What Happens When Your .com.au Domain Expires? The Day-by-Day Timeline

When a .com.au domain expires, your website and email stop working that day. You then have a 30-day grace period to renew it through your provider. If you don’t, auDA removes it from the registry and anyone can register it, first come, first served. Here’s the timeline, day by day, and what to do at each point.

What happens to a .com.au domain, day by day?

Up to 90 days before expiry

A .au licence runs for a set term, and auDA lets you renew it “up to 90 days prior to the licence expiry date” (auDA). This is the safe zone, while nothing has stopped.

It’s also when a lapsed ABN can catch you out. Renewal checks now look at whether the business behind a .com.au is still active. Our guide to the .com.au renewal ABN check explains what to look at first.

Expiry day

The licence ends. auDA says you can’t use or update the domain during the grace period, and your “website and email services will stop working”. Visitors can’t reach your site. Customer emails may not reach you, and you may not be able to send from your business address.

In our experience, this is usually how owners find out. A customer rings to say the website is “broken”, or quotes stop arriving.

Days 1 to 30: the grace period

You have 30 calendar days to renew through your current provider. Do it today, not next week. Each day offline costs enquiries, and auDA notes that some providers charge a fee to restore a name during this period. Once it’s renewed, allow a little time for the website and email to come back as DNS settles.

If your provider has gone out of business, or you can’t get into the account, our expired domain recovery service can help you work through it.

After day 30: removal

If it isn’t renewed, the name “will be removed from the registry at the end of the 30 days”. It’s then available to anyone who’s eligible, first come, first served. auDA also warns about drop catchers, which specialise in grabbing names as soon as they’re released.

At that point you’re no longer renewing. You’re trying to register it again, and you may be competing with someone faster.

Is a .com domain different?

Yes. Generic domains such as .com follow ICANN’s Expired Registration Recovery Policy. Registrars must send reminders about a month and a week before expiry. They must also switch off the domain’s DNS, which takes the website offline, for at least eight days before the name is deleted (ICANN). After deletion, there’s usually a further 30-day redemption period, which often carries a much higher fee.

Exact timings vary between registrars. If you hold both a .com.au and a .com, check each one’s expiry date separately.

Why is “I’ll renew it next week” risky?

• The renewal email went somewhere else. It may have gone to a former staff member or your old web designer.
• The card on file expired. Auto-renew failed quietly, and nobody noticed.
• You can’t log in. Password resets go to the same old email address.
• The notice looked like a scam. Some fake ones are very convincing.

That last one is real. The ACCC had two companies penalised $1.95 million over about 300,000 notices that “looked like a renewal invoice” for an existing domain name (ACCC). Businesses paid about $2.3 million. So owners learn to ignore renewal emails, and then miss the real one.

How do I make sure it never happens again?

1. Find every expiry date. Look up each domain your business uses and write the dates in one place.
2. Use a shared contact address. Point renewal emails to accounts@ or admin@, not one person’s inbox.
3. Turn on auto-renew with a current card. Our guide to domain auto renew covers when it fails.
4. Renew for longer. A multi-year term means fewer chances to miss a date. Compare the domain renewal price before you choose a provider.
5. Lock your account. Two-factor login and registrar locks are part of good domain security.

Our approach to domain renewals without surprises covers reminders, auto-renew and keeping contact details current. If you’d like everything in one place, you can register your domain with WMS. A .com.au costs $80 + GST for two years.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to renew an expired .com.au domain?

auDA allows a 30 calendar day grace period after the expiry date. During that time you can renew it through your provider, although some charge a restore fee. After 30 days, the name is removed from the registry and anyone eligible can register it.

Why did my email stop working at the same time as my website?

Both depend on the domain. When the licence expires, the domain stops pointing to your website and mail servers, so both stop together. Renewing the domain brings them back, usually within a few hours.

Can someone else register my domain while it’s in the grace period?

No. During the 30-day grace period, only the current registrant can renew it through their provider. The risk starts when the name is removed at the end of the grace period, because it’s then available first come, first served.

My domain was released and someone else registered it. What now?

You can approach the new holder and offer to buy it, ideally through a neutral broker. If they registered it in bad faith to exploit your business name, the auDRP dispute process may help. Get advice before making an offer.

Will my Google rankings recover after an expired domain is renewed?

A short outage usually recovers once the site is back, but a long one can cost positions while Google rechecks the pages. The faster you renew, the smaller the effect. Check Search Console for errors once the site is live again.

Sources

1. Renew your .au domain name, auDA
2. Expired Registration Recovery Policy, ICANN, updated 21 February 2024
3. Domain Name Corp and Domain Name Agency to pay $1.95 million in penalties, ACCC, 15 June 2018