Domain Registration Whois Monitoring

Why domain monitoring is critical

If you have a domain registration issue, fix it immediately.

It can be very expensive and difficult to retrieve a domain once you've lost it.

There are plenty of problems to watch out for. Let's review the common ones:

Common domain registration issues

1. Payment failures: Failing to pay is very common. Your card may not work, and you may not see email alerts from the registrar. Sign in to your registrar and make sure that the payment method is working or that the account is funded, if the registrar requires pre-funding. If that is the problem, sometimes you can repurchase it or pay for it, and you'll get it back immediately. If that doesn't work, you must contact your registrar.
2. Unauthorized name server changes: Your name servers may have changed without authorization. Make sure that the domain is pointing to the correct name servers. Make sure that the published contact information is accurate. Sometimes the registrar will do this if you have not paid.
3. Contact information changes: Someone may have changed the contact information associated with a domain without your permission.
4. Expiration date elapsed: Your "Registrar Registration Expiration Date" may have elapsed for whatever reason. Perhaps the domain is not set to renew by accident.
5. Account compromise: Someone may have hacked your registrar account.

How to respond to domain issues

Fix this quickly. When there is a problem with your domain registrar, it worsens the longer you wait and is harder to fix. So take action immediately:

• Change your password immediately
• Lock your domain to prevent unauthorized transfers
• Confirm that the email address for your account is still your own
• Investigate how your account was compromised (email hack, password leak, etc.)
• Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) if not already active

Resources from registrars

Here are the official rights according to ICANN. However, individual registrars each handle domain recovery in their own ways:

• GoDaddy - What happens when my domain expires
• Enom - What happens when domain expires
• OpenSRS - Redeem an expired domain
• Namecheap - What happens to my domain after it expires

You should monitor your domain and get an alert if anything changes so that you can fix your domain issues quickly.

Get started with domain monitoring

Start monitoring your domains with Exomonitor today in just 5 minutes by filling a similar form to the one below.