Important information about the domain transfer:
Over the past few months, it has happened time and again that customer domains have suddenly become unavailable. The cause was usually the so-called redemption grace period status– a type of transition period that takes effect after a domain expires.
In this phase, a domain can still be rescued, but only for considerable additional fees charged by the registries.
Initially, we suspected a problem with our API interface, which is responsible for automatic renewal. However, after detailed analysis, it turned out that the interface was working correctly. So the cause lay elsewhere.
After a closer examination, it became clear that our previous supplier always managed domains with the auto-renew option deactivated. This would have been acceptable – if the system hadn’t simply ignored our renewal requests.
An inquiry to support only brought the terse answer:
„This cannot be changed by the system.“
To be frank: domains are not our core business. We do look after a few hundred domains, but apparently this was not significant enough for our partner at the time to seriously solve the problem.
In short: „If you don’t want it, you’ve got it.“
In the last three months alone, we have had to pay over €1,000 in fees for domain restores – an economic loss that we could no longer accept. In addition, such a situation also represents a risk for our customers.
That’s why we pulled the ripcord at the end of May:
We commissioned a new, reliable upstream supplier and started the systematic transfer of our entire domain portfolio.
What does that mean for you?
Due to technical specifications and registry guidelines, automatically generated messages may appear during the transfer – for example with the subject „Domain transfer started“.
Please do not let this unsettle you: These messages are for your information only.
For certain domain extensions such as .com, .eu or .info, the domain holder must also be verified again. These emails come directly from the respective registry and must be confirmed so that the transfer can be successfully completed.
