Not so long ago, I had the first renewal of my domain name…
Obviously, when I registered my domain name with Gandi.net, I chose to enable their Automatic renewal service. However, the latter depends on funds available. If you don’t register a payment method (purposely) or add credit to your prepaid account, the renewal will be pending, but not finalized! As related in Gandi Automatic renewal, I was in this exact situation (i.e. “no handy, no candy”) a year ago. I was nowhere to jeopardy my domain name; therefore, I renewed it manually (before the expiration date).
Obviously, I have since added a payment method (see Gandi Automatic payment). Hence, I can now describe how Gandi’s Automatic renewal went.
Automatic renewal service
Let me remind you few key points about this service. Importantly, you have to activate it; domain names are not automatically renewed!
If you have not enabled automatic renewal on your domain name (and you don’t renew manually), you will not be charged, your domain registration will expire, and your domain name will be deleted.Gandi.net
Equally important, it is critical to have an Automatic payment in place. Again, the Automatic renewal service depends on funds available.
Automatic renewal can occur . . . if funds are available in the chosen prepaid account.Gandi.net
In theory, if the two aforementioned conditions are fulfilled, the renewal should occur at 31 days, 15 days, and 1 day before the last possible renewal date of the domain
1. Sure enough, a year ago, Gandi attempted to renew my domain name approximately a month before the due date. However – you already know the story – I didn’t receive a confirmation email. Instead, I was informed that my order (automatically placed few days earlier) was awaiting funds.
Beware: Gandi is supposed to send several Renewal reminders: 2 months, 1 month, 15 days and 1 day before the expiration date. Last year, I only received the 15-day reminder!
Renewal – year two!
In practice, the renewal occurred at 31 days before the expiration date. Specifically, I received a first email informing me that, in accordance with my automatic payment configuration, my card had been debited in order to pay my last order.
You can register a payment method so that your prepaid account is always topped up.Gandi.net
This email was immediately followed by a second one explaining that my invoice was available on the billing interface of my account; with a link to the latter. A minute later, I received the renewal confirmation email. My domain name was renewed for a one-year period and the new expiration period was specified2. One last piece of information that I didn’t provide in my original Gandi Automatic renewal post:
The automatic renewal is based on the last recorded renewal time done manually before its activation. This means that if you last registered your domain name for two years, then activate the automatic renewal, it will be done automatically for a period of two years.Gandi.net
Oh, I was about to forget: the renewal fee was the same as for the first renewal (and very close to the one of my initial registration). No bad surprise!
1 See Automatic renewal. ^
2 Of note, the renewal counts from the expiration date, not the renewal date. ^