Have you ever wondered what happens when a domain expires? Or when an account with Reclaim Hosting expires? If yes, then this is the guide for you! In addition to a description of the various stages, we also have a graphic that shows the complete lifecycle of the domain and account process.
Expiration: 1 Year
Domains are typically registered for 1 year at a time, though you can renew them in advance for up to 10 years. Beginning 30 days before the expiration of your domain, you will begin receiving reminder emails from both Reclaim Hosting and the Registrar that your domain is pending expiration. Three emails are sent at the 30-day mark, 7-day mark, and the day your domain expires. This period will be the best time to renew your domain if you wish to keep it, and you may do so by paying the open invoice in your Client Area Portal.
Grace Period: 30 days
Once your domain expires, you still have a 30-day window to renew the domain at no additional charge. The outstanding invoice will remain open and payable in your Client Area Portal. While in this grace period, the domain will move to an inactive status and associated sites will not be accessible. To renew the domain at this stage, pay the open invoice in your Client Area Portal. Doing so will renew the domain for an additional year and the domain will begin working as expected within 24 hours.
Redemption Period: 30-35 days
Once the grace period for a domain has lapsed, it can become much more difficult and expensive to retrieve the domain. The domain enters a redemption phase that lasts for ~30-35 days, depending on the domain extension (for example: .com, .net, .org). During this time, Reclaim Hosting Support can retrieve the domain on your behalf, though keep in mind that there would be an additional fee determined by the registrar. These fees typically begin at $60 but can sometimes be more depending on the domain extension. To retrieve a domain during this phase, please contact Reclaim Hosting Support for an updated invoice.
Important: When in the Redemption phase, the domain can be purchased or bid for by a 3rd party. The original domain owner will still have the option to retrieve the domain for an additional fee, but technically any other party can pay this fee to claim the domain. This is rare, but does occasionally happen.
Deletion Period: 5 days
Once the redemption period has lapsed the domain will be scheduled for deletion by the registrar. When a domain is pending deletion, Reclaim Hosting has no recourse for retrieving the domain for the original owner. During the deletion phase, all parties would need to wait for the domain to become publicly available again to re-register it. Reclaim Hosting is not able to renew domains in the deletion period, nor can we guarantee availability after the fact.
Released to the public
After the deletion phase, the domain is once again released to the general public for registration. If the domain is popular, often registrars will make very early attempts to register the domain. In most instances a domain will simply become available in the general pool again and can be registered by any user.
Shared Hosting accounts
Hosting accounts are terminated and deleted 60 days after Grace Period for a domain. One final backup is made prior to terminating accounts on our server. Keep in mind that 30 days after hosting termination, the final backup of the account is also deleted and can no longer be restored. This means if more than 90 days have past since your account expired, we are unable to retrieve any data from your account. If the domain is available for registration again you are welcome to create a new account with a fresh slate.
For any questions about the status of your domain or hosting account, please contact Reclaim Hosting Support.