Check the expiry date, the card on file, the contact email and auto-renew for every domain you use. A failed charge plus warnings sent to a dead address is how most business domains lapse.

How a domain lapses

Nobody decides to let the business's domain expire. It happens when three small things line up.

The domain was registered years ago, set to renew automatically on a credit card. The card expired or was replaced, and the new number never reached the registrar.

The renewal charge failed. The registrar sent warnings to the email address on the account, which belonged to a web designer who has since moved on, or to an employee who left.

Then one morning the website shows a page of somebody else's advertising, and the email has gone quiet.

Five things to check

The third is the one that turns a failed payment into a lost domain. A declined card is easily fixed, provided somebody hears about it in time.

Whose account it sits in

Start by finding out where the domain is registered and whose login controls it.

Many small business domains were registered by the first web designer or an IT contractor, in an account of their own. The business paid, sometimes through the designer's invoices, and never had a login.

That works until the relationship ends or the person retires. After that, every renewal depends on somebody the business may not be able to reach.

The domain should be registered in the business's name, in an account the business controls, with whoever looks after the site given access to manage it.

The card

Cards expire every few years, and are replaced early when one is lost or used fraudulently. Each replacement quietly breaks every automatic payment attached to the old number.

Use a business card rather than an owner's or employee's personal one, so the domain does not depend on one person's wallet.

Put the card's own expiry date in the calendar a month ahead, with a reminder to update the domain, the hosting and anything else that renews on it.

Check, too, when your registrar attempts the renewal. Some charge weeks ahead, which leaves time to fix a failed payment; others wait until close to the day.

The email address on the account

Every warning about a failed renewal goes to one email address. If nobody reads it, the warnings may as well not exist.

Use a shared business address that more than one person sees, rather than one person's inbox.

There is a trap in using an address at the same domain. Once the domain expires, its email stops working, so the warnings sent after the expiry date, the ones that matter most, cannot be delivered.

A second contact address on a different domain closes that gap.

What happens after the expiry date

An expired domain is not lost on the day. For the common endings, including .com and .ca, there is a sequence.

First, the website and email usually stop working, often replaced by a holding page. For a period after that, which varies by registrar, the domain can usually still be renewed, sometimes at the normal price.

Then comes a further period in which it can still be recovered, but for a substantial fee. After that it is released, and anyone can register it.

The exact periods and fees vary by ending and by registrar, so look up your own. The cheapest part of the sequence is the beginning.

A worked example

A two-person translation agency had used the same domain for nine years. Its first web designer registered it in his own account and billed the agency for it once a year.

When he retired, he left the domain in his account but put the agency's credit card on it, so it would keep renewing. That card was replaced last spring.

The renewal charge was declined, and every warning went to the designer's old business address, which he had closed.

Nobody knew anything was wrong until a Monday when documents from clients stopped arriving and the website showed a holding page. The registrar would not discuss the domain with the agency, since it was not the account holder.

It took four days to reach the designer, who logged in and renewed it, still within the grace period.

The domain is now in an account in the agency's name, renewed for five years on a business card, with warnings going to a shared address and a backup.

Who picks up expired domains

A domain that has been in use for years is worth something to strangers, because links, listings and old business cards still point at it.

Some businesses watch for established domains coming free and register them the moment they are released, to resell, sometimes to the original owner, or to fill with advertising.

Either way, every link and printed card carrying your address now sends people somewhere you do not control, and email meant for you can go to whoever holds the domain.

Renew for longer

The fewer times a renewal has to succeed, the fewer times it can fail.

Common endings, .com and .ca among them, can be renewed for several years at once, up to ten. For the domain the whole business depends on, a five- or ten-year renewal costs little and removes most of the risk.

Keep auto-renew on and the card current anyway. A long renewal reduces how often the arrangement is tested, not whether it works.

The counter-case

Some domains need no rescue.

If your web company manages the domain in your business's name, renews it as part of looking after the site, and you know where it sits, the arrangement is sound. The checks still apply; the work simply sits with them.

A domain registered for ten years on a current business card is low risk for now, though the card will need updating long before the domain does.

For everything else, check the expiry date, the card, the contact email and auto-renew this week.

This week

  1. Look up the expiry date of every domain you use.
  2. Find out whose account each one sits in.
  3. Update the card before it expires.
  4. Change the contact email to a shared business address.
  5. Add a backup contact on a different domain.
  6. Confirm auto-renew is switched on.
  7. Renew the main domain for several years.

Step four closes the gap that turns a declined card into a lost domain. A failed payment is a five-minute fix for anybody who hears about it, and a lost domain for a business that does not.

What the site behind that address should be doing for the business is covered in what your website was supposed to do.

Frequently asked questions

Why do business domains expire by accident?

Usually because the card on file expired or was replaced, the renewal charge failed, and the warnings went to an email address nobody reads any more.

Where do I find my domain's expiry date?

In your account at the registrar, and in a public WHOIS lookup, which shows the registrar and the expiry date for the common endings.

What happens right after a domain expires?

The website and email usually stop. For a period the registrar can still renew it, then recovery costs a substantial fee, and finally anyone can register it.

Which email should the registrar have?

A shared business address that more than one person reads, plus a backup on a different domain, since an address at the expired domain stops receiving mail.

Should the domain be in my designer's account?

It should be registered in the business's name, in an account the business controls. Your web company can be given access to manage it on your behalf.

Is renewing for several years worth it?

For the domain the business depends on, yes. Fewer renewals mean fewer chances to fail, though auto-renew and a current card are still needed.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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