Renew your domain

Your Registrar can help you with your domain renewal.

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.

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FAQ

To renew your domain, you need to pay the renewal fee to your registrar. Before your domain comes up for renewal, your registrar will notify you. So make sure all the contact details you provided are correct. You should follow your registrar’s domain name renewal process. Once the payment is made, your registrar can renew your domain. For more information, please contact your registrar about their renewal terms and conditions.

If you receive notification from your registrar that your domain is due for renewal and you do not renew it your registrar will not renew the domain name on your behalf. This could result in your domain name being deleted. For further information about domain renewals please contact your registrar.

To check when your domain is due for renewal, type your domain name into the WHOIS search box at the top of this page. The field ‘Renewal Date’ will show the date for renewal. Your domain will completely expire 80 days after its renewal date if it is not renewed.

All .ie domains will be auto-renewed on their renewal date for 1-year. This means that the renewal fee will be automatically deducted from your Registrar Current Account.

  • -  At any time up to 45 days past the original expiry date, a Registrar can choose to cancel the auto-renewal.
  • -  If a Registrar initiates a deletion request for a domain, the domain will move to the Redemption Period state. In this state the domain will be excluded from the active zone which will cease any email or web hosting services associated with this domain.
  • -  A Registrar can restore the domain within a 30-day timeframe from entering the Redemption Period.
  • -  If the domain is not restored during those 30 days, the domain will enter Pending Delete state for 5 days.
  • -  During these five days the domain can no longer be renewed or re-registered.
  • -  The Registrant Contact and Administrative Contact will be contacted by email to inform them that the deletion process has begun for the domain name.
  • -  In cases where a domain is deleted due to its failure to auto-renew (owing to inadequate funds in a Registrar's current account), the deletion process will take place 80 days after the expiry date and time.
To ensure the renewal of the domain, the payment information should be up-to-date.

The most common reason for a domain name to be suspended is non-payment of the renewal fee to your current Registrar. A domain will be suspended on the 45th day after the renewal date has passed if the fee remains unpaid. When suspended, the domain name is still registered to the current holder, but does not have any functionality. This means that your website and emails will not operate. The suspension period lasts for an additional 30 days, after which your domain will enter Pending Delete state for 5 days. Payment of the renewal fee will still be accepted up to the point of domain entering Pending Delete state, which will occur 30 days after the suspension date. When the domain enters the 5 days Pending Delete state, the domain can no longer be renewed. After deletion, the domain name is removed from the .ie database and becomes available to the general public for re-registration on a first come first served basis.

Yes, if your application expires, your documents will need to be provided again.