Before Your Domain Name Expires: A Checklist

Domain names are easy to forget about until a renewal goes wrong. Work through this checklist before your next expiry date and keep your site and email online.

This guide is general information, not technical or legal advice. If you’ve lost money or personal information, contact your bank, IDCARE on 1800 595 160, or report it through ReportCyber at cyber.gov.au.

Quick summary

1. auDA requires .au registrants to keep meeting eligibility rules for the whole licence period, including keeping any ABN or ACN active, or the licence can be cancelled.
2. You can renew a .au domain up to 90 days before expiry, and there are 30 calendar days after expiry to renew before the name is released to the public.
3. Renewal reminders go to the registrant contact email held in the registry, so a dead or outdated address is a common way people miss their renewal.
4. For generic endings such as .com, registrars must send two expiry reminders, about one month and one week before the date.
5. During the 30-day grace period your website and email stop working, and some providers charge a fee to restore the domain.

A domain name is one of those things people set up once and then rarely think about. That works fine until a renewal is missed and a website or email address a business depends on goes dark. This checklist covers the small number of things worth confirming before your next renewal date. Most items take only a few minutes.

Confirm You Actually Own the Domain

• Check the registrant details. Your name or your business’s name and contact information should be current and accurate. Under the .au Licensing Rules, you must continue to meet the eligibility requirements for your domain throughout the licence period, or the licence can be cancelled.
• Check any ABN or ACN used. If your .com.au, .net.au or .org.au is registered against a business or company number, that number must stay active. auDA enforces cancellations where the registered entity is no longer eligible. A domain registered through a trust must be held in the trustee’s name, not the trust’s.
• Hunt down stray domains. If your organisation has names registered by different staff or through different providers, you can lodge a registry search request with auDA to list every .au domain registered against your ABN, ACN or business name.

If the eligibility rules feel murky, our guide to getting started with domain names in Australia explains who can hold which endings.

Check the Expiry Date and Auto-Renewal

• Look up the real expiry date. .au licences run for one, two, three, four or five years, and the public WHOIS tool does not show expiry dates. Use the auDA password recovery tool: it emails a link to your registrant contact address showing your licence expiry date and your registrar of record.
• Note how early you can renew. You can renew a .au domain up to 90 calendar days before expiry, and the new licence period is counted from the old expiry date, so renewing early costs you nothing.
• Switch on auto-renew if it suits you. Most registrars offer it. The weak point is payment details: if the stored card expires, the renewal can quietly fail.
• Consider syncing dates. If you hold several domains, some providers offer domain sync, which sets a single shared expiry date so you only track one renewal.

Make Sure the Contact Email Still Works

• Test the address on file. Renewal reminders from your provider go to the registrant contact email listed in the registry. Send yourself a message at that address to confirm it still receives mail.
• Update old addresses. Addresses tied to a former internet provider, an old employer or a lapsed email account are a common way people miss renewal notices. Ask your domain provider to update the registrant contact details.
• Know what ICANN requires. For most generic endings such as .com and .net, your registrar must send two expiry reminders, roughly one month and one week before expiry. When one arrives, act on it straight away rather than filing it for later.

Turn On Registrar Lock and Renewal Reminders

• Check the transfer lock. Registrar lock is a setting that stops the domain being transferred to another provider without changes made through your own account. Confirm it is switched on.
• Read the renewal terms. Renewal options and fees vary between registrars, so read the terms of service and find out what happens if a renewal is missed.
• Keep the authorisation code private. Your domain password, sometimes called an authorisation code or authcode, is needed to transfer the domain to a new registrar. It is sent only to the registrant contact email, which is one more reason to keep that address live.

Watch Out for Renewal and Transfer Scams

• Treat unexpected renewal emails with suspicion. Fake renewal notices are a common phishing trick. Rather than clicking links, log in to your provider’s website directly.
• Check who is asking for money. Some mail-outs about renewing your domain come from companies that are not your registrar at all. Confirm your registrar of record before paying anyone.
• Never hand over the authcode. No legitimate provider needs it except to action a transfer you have requested yourself.
• Report anything that looks wrong. Our guide on how to spot a scam, and what to do if you have been scammed sets out the next steps.

Check What the Domain Points To Before It Lapses

• List what depends on the name. Websites, email addresses and sometimes remote access to files all ride on the domain. Once a .au licence expires, the domain cannot be used or updated, so your website and email stop working straight away.
• Confirm where the records live. The domain and the hosting are separate services. Our first-timer’s guide to website hosting explains the difference if that is new to you.
• Keep an off-domain copy of anything important. Files, photos and site content that live only behind the domain become awkward to reach the moment it lapses.

If It Has Already Expired

• Act within the grace period. There are 30 calendar days after expiry in which you can still renew, through your existing provider or a new one. Some providers charge a fee to restore a domain during this window.
• Know the deadline. At the end of the 30 days the domain is removed from the registry and becomes available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
• If someone else grabs it. Once another eligible registrant holds the name, you can try to negotiate a transfer using the contact details in the WHOIS tool, or engage a domain broker. Specialist drop catcher services compete to catch names the moment they drop, and there is no guarantee of getting the name back.

Set aside ten minutes this week to work through the list, starting with the contact email on your registration.

Your questions answered

Q: How long after my .au domain expires can I still renew it?

A: There is a 30 calendar day grace period after the licence expires. You can renew through your existing provider or a new one, though some charge a restoration fee, and your website and email will not work during that time.

Q: How do I find out when my .au domain expires?

A: The public WHOIS lookup does not show expiry dates. Use auDA’s password recovery tool, which emails the expiry date and your registrar of record to your registrant contact address.

Q: What happens if I miss the grace period?

A: The domain is removed from the registry and becomes available for anyone to register on a first-come, first-served basis. You can re-apply, use a drop catcher service, or try to negotiate with whoever registers it, but getting it back is not guaranteed.

Q: Are domain renewal emails always genuine?

A: No. Fake renewal notices are a common scam, so do not pay from a link in an unexpected email. Log in to your provider’s site directly and check who your registrar of record is first.