So Don’t Hesitate to Renew Your Domains.
A few years ago, I discovered something DISTURBING and I want to share it with you to ensure that all of you are aware as well. I’ll try to keep it short but reading this could SAVE YOU $$$$.
We all know what’s it like: you get busy, the kids are screaming and your desk looks like a filing cabinet exploded. Okay, maybe that’s just mine. The next thing you know you are getting a notice that your bill is late and now you have to pay a late fee. And we all hate late fees, right?
Well, here is one you most definitely want to avoid at all costs. Its called a “redemption fee”. It’s the penalty fee that the domain registrars charge if your domain isn’t renewed within 30 days of its expiration date. Now, I would hope that you notice before 30 days is up that your website and domain-based email accounts are no longer accessible. But if not…the count starts the day after your domain expires. USUALLY, during the first 30 days, you can renew your domain at the normal renewal rate. But let that renewal lag 30 days past that expiration date and you are looking at penalty fees of $150 or more!
Now, I have been using the same registrar for all of my clients for years, Namecheap.com. So imagine my surprise when I logged in to renew a domain that I received a late payment for and couldn’t find it on my dashboard. Normally, for approximately 30 days following the expiration date, I have access to reactivate a domain. Well, this domain was at the 30 day mark exactly but was no where to be found. Needless to say, I got a little panicked. Then I called customer support.
Due to the high call volume, I had to wait a few minutes for my call to be answered. So I did a little research on their site while I waited. I was shocked when I found a statement buried in the policies. It stated that after 27 days, an expired domain goes into a “redemption” state and to renew a domain in this state, an additional $200 fee on top of the normal domain renewal fee was required! My reaction? OMG WHAT!?!?!
I’d never heard of such a thing. $200 additional to renew a site?? It had to be a mistake. Was this something unique to my registrar? Did anyone else charge these outrageous fees?
To find out, I did a little bit MORE research and sure enough, redemption fees abounded! It wasn’t hard to find domain redemption fees everywhere ranging from $99 to $250. And needless to say, no one was happy about them. However, there didn’t appear to be anything that could be done about it them either. And out of those that tried,no one seemed to be having much luck at getting this fee waived.
SO BEWARE – if your domain hasn’t been renewed in 30 days, you may just want to start thinking about a new one. Because the alternative it costly!
Fortunately, MY story has a happy ending. The customer support rep told me that the domain was in fact about to go into redemption state but hadn’t yet as of yet. She was able to process the renewal for me, at the normal price and all was right with the world. Immediately following this incident, I sent out a newsletter to all of my clients recounting this same story. Information like this is priceless!
Most registrars and re-sellers, myself included, send out renewal invoices 30-45 days in advance of the expiration date. Some even send multiple reminders. Remember that when our domain expires, access to your website as well as any email accounts associated with it will be inaccessible until the domain has been renewed. There are no exceptions. If you have the option to set up an auto-renewal on your domain, do it. If your site does end up in the “redemption” period, you will be responsible for the redemption fee, renewal fee and in some cases nominal service charges may also be tacked on.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Renew your domains early or at least prior to the expiration date! Avoid the “redemption fee” at all costs.
Do you have a domain nightmare story you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear about it.
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