Renewals

This article provides information on renewing your DreamHost domain.

How do I renew my DreamHost domain?
Renewing your DreamHost domain is really easy!

If you registered your domain with us, you see a button that says Renew to the right of your domain's expiration date on the first page. If you didn't register your domain with us, you should either transfer it to us or renew it with your original registrar.

Clicking this button renews your domain immediately for the number of years you specify in the drop-down box next to it. You will be re-billed automatically for the renewal fees using your credit card on file. Please note that you cannot do an early renew on domain registrations that are included for free with your hosting plan. They'll be auto-renewed as long as you have the hosting plan with us, unless you specifically say you'd rather not have us do this (by clicking no in the "Auto-Renew?" column for that domain).

If your domain isn't about to expire, you can still set whether you'd like to be notified when it is about to expire and whether you'd like us to automatically renew it for you. You do this via the "Auto-Renew?" link on the right-hand side of the page.

What happens if I don't renew my domain in time?
When your domain expires, it stops working; however, it is still assigned to you for 30 days after the expiration date. After that, it enters the redemption period for an additional 30 days. During this time, if you wish to recover the domain, you must pay the redemption fee which costs $100 as well as the standard renewal fee for the domain. Shortly after the 30 days of redemption, it is released back into the public and can be registered by anyone.

If you renew at any time during the first 30 days after expiration, your domain begins working again within 24-72 hours and renews as though you had done it before it expired.

What can I do with my domain while it is expired?
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do with your domain once it has expired.

You cannot:


 * use any email or website services at that domain.
 * transfer your domain to another registrar.
 * change the whois contact info for your domain.
 * change the name servers for your domain.

This isn't our choosing; it's just the way the system works.

If you wish do any of those things, you must renew your domain first.

How can I set up auto-renewal so I don't have to re-register my domains every year?
To set up auto-renewal, review your account information on the "Domain &gt; Registration" area within the panel, and click yes under the "Auto-Renew?" column for the domain(s) you wish to auto-renew each year.

WARNING: If AutoPay is not active with a valid credit card, the domain name Auto-Renew may fail.

How to use PayPal to register or renew a domain name
You can pre-pay the amount of a pending renewal using Paypal, which results in a positive Dreamhost account balance. This balance can then be used to renew (and Auto-Renew) domain name registrations.