One thing I hate about most Domain Name registrars and Web Hosting companies is that the auto renewal options is turned on by default unless you have turned it off manually. And hence the first thing I do whenever I register a domain name or a web hosting is set the “Auto Renewal” to off.
Recently I changed my mind and I chose to auto renew all the *important* domain names. Why? Because as Go Daddy says “Activate Auto Renew and never worry about expiration dates again”.
If you choose not to renew the domains automatically then you need to renew them manually. And if you don’t renew the domain name after its expiration then you may even incur a $80 fee if it’s done after the grace period which is 12 days (for Go Daddy).
Now, Why Did I Change My Mind?
The primary reason for choosing manual renewal is that I thought we won’t get a chance to review the automatic renewal before it happens. So I asked the GoDaddy customer support for a confirmation as I never noticed the following part in their Domain Manager.
“Auto Renew will send you email reminders prior to your domain’s expiration date so you can verify and/or update your billing information. We will then attempt to automatically renew your domain name on its expiration date, using your payment method on file.”
And here’s the response from their customer support team:
Thank you for contacting Online Support. If you set your products to automatically renew you will still receive renewal notifications alerting you when the products will automatically renew. The products will automatically renew on their expiration date, therefore you can manually renew them before this time.
So as they say we’ll STILL get renewal notifications when our domain names are about to expire and they will be auto renewed only on their expiration date and not before 30 – 60 days like most web hosting companies do.
It means that we can STILL apply coupons and renew the products manually. Just make sure that you do it before they do. If they auto renews then it’s most likely that it happens at the regular rate which could be $15+ for a .COM domain name when it’s only $8.67 if you use the Go Daddy coupon code CJC795DOM. If you’re not sure about how to change the automatic renewal option for your domain names at GoDaddy then you can refer this page (eNom customers, refer this page).
You can do the same for your web hosting too if you plan to stay with your existing web hosting company for a long time. I’m using HostGator Reseller Web Hosting and I chose to auto renew it as my account is almost 6 years old and I don’t plan to switch to another host anytime soon.
In case your domain name was auto renewed and you didn’t want it to, then you can ask for a refund. A member at Warrior Forum thread confirms that he managed to get the refund from GoDaddy when his domain name was auto renewed. He says if we call or e-mail the support team quickly then they issue a full refund.
Image Credit: Free Digital Photos
