Renewing Domains

A domain renewal extends ownership of a domain by one or more years. Use this article when a domain is still active and you want to renew it before its expiry date, either manually or by enabling auto-renew. If a renewal has already failed or the domain has passed its expiry date, see the related articles linked at the end.

Warning: A renewal transaction is final and cannot be cancelled under any circumstances. OpenSRS cannot retrieve money from the registry for renewals, so resellers cannot be refunded for domains renewed in error.

When to use this article

This article covers renewals that happen before a domain expires, or within the standard renewal flow. A domain typically moves through these stages:

• Active: The domain is operational and can be renewed at the standard renewal rate (this article).
• Draft: A renewal attempt failed (usually due to insufficient funds). See How to Fix a Domain Renewal in Draft.
• Expired / Redemption: The domain has passed its expiry date. See Redeem an Expired Domain.

Before you begin

• Confirm you have access to the Reseller Control Panel at manage.opensrs.com.
• Check that your reseller account has enough funds to cover the renewal fee for the TLD. Renewal pricing varies by TLD and your current pricing tier.
• Review the TLD reference chart for TLD-specific renewal rules, auto-renew defaults, and term limits.
• For expired domains, do not change name servers manually unless transferring away. Name servers are restored automatically on successful renewal.

Step 1: Renew a single domain

1. In the Domains section of the Reseller Control Panel, enter all or part of the domain name and click Search.
2. Click the domain you want to renew.
3. Click Renew and select the renewal period from the drop-down.
4. Confirm the renewal to submit the order.

Step 2: Renew multiple domains in bulk

Use the bulk renewal feature to renew several domains at once or change renewal settings across a list of domains. Depending on the registry, domains can be renewed for one to ten years.

Note: Bulk renewals are not supported for Storefront domains.

1. Under the Domains tab in the Reseller Control Panel, select the checkbox next to each domain you want to renew.
2. From the Bulk Actions drop-down, choose Renew domain.
3. From the Renewal Period drop-down, choose the number of years.
4. If you are changing renewal settings, select one of the following:
   • Auto-Renew: Domains renew automatically at the end of each term.
   • Expire with notifications: Domains expire at the end of their terms, and you receive advance notifications.
   • Expire without notification: Domains expire at the end of their terms with no notification to you. Registrants still receive ICANN-mandated notices.
5. (Optional) Enter an email address in Email results to to receive the job results.
6. Click Renew domain.

Warning: Bulk renewals cannot be undone. If you select a renewal period incompatible with a given TLD (for example, five years for a TLD that supports only two), the job will complete but that domain will not be renewed. Already-processed renewals cannot be reversed, and many registries do not support refunds.

Step 3: Enable auto-renew on a domain

Auto-renew is a safety net for domains that must not be allowed to expire. Domains with auto-renew enabled are automatically renewed before the expiry date, provided the reseller account has sufficient funds.

1. In the Domains section of the Reseller Control Panel, search for the domain and click it.
2. Under Domain Settings, select Auto-Renew.
3. Click Save.

Auto-renew can also be set during registration (by reseller or registrant), through the bulk renewal tool, or via the API.

Note: If you enable auto-renew within 30 days of expiry, allow at least two days for the auto-renew job to process. If the domain is very close to expiry, renew manually as a safeguard — the auto-renew job will detect the manual renewal and will not apply an extra year.

Warning: Auto-renew transactions fail if your reseller account has insufficient funds. Maintain a balance large enough to cover upcoming auto-renewals, or add funds in advance.

Renewal reminder schedule

• Registrants receive reminders at 90, 60, 30, and 5 days before expiry, plus 3 and 10 days after expiry.
• Resellers receive reminders at 90, 60, 30, 1, and -40 day intervals.
• For gTLDs, the 30-day, 5-day before, and 3-day after reminders are mandatory. The 90-day, 60-day, and 10-day after reminders are optional.

ccTLD auto-renew defaults

Several ccTLDs auto-renew by default, even with no funds in the reseller account. To prevent automatic renewal, set the domain to expire explicitly before the expiry date. The cutoff for changing this setting varies by registry. Refer to the TLD reference chart for details.

DNS for expired domains

For most gTLDs and many ccTLDs (including .ASIA, .BIZ, .BZ, .CC, .COM, .IN, .INFO, .ME, .MOBI, .NAME, .NET, .ORG, .PRO, .TV, .US, .XXX, and new gTLDs like .BIKE, .ESTATE, .LIGHTING), DNS is replaced with OpenSRS name servers on the expiry date. The original DNS settings are saved and restored if the registrant renews or redeems the domain within the allowed window.

Reseller notifications for auto-renew changes

You can opt to receive notifications when end-users enable or disable auto-renew on their domains. Configure this in the Reseller Web Interface (RWI) or through Event Notifications in the Reseller Control Panel. Notifications are only sent when the auto-renew setting changes independently — they are not sent when auto-renew is set as part of a renewal request.

Next steps

• Renewal stuck in draft? See How to Fix a Domain Renewal in Draft to clear the failed order and retry.
• Domain already expired? See Redeem an Expired Domain for grace period and redemption steps.
• Need to fund your account? See Add funds to your reseller account.
• Confirm TLD-specific rules: Use the gTLD and ccTLD reference chart before bulk renewals or auto-renew changes.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.