What happens when a client's domain expires (and how agencies lose the client)
By the RenewRoster team · · 8 min read
It usually starts with a support ticket that doesn't look like a domain problem. "The website is down." "We haven't had an email since yesterday." "Our online shop shows an ad page." Someone checks hosting, then DNS, and finally the registrar, and there it is: the domain expired four days ago and nobody renewed it.
For an agency, this is one of the most avoidable ways to lose a client. This post walks through what actually happens after a domain expires, what it costs to get it back at each stage, and why the damage to the relationship usually outlasts the outage.
The short version
| Stage | Typical timing (gTLDs like .com) | Site and email | Can you get it back? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expired, renewal grace | Day 0 to roughly day 30–45 | Usually down or parked within days | Yes, usually at the normal renewal price |
| Redemption grace period | 30 days after the registrar deletes it | Down | Yes, with a restore fee, often far above a renewal |
| Pending delete | 5 days | Down | No |
| Released | After pending delete | Whoever registers it controls it | Only by registering or buying it again, if you win |
The exact days vary by registry, registrar and TLD. Country-code domains (.uk, .de, .in, .io and others) follow their own registry rules, so always check the registrar's terms for the specific domain.
Day 0: the expiry date passes
The expiry date in the registry is the moment the paid registration term ends. For most generic TLDs the registry automatically renews the name at its end and gives the registrar a window, often up to 45 days, to either charge the customer or delete the name. That's why a domain can still look "registered" in a lookup for a while after it expires.
What the registrant sees depends on the registrar. Under ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ERRP), registrars of gTLD names must send renewal reminders before expiry and at least one notice after it, and must give the registrant a chance to renew after the expiry date. During that period the registrar has to interrupt the domain's normal DNS resolution, typically by pointing it at a "this domain has expired" or renewal page. Many registrars do this immediately; some wait a few days.
The practical effect for your client: the website stops loading and email stops arriving, often within hours. Every MX, SPF and DKIM record is attached to the domain, so mail to [email protected] bounces or vanishes. Payment pages, login pages and any app that lives on a subdomain go with it.
Renewal grace: the cheap window
For the first part of the post-expiry period, renewing is usually just a normal renewal. You log in, pay, and DNS is restored, although propagation and caches can mean a few more hours of patchy service. Some registrars add a small late fee; most don't.
The catch is that this window is easy to miss. The reminder emails go to whatever address is on the registrar account. For agencies that often means:
- an address at the client's company that belonged to someone who has since left;
- a shared inbox at the agency that nobody triages for registrar mail;
- a personal address of the freelancer who set the site up years ago.
And auto-renew fails silently when the card on file expires or the bank declines a foreign charge. Registrars do email about failed payments, but to the same address that nobody reads.
Redemption grace period: the expensive window
If nobody renews, the registrar deletes the registration at the registry. For non-sponsored gTLDs the registry must then hold the name in a 30-day Redemption Grace Period (RGP). During RGP, DNS is disabled, the domain can't be transferred, and only the registrar that deleted it can restore it, at the registrant's request.
Restoring costs real money. The registry charges the registrar a restore fee, and registrars pass it on with their own markup. Retail restore prices of roughly $80 to $250 or more on top of the renewal are common, and premium registrars can charge more. Some registrars also stop offering self-service restore and require a support ticket, which adds days.
This is also the stage where the conversation with the client gets uncomfortable, because now there's a visible bill for something they assumed was being handled.
Pending delete and release: the point of no return
After redemption, the name sits in pending delete for 5 days. Nobody can restore it during this time. When pending delete ends, the registry purges the name and it becomes available to anyone.
Names with traffic, backlinks or a short, brandable string are watched by drop-catching services that try to register them the instant they're released. If your client's domain had a few years of SEO history, there's a good chance someone else gets it. Getting it back then means a negotiation, an aftermarket purchase, or, only where there's a genuine trademark claim, a dispute process such as the UDRP. None of these are fast or cheap.
What it actually costs the agency
The registrar fees are the smallest part. The real costs land elsewhere:
- Lost revenue for the client. An online shop that's down for three days during a sale has a number attached, and it'll be mentioned.
- Email loss. Messages sent while the domain was down usually bounce. Customer enquiries, invoices and password resets are gone.
- SEO damage. A few days of downtime is usually recoverable. A dropped and re-registered domain often isn't.
- Unbillable hours. Diagnosing, escalating with the registrar, and calming the client is time you can't invoice.
- Trust. This is the big one. Clients don't distinguish between "the registrar account was in your name" and "the registrar account was in ours". They hired an agency to look after their web presence, and their web presence disappeared.
Plenty of agencies have quietly lost a retainer this way, not because of the outage itself, but because it made the client wonder what else wasn't being watched.
Why it keeps happening
Expired domains are rarely a skills problem. They're a visibility problem:
- Domains are spread across registrars. GoDaddy for older clients, Namecheap for some, Cloudflare for newer ones, plus whatever the client bought themselves.
- Ownership is unclear. Was it registered in the agency's account or the client's? Who pays?
- Renewal dates live in one person's head or in a spreadsheet that was last updated when they joined.
- Auto-renew is treated as a guarantee rather than a payment that can fail.
How to make sure it never happens to your clients
- Build one list of every domain you're responsible for. Include the registrar, account owner, who pays and the current expiry date. Our free renewal checklist template has the columns.
- Verify expiry dates from the registry, not memory. RDAP gives you the authoritative date. Paste your list into the free bulk domain + SSL checker to see where every domain stands today.
- Check who receives the registrar emails. Update stale contact addresses now, while nothing is on fire.
- Check auto-renew and the card behind it. Note card expiry months in your list.
- Set reminders well ahead of expiry. 60 days gives you time to chase a client for payment or approval. 30, 14 and 3 days are your safety nets.
- Make it someone's job. A named person, and a backup, review renewals every month.
If a domain has already expired, act today: log in to the registrar, check the status, and renew. If you're unsure which stage it's in, run it through the domain + SSL expiry checker and read our guide on what to do when a domain has expired.
Let RenewRoster watch every renewal for you
RenewRoster tracks every client's domain and SSL expiry dates, sends reminders at 60, 30, 14 and 3 days (under your agency's brand if you like) and gives you a monthly renewals report. Free for 5 domains, no card needed.
Sources
- ICANN: Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ERRP)
- ICANN: FAQs for registrants on renewals and expiration
- ICANN: EPP status codes