auctioned to a third party during it.

Red flags

  • A domain whose registrant email belongs to a former employee, freelancer or agency.

Keep reading

DNS

DNS is the system that turns a domain name into the address of the machine that answers for it. Your records live on an authoritative server named in the domain's NS record. Changes are not broadcast; old answers simply sit in caches until the TTL you set expires.

SSL certificate

An SSL or TLS certificate is the file that lets a browser confirm it is really connected to your domain, and it turns on encryption for the connection. It binds your keys to your domain name. It says nothing about whether the business behind the domain is trustworthy, and it is usually free.

Account ownership

Account ownership decides who keeps the advertising account and its history when an agency relationship ends. Google lets anyone with administrative access unlink from a manager account at any time. Microsoft names the fix when the account was created in the wrong place, and lists what cannot be moved.

Uptime guarantee

An uptime guarantee is a provider's promise that a service will be available for a stated share of each month, such as 99.9%. In the published terms of large cloud providers, the remedy for a miss is a credit on future bills that the customer has to claim, and that credit is the only remedy.

301 redirect

A 301 redirect is a server instruction saying a page has permanently moved to a new address. Google treats it as a signal that the new address is the real one and should be the version shown in search results. A 302 says the move is temporary, so Google keeps showing the old address instead.

Web accessibility

Web accessibility means people with disabilities can use your site. The Department of Justice says the ADA's requirements apply to what a business offers online, while stating it has no regulation setting out detailed standards for how. A separate rule does set one, WCAG 2.1 Level AA, but it binds state and local government.

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