What happens if my domain expires?

Your website and email can stop working almost immediately. After a grace period, the name can be bought by someone else, and getting it back can be expensive or impossible. Auto-renew and a card that is not expired prevent most of this.

Who owns my domain if my web developer registered it?

Whoever's name and account it sits under, which may be the developer's. Ask to have it moved into an account you control. A good developer hands it over without fuss; be cautious with anyone who will not.

Can I move my domain to another provider?

Yes. Domains can move between registrars, the companies that sell and manage domain names. You need access to the account it lives in and an authorization code from the current provider. It is routine as long as you can log in to that account.

Tips

Who Controls Your Business Domain Name?

Short answer

You should know four things about your domain: where it is registered, which email address owns the account, when it renews, and who has admin access. This is boring until the day something breaks, like a missed renewal or a lost login, and then it becomes urgent fast.

Your website and email both depend on it

Your domain is the name your website and email run on, like yourshop.com. Lose control of it and both can go dark at the same time. It usually runs quietly in the background for years, so nobody thinks about it until a renewal lapses or the one person who set it up is no longer around.

What to find out

Where it is registered. That is the company you pay for it each year, called the registrar, like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
Which email address owns the account.
When it renews, and whether auto-renew is turned on.
Who has admin access, and whether that is still someone you trust.

A common way to lose a domain: the renewal notice goes to an old email address nobody checks, and the card on file has expired.

What to do before it becomes urgent

Write these four things down somewhere you control. Make sure the owning email is an address you can still log in to. Turn on auto-renew and check the card on file is not expired. Then remove admin access from anyone who no longer needs it. The whole check takes about ten minutes.

Common questions

What happens if my domain expires?: Your website and email can stop working almost immediately. After a grace period, the name can be bought by someone else, and getting it back can be expensive or impossible. Auto-renew and a card that is not expired prevent most of this.
Who owns my domain if my web developer registered it?: Whoever's name and account it sits under, which may be the developer's. Ask to have it moved into an account you control. A good developer hands it over without fuss; be cautious with anyone who will not.
Can I move my domain to another provider?: Yes. Domains can move between registrars, the companies that sell and manage domain names. You need access to the account it lives in and an authorization code from the current provider. It is routine as long as you can log in to that account.