One morning the site is gone and email bounces. You are not hacked — your domain expired. Here is what happens and what to do, in order.
The phases (worth knowing)
- 1. Active — everything works. Renewal is cheapest here.
- 2. Expired (grace period) — the site and mail go down immediately, but the domain is still yours. You usually have around 30 days to renew at the normal price. This is where most people panic — and where the fix is simple.
- 3. Redemption — the domain is withdrawn; you can still recover it, but with a penalty fee many times the renewal price. Usually 30 days.
- 4. Released — the domain goes back on open registration. Anyone can take it — and that is where the real problem starts.
The worst case
If someone takes the domain you built for years: you lose your Google positions, every link pointing to you, your email addresses, and sometimes you must buy it back from a reseller at an unreasonable price. There are companies that hunt expired domains for exactly this.
What to do IMMEDIATELY if it expired
- Do not wait — every day moves you closer to phase 3
- Contact your registrar or us — first we check which phase it is in
- Pay the renewal; the site and mail return once DNS refreshes (up to a few hours)
How to prevent it (5 minutes)
- Turn on auto-renew — the most important thing
- Check the contact email on the domain. The classic: notices go to a former employee, or to an address at your own domain — which stops working the moment the domain drops. Use a personal address you always read.
- Make sure the card is not expired — auto-renew fails silently
- Register for multiple years — 2-3 years at once is cheaper and calmer
- Put a calendar reminder — 30 days before expiry, independent of every system
A detail worth thousands
The domain must be registered to your company with your contact email. If it is on the developer, the notices go to them — and if they vanished, you find out when the site goes down.
With us: we track expiries and notify in advance; the domain is in your name from day one.
For .mk and .мкд: registration and renewal go through MARnet or an accredited registrar — check the status at whois.marnet.mk.