Domain names are rented and not owned.
You rent them and they remain yours for the duration of the time that you actively pay for their renewal.
Before the actual expiration, our systems send a domain name renewal notification within 30-45 days.
This is done because we know that there are TLD registries that delete domains even before the expiration date if you don't renew early enough.
The actual expiration is calculated based on the number of years you rented the domain for.
So for example, say you purchased your domain for one (1) year on 2022-04-18T09:11:53Z.
Our systems will send these reminders thrice until 2023-04-18.
The easiest way to ensure that your domain name stays active and that you never lose your domain is to turn on auto-renew.
This is the default when you purchase/register a domain with us or you transfer the domain registration to our domain name services.
By enabling this option, payment and future renewal payments for the domain are handled automatically.
Please note that you can't use assigned credits to pay the fee for renewing the registration for a domain.
If you want to keep the domain, all you need to do (if you changed your payment method or perhaps do not have a valid payment option attached to your account) is manually log in and renew it before that date.
If, however, you do not want to keep the domain, no further action is needed.
The domain will then will fall into the public domain.
The date when this happens may vary slightly based on the registry, records, and time zones.
Once that happens, the domain will go offline and f you use your domain to send and receive an email (using Web Hosting Magic or a third-party service), emails will no longer be delivered.
If you come back later and want to restore the domain, some registries may charge you a premium to restore the expired domain.
