About Renew Before It Lapses

Renew Before It Lapses is a guide to looking after a domain name. It follows one name through its life: registering it, renewing it, what happens if it expires, moving it to another registrar, looking up its public record, and locking it against theft.

It's written for people who aren't technical. Think of a shop owner, a club volunteer or a parent who set up a family site. Sentences are short, and each new word is explained where it first appears. The pictures are drawn for this site, apart from a few screenshots of public pages.

The guide covers the rules that apply to generic names such as .com. Names that end in a country code, such as .au or .uk, often follow their own rules, and this site says so where it matters.

Each guide page lists its sources. They are ICANN policy pages, an internet standard (RFC 7480) and Wikipedia. Policies and prices change, so use your registrar's own pages for the final word on your name.

The site doesn't recommend or compare registrars. It has no ads, no affiliate links and no sponsors. It gives no legal advice.