Also called auto renewal · automatic renewal
Auto-renew, explained
Registrars attempt the charge on their own schedule, typically in the days or weeks before expiry, and ICANN requires them to send reminders about a month and a week before a gTLD name expires. A separate registry-level auto-renew also exists: for .com, a name not renewed by its expiration date is renewed by the registry the next day, and the registrar has 45 days to delete it for a credit. That is why a registry lookup can show an expiry date a year ahead even though the owner has not paid.
A common way to lose a valuable name is a failed charge: an expired card, a closed account or a contact email nobody reads. Keep a backup payment method and a current email on the account. For names you plan to drop, switch auto-renew off before the charge date. Auto-renew suits core names; review the rest once a year instead of letting every name renew by default.
Example. Auto-renew failed on an expired card, and the investor noticed only when the registrar's post-expiry notice arrived.
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