What happens when .nz domains expire?

When you buy a domain, you’re purchasing it for a period of time. You never truly own the domain. It’s more like leasing it for a few years. And when that time’s up, the domain eventually goes back to the market for anybody to claim.

When you hold a domain, however, you have the exclusive right to renew that domain before it expires, making sure your website can keep using its domain.

If it’s been less than 90 days since your .nz domain expired, then your domain is recoverable.

But sometimes life can get busy, and things like domains can be left to the side and forgotten. Running a business involves managing lots of priorities, and domains can unintentionally be left to expire.

If you’ve accidentally let your domain lapse? It’s not ideal, but it happens sometimes.

Domain expired? Don’t panic

Just because you’ve let a domain expire doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve lost the domain. New Zealand’s .nz domains have a 90-day redemption period, where the most recent domain holder has the opportunity to restore the expired domain.

During the 90-day redemption period, however, all services provided through the domain (like Web Hosting and email) will stop working.

That means your website will no longer be visible to customers, and emails won’t be sent or received from accounts using the expired domain name. Once you recover and renew your domain, your Web Hosting and email services related to that domain will be restored.

The big takeaway here: if it’s been less than 90 days since your .nz domain expired, then your domain is recoverable.

How do I recover a domain in the redemption period?

If you’ve recently let your domain lapse, your next step is to contact your domain registrar (the company that works with the Domain Name Commission to register and update domains on your behalf). In a lot of cases, the registrar will be the company that you used to register the domain. Or you might be the customer of a domain reseller, which would mean that the actual registrar is a different company further up the supply chain. Either way, contact the company who supplied your domain and they'll know what to do or who to go to.

If you bought your domain through MyHost (or if you’ve transferred a domain to us) then we’re your registrar! If you’re unsure who your registrar is, then you can search for your .nz domain on the WHOIS lookup to see your registrar’s contact info.

If you’re a MyHost customer, you’ll see 'SiteTech Solutions Limited T/A SiteHost listed' as your registrar in the WHOIS lookup. That’s MyHost’s parent company, so that means everything is working as intended.

If your domain is in its redemption period and we’re your registrar, let us know and we can get it resolved for you.

Unsure what happened to your .nz domain?

If you think your domain has expired and are unsure if it’s in its redemption period or if it’s been deleted, then you can use the WHOIS lookup to see its current status.

If a domain you’re interested in is currently sitting in its 90-day redemption period, then you won’t be able to register the domain unless you were the previous registrant.

What happens after the redemption period?

After the redemption period, domains go through a couple of phases.

Pending delete

In the initial few days after the 90-day redemption period, the domain enters a ‘pending delete’ state where no one will be able to purchase or renew the domain. This includes both new purchasers and the previous registrant.

Calling it ‘delete’ is a bit of a misnomer, because domains are never truly deleted.

Back on the market

Once it’s been over 90 days since a .nz domain expired and the ‘pending delete’ phase is over, the domain becomes available again on the open market. At that point, anyone can register it on a first-come first-serve basis.

If your domain has expired and its redemption period has come and passed, you will have to register the domain again. To do that, of course, you’ll need to beat everyone else to it.

How do I know when my domain expires?

Your domain retailer should let you know when your domain is nearing its expiry date.

Here at MyHost we’ll let you know 60 days in advance, and if you still haven’t renewed we’ll remind you again at 30 days, 15 days, 7 days, and 24 hours before your domain expires. We don’t want you to accidentally let your domain expire, so we do what we can to remind you.

Be wary of fake domain renewal notices

While email reminders are our main way of letting you know that your domain is up for renewal, fake email reminders have also become an increasingly common phishing scam targeting domain holders in New Zealand.

When you purchase .nz domains you are required to submit contact details as part of the registration. The Domain Name Commission’s rules mandate that some of this information is made publicly available by default via the WHOIS lookup tool we mentioned earlier.

Related articles:

• NZ domains blast past all-time high record
• Domain names: What they are, and why you need (at least) one
• Why some domains are “Premium”, and what that actually means

There have been multiple instances of scammers harvesting this contact information to impersonate domain providers (like MyHost).

Fortunately, you can prevent this from happening by adding ID Protection to your domain to hide your email address and other contact information. Read more in our article about ID Protection or follow our guide to adding ID Protection to your domains.

If you’ve received a MyHost-branded domain renewal email and you’re unsure if it’s legitimate or not, you can check our Phishing Alerts page as a first step. If you’re still unsure, you can forward the email to support@myhost.nz and we can confirm if it’s genuine or not.

When your domain renews, don’t overpay

It’s also worth keeping your eyes out for providers who offer domains on a major discount in the first year, and then raise prices significantly when it comes time to renew.

Here at MyHost, you can rest assured that our domain prices are the same for all of our customers: whether your domain is in its first year, or its fifth year.

Renew in advance, secure your domain

The most surefire way to keep your domain beyond its current expiry date, is to renew it in advance. Even if your domain is already years away from expiring, it can still be renewed now (up to a maximum of 10-years). However many years you add, they’ll take effect after the expiration date.

Peace of mind aside, registering your domain for years in advance also makes financial sense. Locking in current pricing can minimise future wholesale price rises, which happen every couple of years and are out of our control. As we highlighted in an article a few years ago, the benefits of renewing early go well beyond just the price point.

If you’re worried at all about a domain expiring, your best bet is to renew it before you forget.