Can domains expire?

[ZandraJoi]

Would a domain name ever expire? Is there a certain time limit? Do people auto-renew to make it easier? How far ahead can you pay?
Have you ever had a domain expire? What was the reasoning?

 

[Shortie]

Domain names can expire if you do not renew them. You can pay for a domain name for up to 2 years I believe when first purchasing one and I do believe you can pay to keep it active whenever if you go into your account and make a payment.

Domain names only expire if you have not paid for it for another say year and they are also then available for someone else to purchase after that, if you forget to renew you do have to be quick otherwise someone else will snatch it and you could result in losing it.

 

[Reverie]

I used to just have it on auto-renew that way I wouldn't forget! I've never had it expire, but it was close one time when I realized it only had one day left!

 

[Tracy]

Would a domain name ever expire? Is there a certain time limit? Do people auto-renew to make it easier? How far ahead can you pay?
Have you ever had a domain expire? What was the reasoning?

Generally, after 12 months you need to renew. I have a few domains that I've pre-paid for the up to 2025 or 2026... one is what I use for my "home" email and is related to an old domain that I had dealing with riding motorcycles in Texas and I used email accounts on it for my "normal" email for myself and my family. The other is my current site, and I'm about to renew my redneckhosting.com (see @Arantor I even use that term about myself ). That was one that I had thought about setting up a small hosting company with, but ended up deciding not to as I enjoy being retired to much, but I typically still use it as the base for any VPS I set up.
As for "paying ahead"? I'm sure you can easily do it for a decade or so... they don't really care as long as they get their money.
As for letting one expire.. several. Mainly because I no longer ran a site related to the domain. The only one I kind of wish I kept was thebent.bike (a recumbent bike site). I let it go because the renewals were around $25USD a year, and for that amount I could almost renew 3 domains for a year that I actually used. I have thought about buying it again and then grabbing a license for IPS (or renewing my dormant XF one) and setting up another recumbent bike site, but I'm not into that pursuit now.
I'd probably instead move my dso.photos over to a dedicated VPS running a gallery that can use CF R2 storage and set up a simple astronomy gallery for others to use.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Domain names can expire if you don't renew or register it for a certain amount of time. You can purchase a domain name to keep registered for up to one or even 10 years depending on the registrar. It's going to cost you more upfront if you are wanting to register your domain name for more than a year. It also varies on the extension when it comes to the price of renewing a domain name or simply purchasing one too. Case in point, if you've got a domain name that you don't want anyone else having then you need to either renew it when it's about to expire, or register it for a long period of time. Most registrars also allow you to set up auto renew, so that if you forget to renew your domain name in time then you won't have to worry about it expiring as long as your payment details are up to date in your account.