Short link: opensrs.help/renew-domains
A domain renewal process extends domain ownership by another year or more. OpenSRS makes every effort to allow registrants to reinstate their domain names after they have expired.
Note: A renewal transaction is final, and cannot, under any circumstances, be cancelled. Please be sure that you fully understand this before you attempt any domain renewals. We have no way to retrieve money from the registry for domain years purchased through renewals, and so we cannot refund Resellers who renew names in error.
Some TLDs have the auto-renew option enabled by default and will renew even if there are no funds in the reseller account. If you do not disable auto-renew for a domain, you will be responsible for processing the renewal manually and the renewal fee. Our TLD reference chart includes a list of TLDs that can be manually renewed and the domains that have auto-renew by default.
For expired domains, please do not manually change the name servers unless you are transferring the domain away. Changing the name servers will not renew the domain, and the domain will eventually lapse into redemption. If the renewal is successful, the name servers will be changed automatically by our system.
Renewal process
The renewal process was designed to meet the requirements identified by our Resellers. Many features are optional, allowing you to use the elements of the renewal system that best match your business model.
The typical renewal cycle is as follows:
- Reminder emails are sent to the Registrant 90, 60, 30, and five days before the domains expiry as well as three and ten days after expiry.
- Reminder emails are sent to the Reseller at 90, 60, 30, one, and -40-day intervals.
- The Registrant either contact the Reseller and request a domain renewal, or requests the renewal online through the Resellers renewal scripts.
- Once the domain is renewed, an email confirmation is sent to both the Registrant and the Reseller.
Note: 30, five days before, and three days after are mandatory reminders for gTLDs, 90, 60 days before and ten days after reminder are optional.
Several ccTLDs handle renewals differently. These ccTLDs are set to auto-renew by default. If you do not want these domains to renew automatically, you have to set the domains to expire explicitly, and you need to make this change before the expiry date. The number of days before the expiry date when you are allowed to change this setting varies from the registry to registry. To see which domains are set to auto-renew by default, see our TLD reference chart.
Renewing a domain
- In the Domains section of the Reseller Control Panel, enter all or part of the domain name for which you want to search, and then click Search.
- Click the domain you want to renew.
- Click on Renew and select the renewal period.
Renewing multiple domains
The bulk renewal feature allows you to change the renewal setting or renew multiple domains in one request. Depending on the renewal restrictions imposed by the registry for each TLD, domains may be renewed for one to ten years.
Note: You cannot do bulk renewals for Storefront domains.
To change the renewal setting or renew multiple domains
- Under Domains tab in the Reseller Control Panel, click the boxes to put a checkmark next to each of the domains that you want to renew.
- From the Bulk Actions drop-down list, choose Renew domain.
- From the Renewal Period drop-down list, choose the number of years for which you want to renew the selected domains.
Important: Be sure that the period you choose can be applied to all of the selected domains. If you select a renewal period that is incompatible with any of the TLDs, for example, if you choose a five year renewal period and your list includes a domain that can only be renewed for two years, the bulk job will still complete; however, that domain will not be renewed. - If you are changing the renewal settings, click to select the appropriate button:
- Auto-Renew: The domains automatically renew at the end of their registration terms.
- Expire with notifications: The domains will expire at the end of their terms, and you will receive notifications for each one before they expire, in case you change your mind.
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Expire without notification: The domains will expire at the end of their terms, but you as the reseller will not receive any prior notification. ICANN mandated expiry notifications will continue to be sent to the registrant.
- Optionally, in the Email results to field, enter the email address to which you would like the results to be mailed.
- Click Renew domain.
Important: There is no undo for this operation, so be very careful when selecting the domains to include in the bulk job. Whether you can reverse the change depends on whether you are using this tool to renew domains or to change the renewal settings. If you renew any domains in error, you might be able to cancel the job in the View Details page. Any domains that have already been renewed before you cancel the bulk job cannot be changed. Besides, some registries do not support refunds. If you changed the renewal setting for any domains in error, you could adjust the setting for specific domains either one by one or by submitting another bulk job.
Setting a domain to auto-renew
Domain renewal becomes an issue once a domain name is approaching its expiration date; however, one feature that should be considered upon registration or transfer is the auto-renew feature.
The auto-renew feature is an excellent safety net for domains that must not be allowed to expire. All domain names that have the auto-renew feature enabled are automatically renewed before the domain expiration date.
If auto-renew is set when there are less than 30 days to expiration, it should be done within two days or more of the expiration date, depending on when the auto-renew job processes the renewal. Do not expect the domain to be auto-renewed the very next day. If the domain is very close to the expiration date, you should renew the domain manually just in case the auto-renew job runs late. The auto-renew function will see that a manual renewal has been performed and won’t apply an extra renewal year.
Names can be set to auto-renewal by any of the following ways:
- By the Reseller or Registrant during registration (Reseller control panel or the End-user portal)
- By the Reseller after registration by editing the domain settings
- From the bulk renewal tool
- API
Be sure to maintain a balance in your Reseller account that is sufficient for sustaining auto-renewals. An auto-renewal transaction will fail if there are not sufficient funds in your Reseller account. If this happens, an error message is displayed to the end-user, and an email is sent to the Technical Contact email address to remind you to add money to your account.
To set a domain to auto-renew, the options are available under domain settings. You can choose between three options:
- In the Domains section of the Reseller Control Panel, enter all or part of the domain name for which you want to search, and then click Search.
- Click the domain you want to set to auto-renew.
- From the Domain Settings section, select the required settings to enable Auto-Renew and click Save.
Reseller notification
Using the RWI (Reseller Web Interface), you can opt to receive a notification when your end-users activate or deactivate the auto-renew setting for their domains. If you opt to receive a notification, the following messages will be sent to you:
- Auto-Renew enabled: Sent to Reseller when a domain’s auto-renew setting is enabled.
- Auto-Renew disabled: Sent to Reseller when a domain’s auto-renew setting is disabled.
This can also be done in the RCP (Reseller control panel) via setting up Event Notification. The messages are also sent if all domains in the end-user’s profile are changed. You receive one message containing a list of the domains that were updated.
Notification is sent only when the setting is changed and is not part of a renewal request. If a renewal request also sets the domain to auto-renew, no message is sent.
DNS for expired domains
If any of the following TLDs are allowed to expired, the DNS settings are replaced with the OpenSRS nameservers:
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- The DNS settings are changed if the domain is not renewed by its expiry date.
- The original DNS settings for the expired name are saved so that if the registrant wants to regain the domain (within the redemption period), their original DNS settings can be restored.
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