What is the domain recovery period and how can I restore my domain names?
This article tells you what the domain recovery period is, and how to reactivate domain names within this period.
What is the domain recovery period?
When a domain name expires, there is a grace period of 18 days where the domain can be renewed via your Control Panel for the standard renewal price. After day 18, the domain enters the recovery period, and you’ll contact our Support team for renewals.
After this 18-day grace period, an expired domain name may enter the domain recovery or redemption period, which can last up to 75 days post-expiry. During this time, an additional redemption fee + 1 year renewal fee + VAT will be needed to recover the domain to your 123 Reg account.
You can find more information about each stage of the grace period for most TLDs (i.e. .com, .net, .org, etc) by reading the table below.
| Days after domain expiration | What happens and what you can do |
|---|---|
| Day of expiration | We attempt to auto-renew the domain, or you can manually renew it for the standard renewal price. |
| +1 day | The domain is still active in your account, and you can manually renew it for the standard renewal price. |
| +5 days | The domain will be parked, and any connected website or email will stop working. You can manually renew the domain for the standard renewal price. |
| +12 days | We'll make a final attempt to auto-renew the domain. You can manually renew the domain for the standard renewal price. |
| +18 days | The domain is no longer active in your account. You can attempt to recover the domain, with an additional redemption fee. |
| +26 days | The domain goes to auction, but you can attempt to recover the domain with an additional redemption fee. If there's an active bid at auction, the domain cannot be renewed. |
| +30 days | You can attempt to recover the domain with an additional redemption fee. If there's an active bid at auction, the domain cannot be renewed. |
| +36 days | The domain goes to a final closeout auction. If there is no pending purchase of the domain, you can attempt to recover the domain with an additional redemption fee. You cannot renew the domain if a purchase is pending. |
| +41 days | Final closeout auction ends. You can attempt to recover the domain with an additional redemption fee. |
| +72 days | The domain is removed from your account, and you cannot renew it anymore. You may be able to register the domain after the registry has released it using our domain name search tool. However, 123 Reg can't advise when the registry will release a domain for registration. |
Recovering my domain
After day 18, you will need to contact our Support team to renew your domain.
To attempt a manual recovery of your domain name, please confirm the domain name with our Support team and that they can charge the redemption fee + 1 year renewal fee + VAT, upon the successful recovery of your domain name.
For further information on how to renew your domain, please read the following article: Renew my domainsRenewing your domain in advance of expiry
123 Reg recommend that you renew your domain names ahead of their expiry date through your Control Panel, as described here.
All domain names are set to auto renew by default, where 123 Reg are able to take payment for your domains. We suggest you keep your payment details up-to-date to ensure automatic domain renewal.
Remember, you can renew most domains for up to 10 years to help ensure you do not incur downtime or additional costs for your domain, site and email. This is a great way to secure your domain name as a committed business asset as well as save on inflation price changes moving forward.