Redalto Communications Support Site

Question: What is the Australian Domain Name Expiration Process?

This question relates to category Domain Names

Answer:

This applies to domains with the extension, .com.au, .net.au, etc.

In Australia, domains names are registered in two year periods (no more or no less is possible).

If a domain name owner either decides they no longer want the domain name or simply forgets to renew it, the domain name goes though the following Domain Name Expiry & Deletion process:

  • Day 0                     Domain name is not renewed (expires)
  • Day 1 – 30            Domain Name Suspend/Grace period
  • Day 31                   Domain Name Purged from Registry and becomes available

At day 0                When the domain expires, all the customers web services (email, website, etc) are removed from the global domain name system (DNS) meaning that all website requests and emails will bounce. When this happens, it does not mean that the domain is available for registration.

Day 1 – 30            At this point the domain status in the Whois Database changes to “serverUpdateProhibited” and “serverHold” which means that the domain is in a suspended from being used by any parties. This provides the original owner a 30 day grace period during which the domain is available for renewal by the original owner only. Again, all services including website and email are offline.

Day 31  After 30 days have lapsed the domain name is “deleted” or purged from the domain name registry system. This means that at this point the domain name becomes available for renewal by the general public. The exact time this ‘deletion’ occurs is random, and this is where things get a little challenging.

Registering an ‘Australian’ domain name at Day 31
Due to the short supply of really cool domain names, demand has increased considerably for expired domain names. If you’re interested in a domain name which you think another party might be interested in, things can get very competitive.

New services have sprung up in the past year or so servicing this particular niche. They are known as Expired Domain Catchers, or Dropped Domain Catchers, or similar.

If you think the domain name you are interested in is not likely to be of interest to any other party, simply check periodically on Day 31 at www.redalto.com.au/domains to see if the domain has become available yet.

Otherwise, we suggest to sign up with one or more Expired Domain Catch services.

If you require any assistance with this process please contact us. We provide a service where we can manage this process for you.

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  • Author: Redalto Domains Manager
  • Created on: 28 Apr 2010
  • Views: 942
  • Last modified: 28 Apr 2010

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