Expired domains – What happens next with the domain?

When you embark on the journey of digital marketing, choosing the right domain name comes on the first pedestal, followed by choosing the reliable registrar and hosting package. However, the task doesn’t end here. You must maintain your domain and host as well. Concerning your domain, it is important to understand that when you buy your domain, it doesn’t mean you will own it forever. Instead, you just become the holder of the domain rather than an owner. To keep your domain, you must renew the subscription by the end of the registration contract. However, if you don’t renew the subscription in time, the domain expires. Let’s know what happens with the expired domains and why you should not let your pknic domain expire.

Reasons to be wary of your domain expiration dates 

Before we take a tour of the domain life cycle and the procedural steps after expiration, we need you to contemplate the subject. Hence, we have compiled some critical reasons why you should not let your domain expire in the first place, such as;

• The new users of your domain will have access to the sensitive information associated with the expired domain—for example, financial details, personal information, email, and other confidential legal documents.
• Such a mistake can be much costlier than you think. If you lose your domain, your customers will be the first to notice. Indeed, it will be a customer service nightmare and a reason for major loss in sales. Hence, losing your PKNIC domain simply means the loss of traffic and positioning.
• Alarmingly, your emails will also be at risk. The owners can send and receive emails with your domain. Hence, they can intercept your emailing list.
• Cybercriminals are always on the go to get a chance to exploit the weak links. Hence, they re-register your domain in no time and commit a felony with your client base.
• After buying your domain, the damage cybercriminals can cause to your expired domain are endless. For example, they may use your domain for spam advertising or build blinks.
• Furthermore, they may also set up your domain with the parked pages for generating traffic to the malicious link. It may also be used to spread malware. It won’t have any direct impact on your reputation. However, it isn’t something that you may ever consider for your brand domain to be known for.
• The business domains having stable traffic are more vulnerable to malicious activities by cybercriminals. Indeed, the burglars may use it for fake e-commerce and phishing websites. It is the easiest way to get the buyer’s credit card information.
• Lastly, if your competitors have re-registered your domain, you may have to pay double or even more than the actual PKNIC domain price to get the expired domain back.

Domain lifecycle

As mentioned above, you don’t own a domain when you buy it, but you rent it. Consequently, it shifts from one owner to the other and passes through various stages of its lifecycle. Generally, the domain lifecycle comprises the following checkpoints.

• Available
• Registered
• Expired
• Grace Period
• Redemption period
• Pending delete
• Renewal/ Deletion

However, the lifecycle of gTLDS such as .com and ccTLDs such as pk domain are different. However, in both cases, when a domain expires after a certain period, it is released in public for re-registration.

Pknic card domain lifecycle

• When the registration period of a domain ends, the domain expires.
• After expiration, the domain enters the grace period in which the domain is disabled. However, it is still possible to renew it without any extra fee. Usually, domain registrars allow a grace period of about 29 days which is non-guaranteed. During this time, you can renew your PKNIC card and your domain. The registrar reserves the right to dispose of or transfer the expired domain to another registrar anytime during grace period.
• As the grace period is over, the domain enters the redemption phase or pending delete- restorable phase. The redemption phase initiates when the registrar issues a delete request to the registry. However, the previous registrant can still attempt to recover this domain via the previous registrar. There are two destinies for such domains; redemption grace period or extended redemption grace period.
• Following the redemption, the pknic domain is set to be deleted. The registry deactivates your domain and deletes it. However, PKNIC keeps the premium domain names and sells them via auction. So, if you had your brand name popular or your domain is in high demand, you would never wish to re-purchase it for multiple folds pknic domain price. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to get it back.
• However, PKNIC also reserves the right to hold the expired domain, and the duration of this hold is not known exactly. Maybe, the company policy decides this.
• Typically, the users purchase most of the domains in an auction. It releases the remaining PKNIC domains with no bids in public. Hence, the users may get the resulting domains on a first-come, first-get basis.

If you plan to work on sustaining your online existence in the future and don’t want the downgrading by silly negligence, you must be wary of your domain expiration dates. According to the experts, you must start your clock ticking at least one month before expiration.

How can I avoid getting my domain expired?

Amidst the busy schedule of business development and content, one may easily miss the domain expiration dates. Hence, here are some tips for never having an expired domain.

• The first and foremost measure you can take for your domain name protection is to set up an auto-renewal for your domain. Your credit card will be charged for domain renewal automatically.
• When you have set the auto-renewal, ensure that your credit card information is always up-to-date, active, and has funds for domain renewal fees. It would be best to keep a check on your domain account periodically.
• Registering your pk domain with a reliable domain registrar, Navicosoft, can also be enough to keep you from the fuss. A cooperative domain registrar notifies you via email multiple times before the expiry. Therefore, never miss any emails from your registrar.
• Ensure that you have shared your updated contact information with your hosting and domain registrar.
• It is always best to buy a domain for more than one year. PKNIC allows you to register for up to 10 years. It does not only save your domain from expiration but the overall renewal fee because it is mostly more than the initial registration. Hence, try to keep your domain for as longest as possible.
• You can set reminders ahead of time so that you may have enough time to renew your domain.
• Lastly, a domain name based on your brand is not a tangible commodity. Hence, if you are considerate of your financial security and privacy, you must avoid expiration.

Expired domain scams

Last but not least, I couldn’t close the topic without mentioning the scams for domains expiration. Currently, there have been scam cases where fraudulent people send you fake emails concerning your domain name expiration. Often, these emails contain links for the payment of the renewal fee.

Therefore, be aware of these scams for expired domains, and never click on such links.