.de More Than a Month Left Before Expiration and Can't Renew?

[Ms Domainer]

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What a load of crap!

I have more than a month left on my (lone) .de domain and it has been disabled and I can't renew it from my panel.

So now is the registration 11 months instead of 12 months?

Rip off!

Now I'll have to get in touch with my rep...

Maybe I should just let the darn thing go.

Come to think of it, I don't need it anyway, and it's not worth the hassle!

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[Kate]

Where is it registered ?
.de domains do not expire, they are renewed until you explicitly renounce them. My guess is that the particular registrar wants payment for renewal early so they have enough time to cancel the auto-renew.

I guess you can still transfer the domain to another registrar

 

[Ms Domainer]

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It's at Godaddy.

My rep told me that .de has a weird renewal schedule, and that he would take care of the renewal, which he did.

But now the domain has completely disappeared from my panel.

???

I'll check it again tomorrow; maybe it will then resolve itself. Sometimes that happens.

How does one "renounce" a domain, anyway?

File for legal separation?



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[Kate]

I would not recommend using the big (American) registrars for ccTLDs.
They seem to think that all ccTLDs should work like gTLDs, or they try to make it appear like that to their customers, but they make things more confusing in the end.

In general ccTLDs have peculiarities and not work like gTLDs. .us, .in etc yes they are similar but not .de or most European extensions.

I would rather use a German or Austrian registrar.
BTW .de domains are often charged by the month (€1 or so). They do not have open-ended terms like 1 year or 10 years, they just live on until cancellation.

Contrary to some other Top Level Domains, .de domains are registered for an indefinite period, no extensions are required. Neither is a provider entitled to delete a domain if the domain holder is in arrears with their payment or cannot be reached. Instead, the TRANSIT procedure is applied. The TRANSIT procedure is similar to the redemption grace period process of other Top Level Domains, but offers considerably better service and security. Going beyond what is offered by a redemption grace period, a domain in TRANSIT is secured against being newly registered. On top of that, DENIC proactively contacts the domain holder during this period, actively informs them of the options available to them (deletion, provider change) and supports them directly in implementing the chosen solution.

http://www.denic.de/en/faq-single/3437/1/247.html?cHash=ab9a10c2bc25f7cf36f460e03e7f96d1


What happens to a domain when its holder dies?
What do I do if I want to arrange to have my domain deleted?

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Thanks, Kate.

I have only one .de, so once it resolves again in my account, I'll just turn on auto renew.

That's really wild, all that you have to do to cancel a .de domain. At least you can't lose a domain due to neglect.

I can only imagine the nightmare in transferring one of these domains.

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[Kate]

Same with .at: domains not paying for renewal does not mean you are renouncing them, and if you don't pay the bill the registry will chase you
Domainers who don't pay attention to the little details can be surprised.

The good thing is that names in these extensions are treated like assets and can be inherited

Transfers are easy. It takes 1 minute. Auth code, Enter, Done.
But no push. Not like gTLDs but as long as you are aware of the differences you will be fine.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Thanks, Kate.

Anyway, the domain is back in my account.

In this case, I have enabled automatic renewal; believe me, I spent more in aggravation than I would have waiting for a Godaddy coupon.



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