Reminder to renew

It is important to remember that your domain name comes up for renewal, usually every year. Longer term options are also available, up to 10 years, which you can discuss with your .ie accredited Registrar, where you would have originally bought your domain.

If you’ve forgotten who your Registrar is or your renewal date – don’t worry. Enter your domain name in the search box at the bottom of this page, then click “Full Whois information”.

• Your Registrar’s name will be listed beside ‘Registrar’
• The domain expiry date is listed beside ‘Registry Expiry Date’

What happens if you forget to renew?

Forgetting to renew your domain could have a big impact on you and your business:

• Your website and email will stop working. This could cause massive disruptions to your business and negatively impact customer trust. A non-functioning website and email address gives the impression that you are no longer in operation.
• You could lose your SEO ranking. You run the risk of losing your position on search engine results pages, potentially within a couple of hours. We know building an effective search engine optimisation strategy can take time.
• You could lose your domain name. The domain will be available for someone else to buy. You run the very real risk of a competitor claiming your domain, leaving you without the unique name you want for your business or personal brand.

Renewing with your Registrar

You will be prompted to renew your domain in the lead up to its renewal date by your Registrar. You can contact them directly with any queries you may have.

Important note:

• Check that the contact details associated with your domain are up-to-date and accurate. Your Registrar will contact you by email to remind you to renew your domain so it is important that they have the correct email address.
• Pay attention to renewal email notifications when they are sent and take the appropriate actions as required.

Quick and easy auto-renew

You can also choose to renew your domain automatically which will ensure that you never miss a domain renewal. It can be easy to overlook renewal reminder emails, so auto-renew ensures you never run the risk of missing your renewal date and losing your domain, website and email. If you would like to avail of this option, talk to your Registrar directly and they can set it up for you. If you decide to auto-renew, you will still be notified by email when your renewal is due and before payment is taken.

Security step to take if you decide not to renew

If you decide not to renew your domain, there is a very important cybersecurity step you need to take.

• Update any third party sites or online subscriptions that used an email connected to the domain, with a replacement email address.

If your email address or recovery email address for accounts on third party sites is connected to your lapsed domain, a bad actor can purchase that domain, set up email on it and has the ability to hijack your account on the third party service by requesting a password re-set. This poses a particular risk on third party sites that have e-commerce or financial transactions as you could be defrauded out of your money.

These same bad actors could take control of your social media channels and post inappropriate content and it would appear to the whole world as originating from you. This poses a risk of reputational damage to you personally or to your organisation.