fix guide · public browser check + paid fix

domain expired — site is down

your domain registration lapsed and the whole site is offline. usually recoverable in under an hour if caught within the grace period.

domain expiry is one of the most preventable causes of site downtime and one of the most catastrophic when it happens. unlike a hosting outage, an expired domain takes down email, dns, ssl, everything — the whole identity is gone until renewed. recovery is usually fast if caught within the grace period (typically 30 days for most tlds). after grace, you enter redemption period (60-90 days, renewal cost goes to several hundred dollars). after redemption, the domain releases back to the public registry and anyone can buy it.

what this looks like to a visitor

browser shows 'this site can't be reached' or dns_probe_finished_nxdomain
registrar email said the domain expired but you missed it
site stopped working overnight, no other changes
whois shows status 'pendingDelete' or 'redemptionPeriod'

what a public browser check can see

dns resolution

we resolve your domain from a clean dns server. nxdomain means the domain is no longer in the registry. servfail means dns is misconfigured but domain exists.

whois status

we run a whois lookup. domain status will read 'ok' (active), 'pendingDelete', 'redemptionPeriod', 'autorenewPeriod', or 'pendingTransfer'. each implies a different urgency and fix path.

expiry date

whois shows the registered-through date. tells you immediately how long ago it expired and which recovery window applies.

registrar identity

we see which registrar holds the domain. each has its own renewal portal and grace-period rules; the fix path depends on which one.

we do not log into your site. we do not scrape customer data. we open your public homepage in a real browser session and report what we see. no security claims unless we can prove them from the public surface.

the deeper picture

the four states a domain can be in: (1) active grace period. you missed the renewal email but you are within 30 days. fix: log in, pay the normal renewal fee, you are done. dns propagation takes hours. (2) redemption period. 30-90 days post-expiry. you can still recover but the registrar charges a 'redemption fee' on top of renewal — often $100-300. fix: same as grace, but expensive. (3) pending delete. 90+ days post-expiry. domain is queued for release. you usually cannot stop this; you wait for release and hope to re-register before someone else does. (4) released. someone else can register it. you have lost the domain — typically permanently if a domain investor grabs it.

fix it yourself

step 1: log into your registrar (godaddy, namecheap, google domains, porkbun, etc) immediately. domains usually have a 30-day grace period after expiry during which renewal is cheap and identical to normal renewal. step 2: pay the renewal. step 3: dns may take 24-48 hours to repropagate after renewal — be patient. step 4: enable auto-renew with a current payment method on file. step 5: enable expiry notifications to a real email address you check (the registrar default is usually a domain admin email which is on the domain you just lost — circular failure mode).

run the audit on YOUR site — check for "domain expired — site is down"

we open your homepage in a real headless browser and report what we see. no login, no plugin install.

public browser check · no signup · result on the next page

paid fix

or pay us once.

the actual recovery is something you do at your registrar — i cannot pay your renewal for you. but the $99 fix path covers: setting up auto-renew correctly, configuring renewal notifications to a non-domain-bound email, setting up a backup payment method, and (most useful for production sites) setting up dns monitoring so the next renewal failure pages you immediately. done in two days. monitoring at $19/mo includes domain expiry warnings 30/14/7 days out.

let us fix the visible issue — contact form repair $99 run a deeper audit

frequently asked

what happens to my email if the domain expires?

email stops working completely. mail servers cannot route mail to a domain that does not exist. this is one of the worst parts of domain expiry — you cannot even receive the registrar's 'your domain has expired' email if it sends to an address on that domain.

can someone else register my domain immediately after expiry?

not immediately. there is a 30-day grace period where only you can renew, then 30-90 days of redemption where you can renew at a premium, then 'pending delete' where it counts down to release. the whole cycle is usually 90-120 days.

i renewed but the site is still down — why?

dns propagation. after renewal, your nameservers need to be re-pulled by recursive resolvers worldwide. usually 1-24 hours. you can check with dig +trace yourdomain.com to see who has it cached.

what about auto-renew failing?

common — credit card expired, registrar payment system glitched. set up two payment methods if your registrar supports it, and configure renewal notifications to a personal email (not @yourdomain.com).

other fix guides

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shopify checkout feels broken — how to find out why— a public browser check of your shopify storefront can surface the visible reasons people abandon. here is what we look for.
contact form looks fine but i'm not getting emails— this is the most common silent failure mode of small-business websites. four reasons it usually is — and how a public check can rule out the wrong ones.
wix site not showing on google — what a public check can tell you— your wix site exists, but it does not appear in google search results. four reasons that explain almost every case.

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