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Timelines and Options for Expired Domains
Timelines and Options for Expired Domains

This article contains information and guidance on expired domain names

Garrett Saundry avatar
Written by Garrett Saundry
Updated over 2 years ago

Expired domains go through four different stages:

  1. Renewal Grace Period

  2. Redemption Period

  3. Pending Delete

  4. General Availability

The process and timelines for these stages differ slightly from one domain extension to another. What follows is a general overview, which is applicable to most, but not all, domain extensions.

Renewal Grace Period

This period begins the day the domain expires (to accommodate different time zones we process expired domains at 9:00 AM the day after the domain expires), and last for 30 calendar days.

  • Should a domain expire, we will point the domain to one of our parking pages

  • Email services are not affected (unless the parking of the domain results in a change in name servers)

  • The domain can be renewed via a regular renewal process (i.e. via your Webnames.ca), and without penalty

  • The domain will be immediately renewed, however, they may take a short time to become fully functional due to DNS propagation. Our TTL value on expired/parked domains is 15 minutes, therefore domains which are renewed while in their renewal grace period should be functional once again within 15 minutes.

NOTE: For .CA domains (only), CIRA does not permit the routing of expired domain names to a parking page etc. Instead, the requirement is that all routing for the domain (including email) be completely suspended. This will result in all aspects of the domain no longer functioning. Such a domain is still recoverable however via the means outlined in this article.

Redemption Period

This period begins at the end of the Renewal Grace Period, and last for 30 calendar days.

  • This period is controlled by the respective Registry, whereby the zone file for the domain is removed.

  • All services for the domain will cease to function.

  • Domain redemptions can be initiated via our website using the normal domain renewal process. The Registries impose an additional penalty fee in addition to the renewal fee, which we must pass long to customers. This fee is both to cover the additional overhead of the redemption process, but also to encourage domain owners to keep domains and their related websites functional. The cost to redeem a domain name is $75.00. This fee does not include the one-year renewal of the domain.

  • Upon redemption and renewal, the domain will be immediately recovered and renewed, however, it may take 6 - 24 hours to become fully functional due to DNS propagation.

Pending Delete Period

This period begins at the end of the Redemption Period, and lasts for 5 calendar days.

  • The period is controlled by the respective Registry, during which no changes to the domain may be made whatsoever.

  • When in this state, the domain cannot be recovered.

NOTE: .CA domains undergo a proprietary process in between the Redemption Period and being put back into General Availability. Please see the .CA specific section of this FAQ for information on the To-Be-Released (TBR) process, or see https://www.webnames.ca/TBR

General Availability

This period begins and the end of the Pending Delete Period, and denotes that the domain is available for registration by any party as a new Registration.

See Also: Domain Guide

Related Articles
Transferring a Domain to Webnames
Performing a Domain Renewal
Changing the Owner of a Domain
Domain Forwarding
Domain Parking
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