PSA on Domain Expiration Notices

If you have owned a website for more than a year you have probably received one (or several) emails that read something like this…

…our records show the following domain has not been renewed:

yourwebsite.com

This domain expires on 2/13/2012. As a result, your website and e-mail will no longer work on this domain name. If you did want your domain name renewed, please contact our Sales team immediately. You can reach our sales team at 800-555-1234, Option 1…

Now these emails are not illegal, and they’re not technically inaccurate. But they are misleading.

Because of the wording and the fact that they know exactly when your domain name expires, it seems like this email is coming from the folks you bought your domain name from. But the date every domain name expires is public information. Google.com expires on 9/13/2020. Type in any domain name here to get all sorts of nerdy tidbits about the domain.

Now you can renew your domain with the registration company that sends you this automatically generated email, but they are not where your domain is right now. How do I know? Because your domain name is probably set to automatically renew with your current registrar. They have your credit card on file, and they will charge your credit card for another year on the day your domain expires without making any big fuss about it.

If the credit card on file is expired then your current company will contact you, but they’re message is going to talk specifically about updating your credit card information.

Another helpful tip: Don’t click the links in any email that someone sends you about your domain name. If the email is from GoDaddy and you know that you purchased your domain from GoDaddy. Just go ahead and open a web browser and type godaddy.com into the address bar. Don’t worry, once you log in GoDaddy will only be too happy to guide you directly to the screen where you update your credit card.