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tips Why you should renew domains in advance

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AbdulBasit.com

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AbdulBasit.com
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Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to share my point of view on why you should renew your domains in advance and the benefits of it.

So let’s check at how renewing your domains for a longer period than a year might prevent a big headache in the course of time.

1) If you've developed a website and worked hard for marketing your brand and receiving a great number of audience on your domain name, simply don’t let that site suddenly go dark because you forget to renew the domain on due time. So when your registration expires, any services associated with the domain (your website, email service, and so on) stops working. Sometimes the domain renewal alerts can easily get overlooked due to aggressive spam filters on your email account, an overflowing inbox, or any of life’s other distractions.

2) As it may happen with anyone and there are some situations happening around us which are not in our control like the current global situation regarding the virus and its impact to overall humanity. This may lead to weak financial condition, savings are needed to be used for some emergency and more important needs and last but not the least, the lack of domain sales can kill the cash flow in such tough times.

3) There are also some cases where investors tend to renew domains each and every month as the renewal comes for their large portfolio of domains but with any sudden death in family or the domain owner itself, hospitalization, any case of emergency, etc may put your domains at risk of expiring and ultimately to drop. So it's better to renew a lot in advance.

4) Another positive side of renewing the domain is like when any endusers or domain brokers find the domain is near to expiration, they may try to wait for the domain to drop and either hand register it or backorder to secure the domain. But when your domain is renewed in advance let's suppose for an addition of 3 or 5 years, chances are high that the interested party would try to contact and buy directly from you rather than waiting for years for the domain to expire.

So never give a slight hope to anyone that your good domains are going to drop anywhere in the near future. Give yourself peace of mind by renewing your domains far in advance so you don’t accidentally lose them.

As for my portfolio, when it was around 1,000 domains, it was quite easy for me to renew domains for at least a couple of years ahead of expiry. But with the portfolio growing and now little over 4,000 domains, it's difficult to renew that much in advance. But still I have all my domain keepers renewed for an additional 1 year.

Feel free to give your feedback about my strategy and share your own to let others know.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I win domains waiting it out all the time strength is having a long expiry but only do it with your sure things.
 
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I would rather put the funds into growth, but, eventually, yes, will divert the funds into renewing early.

It could be a good cash flow management and tax optimization tool.

For developed projects, renewing ahead could also help with SEO as another, albeit weak, positive signal.
 
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Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to share my point of view on why you should renew your domains in advance and the benefits of it.

So let’s check at how renewing your domains for a longer period than a year might prevent a big headache in the course of time.

1) If you've developed a website and worked hard for marketing your brand and receiving a great number of audience on your domain name, simply don’t let that site suddenly go dark because you forget to renew the domain on due time. So when your registration expires, any services associated with the domain (your website, email service, and so on) stops working. Sometimes the domain renewal alerts can easily get overlooked due to aggressive spam filters on your email account, an overflowing inbox, or any of life’s other distractions.

2) As it may happen with anyone and there are some situations happening around us which are not in our control like the current global situation regarding the virus and its impact to overall humanity. This may lead to weak financial condition, savings are needed to be used for some emergency and more important needs and last but not the least, the lack of domain sales can kill the cash flow in such tough times.

3) There are also some cases where investors tend to renew domains each and every month as the renewal comes for their large portfolio of domains but with any sudden death in family or the domain owner itself, hospitalization, any case of emergency, etc may put your domains at risk of expiring and ultimately to drop. So it's better to renew a lot in advance.

4) Another positive side of renewing the domain is like when any endusers or domain brokers find the domain is near to expiration, they may try to wait for the domain to drop and either hand register it or backorder to secure the domain. But when your domain is renewed in advance let's suppose for an addition of 3 or 5 years, chances are high that the interested party would try to contact and buy directly from you rather than waiting for years for the domain to expire.

So never give a slight hope to anyone that your good domains are going to drop anywhere in the near future. Give yourself peace of mind by renewing your domains far in advance so you don’t accidentally lose them.

As for my portfolio, when it was around 1,000 domains, it was quite easy for me to renew domains for at least a couple of years ahead of expiry. But with the portfolio growing and now little over 4,000 domains, it's difficult to renew that much in advance. But still I have all my domain keepers renewed for an additional 1 year.

Feel free to give your feedback about my strategy and share your own to let others know.

Interesting & has its advantages. Like you said though, for XL portfolios, it becomes kinda hard & too expensive to do, maybe too risky.

imo
 
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Interesting & has its advantages. Like you said though, for XL portfolios, it becomes kinda hard & too expensive to do, maybe too risky.

imo

Yes, it gets hard as the portfolio grows.
But can you explain how it could be risky?
 
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Risky is time vs outbound vs type in as long as time is managed well enough to bring income. If names require outbound vs names good enough to bring a visitor there is another management level.
 
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Yes, it gets hard as the portfolio grows.
But can you explain how it could be risky?

I mean things could come up, like buying a very nice name, maybe a one word or whatever, or anything else that might be urgent, you'd be looking for the cash you already used to pay for 5 years of renewal for thousands of domains.

Yes, it may pay off, however I do think it is still a MAJOR expense. Who likes expenses, not mention "4-5 years in advance".

imo
 
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I mean things could come up, like buying a very nice name, maybe a one word or whatever, or anything else that might be urgent, you'd be looking for the cash you already used to pay for 5 years of renewal for thousands of domains.

Yes, it may pay off, however I do think it is still a MAJOR expense. Who likes expenses, not mention "4-5 years in advance".

imo

Right. But I still believe renewing around couple of years in advance is a good idea. In long run I plan to keep at least 2 years ahead of renewal date. Though it will take some time to reach at that level.

Thanks for your feedback (y)
 
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The commitment is you already spent it should be as valuable to protect assets as much as desire to grow portfolio.
 
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I let my GD DDC expired this month. If you have a DDC and you are not planning to renew it. Then take advantage of it by renewing your domains in advance.

Also, sometimes I noticed that end-users use renewal as a trap. They wait for the domain to expire and then later they try to get it from aftermarket or on the drop. So, renewing in advance prompt him to contact u.
 
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It cuts both ways as far as potential buyers. As far as whether a domain renewed far out versus less than a year left on it is more or less appealing to the buyer.

There are those buyers who are hoping the domain will drop. These buyers don’t always have a pressing need and might have a take it or leave attitude towards the name. One or even two years out isn’t really enough to convince such buyers that the domain will not drop. They might still wait. In other words - such “on the fence about whether they even want the name” “hoping for drop” buyers might just forget about your name if they see it renewed far out in time.

As far as buyers who are more motivated to acquire the domain, but still hoping for a drop, seeing that it is coming up for renewal soon might give them enough hope to keep a close eye on it, and then noting that it was paid out / renewed one year might be enough to push them to action.
 
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It cuts both ways as far as potential buyers. As far as whether a domain renewed far out versus less than a year left on it is more or less appealing to the buyer.

There are those buyers who are hoping the domain will drop. These buyers don’t always have a pressing need and might have a take it or leave attitude towards the name. One or even two years out isn’t really enough to convince such buyers that the domain will not drop. They might still wait. In other words - such “on the fence about whether they even want the name” “hoping for drop” buyers might just forget about your name if they see it renewed far out in time.

As far as buyers who are more motivated to acquire the domain, but still hoping for a drop, seeing that it is coming up for renewal soon might give them enough hope to keep a close eye on it, and then noting that it was paid out / renewed one year might be enough to push them to action.

That's a good point and there are such potential buyers as well.

But when a domain is renewed for longer period of time, let's say 5-7 years in advance, that will motivate only the serious buyers (if that's the domain they really need it) to still get in contact and not to wait for the domain to drop.

I've actually categorized like top tier domains including some of the best and not for sale domains renewed almost for maximum period like GRO.com (for sale), AbdulBasit.com (not for sale) and many others which has expiry in 2028 and 2030.
 
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Thanks for sharing. I've started doing this on a selection of names, from 2-5 years ahead. It's a good feeling locking them down.

Actually, when renewing several years in advance, I feel more relaxed in knowing this is a marathon. Not a sprint.
 
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I feel that the serious end user buyers who really need or want the domain don’t even look at the renewal date. The ones who think or hope the domain will drop are already considering other names.

Another issue to consider is that whenever you sell a domain whatever time is left on it for renewal you’re just giving away free to the buyer. And the buyer won’t pay you more for a domain renewed out two years versus one. While this “free paid up renewal” you’re giving away doesn’t mean much on one domain, it does add up if you sell a lot of domains per year.
 
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As far as buyers who are more motivated to acquire the domain, but still hoping for a drop, seeing that it is coming up for renewal soon might give them enough hope to keep a close eye on it, and then noting that it was paid out / renewed one year might be enough to push them to action.
That is the strategy I adopted long ago. Let interest for a name that might drop grow and renew close to expiration.

Sometimes, sales will happen not long after the renewal. With the grace period, there's no reason to lose them.
 
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In my opinion it is a waste of money and if you are concerned about those kind of buyers who wait for the drop, better not, they are not the buyers you are hoping to sell to, they are mostly domainers or buyers with $100 budget.

The serious buyers with a decent budget of spending do not really care about domain expiry.

I SOLD A DOMAIN FOR $5,000 WITHIN 2 DAYS BEFORE EXPIRY.
I sold so many domains within the last month of expiry.
I once sold a domain after it was expired for $999.

I believe renewing your domain on time is the best practice. however i encourage 1 year ahead just in case.
 
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I feel that the serious end user buyers who really need or want the domain don’t even look at the renewal date. The ones who think or hope the domain will drop are already considering other names.

Another issue to consider is that whenever you sell a domain whatever time is left on it for renewal you’re just giving away free to the buyer. And the buyer won’t pay you more for a domain renewed out two years versus one. While this “free paid up renewal” you’re giving away doesn’t mean much on one domain, it does add up if you sell a lot of domains per year.

For your first point, there are brand protection, management companies and domain brokers who are looking to buy domains on behalf of their client most probably check out the expiry date and possibly suggests their client accordingly... Just one factor for them to inform their client if needed.

About your last point, that's right. But on a larger picture, the impact is big. Overall the renewal costs goes up in advance and you give away a year or more for free but you never know if this was one of the reasons for the buyer in making the purchase.
 
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That is the strategy I adopted long ago. Let interest for a name that might drop grow and renew close to expiration.

Sometimes, sales will happen not long after the renewal. With the grace period, there's no reason to lose them.

This strategy works too but you've to consider other factors as well as mentioned in the initial post. To be on the safe side and have peace of mind.
 
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Though cash in hand is preferable if it can be well-applied elsewhere, there is the potential for savings in that renewal prices can and likely will go up and you could save the difference. The extreme example of potential savings here is "forever registration". Does forever registration with Epik renew to the max years, or do they do year by year?

My counter to this argument is, if you find it worth the trouble, to transfer your names to another registrar offering a transfer promotion (e.g. Black Friday / Cyber Monday). This could save you over over $1000 a year per 1000 domains. You could keep doing this every year theoretically.

When companies do transfer promotions like $6.99 for .com, is this ever applicable to more than one year in advance?
 
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In my opinion it is a waste of money and if you are concerned about those kind of buyers who wait for the drop, better not, they are not the buyers you are hoping to sell to, they are mostly domainers or buyers with $100 budget.

The serious buyers with a decent budget of spending do not really care about domain expiry.

I SOLD A DOMAIN FOR $5,000 WITHIN 2 DAYS BEFORE EXPIRY.
I sold so many domains within the last month of expiry.
I once sold a domain after it was expired for $999.

I believe renewing your domain on time is the best practice. however i encourage 1 year ahead just in case.

Sales happen all the time. There are fixed timing as we all know. But as said earlier, you may want to consider some other factors for renewing your domains in advance.
 
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Though cash in hand is preferable if it can be well-applied elsewhere, there is the potential for savings in that renewal prices can and likely will go up and you could save the difference. The extreme example of potential savings here "forever registration".

My counter to this argument is, if you find it worth the trouble, to transfer your names to another registrar offering a transfer promotion (e.g. Black Friday / Cyber Monday). This could save you over over $1000 a year per 1000 domains. You could keep doing this every year theoretically.

When companies do transfer promotions like $6.99 for .com, is this ever applicable to more than one year in advance?

I think such transfer offers especially for .com domains are for limited number of domains per card/account and for 1 year only. Not worth it unless any registrar offers unlimited number of domain transfers at an attractive price which I doubt will happen for the .com extension.
 
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I recently did this with 100 domains to Namecheap (max). While I did save some money, at times it didn't feel worth the trouble. Sometimes registrars do offer deals like this with no limit.

Edit: If you get in contact with the right person at the registrar directly, he or she may be willing to offer you a bulk discount as well.
 
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All good points, seems like a no brainer when they're all listed together like that..I have forgotten about one or two at foreign registrars and had to pay extra fee to recover. Also was asked by sedo to renew a sold listing before transferring. Didn't realize they require sixty days or more left on expiry.
 
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How about "forever" registrations for the cream of the crop?

Has anyone dipped their feet into this renewal method yet?
 
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Thanks for great post @AbdulBasit.com!

I agree entirely that names used for development should always be renewed well in advance.

I think a selection of valuable other domain names should also be renewed in advance. Not only might you get better rates, but as you point out the renewal places you in better bargaining position.

Clearly names that you are unsure about renewing might want to wait until near end.

Bob
 
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