Retiring a domain safely means more than not renewing it. Before you let it expire, check what still points at it, which accounts use an address at it, and who will own it afterwards. Then turn off renewal, clean up DNS, and write down what you did.
Most guides cover how to buy a domain, and some cover whether to drop one. Hardly anyone covers what to do in between, which is where the trouble hides.
Closing a shop
When you close a shop, you do not only lock the door. You take down the sign, cancel the electricity, tell the post office, stop the supplier, and remove the shop from the map. If you skip those, a letter arrives six months later, or somebody uses the sign.
A domain is similar. Letting it expire is locking the door. Everything else is the list that follows.
Why it matters
Three things can go wrong with a domain you stopped caring about:
- Someone else registers it after it expires, and then receives mail and traffic that was meant for you.
- Accounts reset to it. If you have ever signed up to a service with an address at that domain, whoever registers the domain can receive the password reset email and take over the account.
- Old DNS records point somewhere you no longer control. A record that points to a service you have closed can let somebody else claim that service and speak in your name.
None of these is dramatic. All of them are boring, and they are the reason this post exists.
The checklist
1. Decide on purpose. Do you let it expire, sell it, or keep it as a redirect for a while? Write down the decision and the reason. If you need help deciding, see the guide to reviewing renewals before you authorize a batch.
2. Find out what uses it. Search your systems for the name. Look in websites, email, certificates, app settings, API clients, redirect addresses, printed material and QR codes. This is the step people skip, and it is the one that saves you.
3. Move the accounts. Any service where you signed in with an address at the domain should be moved to another address first. This also covers password managers, payment accounts and domain registrar logins.
4. Handle email. If the domain received mail, decide who needs to know that the address will stop working. For a short period you can forward, and then you let it go.
5. Clean up DNS. Remove records that point to services you no longer use, so that nothing is left hanging. If you keep a redirect, keep only what the redirect needs.
6. Turn off renewal. Switch off auto-renew, or follow your registrar’s process for a domain you will not renew. Check the expiry date and put it in your calendar.
7. If you sell it, hand it over properly. See the checklist for selling a portfolio domain.
8. Watch what happens at the end. After the expiry date, check the status at your registrar. The post on what happens when a domain expires explains the stages, so you know what you are looking at.
Keep a tombstone record
For every domain you retire, write a short note. It does not need to be long:
- The domain
- The date you retired it
- The reason, and who decided
- What it pointed to
- What used it
- Whether you might want it back
- The expiry date
Keep it with your other domain records. The day somebody asks “what happened to that site”, you will have the answer. The guide to domain portfolio management explains how to keep these records together with acquisition costs and renewal dates.
What about defensive names?
If the domain is defensive, retiring it carries a different risk: somebody else may register a name that looks like yours. The post on defensive domain renewal reviews covers that case. If you keep a defensive name but do not use it, publish email records that stop spoofing before you leave it. And if the name is in a TLD that is suddenly popular, read .si and brand protection to see how I would think about it. The page for domain investors has the rest.
Questions people ask
Can I just let a domain expire? Yes, but check what uses it first. An expired domain can be registered by anyone.
What should I do with old DNS records? Remove records that point to services you no longer use.
Should I keep the domain for a while after I stop using it? It can help. A redirect for some months catches visitors and links that still point to the old name.
Do I need a record of a retired domain? A short one helps. It answers questions that come up months later.
Sources
If I have missed something on your own checklist, tell me in the chat on the website.
/Thomas