Redeem a domain name - Domain Names - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

After a domain name expires, a 30-day grace period is provided for renewal. When the grace period ends, the domain name enters the redemption period. Domain names with different suffixes have different redemption periods. You need to pay a high price to redeem your domain name within the redemption period.

Prerequisites

The grace period for renewal of the domain name elapses. The domain name is in the redemption period.

Redemption periods of different types of domain names

Domain names with different suffixes have different redemption periods. The following redemption periods are provided for different domain names:

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) domain names, such as .cn, .中国, .公司, and .网络 domain names, have a 14-day redemption period. After the redemption period elapses, the domain names are available to the public for registration.
Note
.cn domain names include second-level domain names such as .com.cn and .gov.cn. The .gov.cn domain names have the same redemption period and redemption regulations as .cn domain names. However, the .gov.cn domain names have strict requirements on the subjects who register such domain names.
Other top-level domain names, such as .com, .net, .biz, .cc, .tv, .org, .me, .so, .tel, .mobi, .asia, .name, and .info, have a 30-day redemption period. If internationalized domain names within an Alibaba Cloud account are not redeemed within the redemption period, the domain names enter a five-day waiting-for-deletion period. During this period, you cannot renew or redeem the domain names. The domain names are deleted after the period elapses. After the five-day waiting-for-deletion period ends, the domain names are available to the public for registration. The systems of the domain name registries determine the time when these domain names are deleted and the time when these domain names can be registered.
Alibaba Cloud provides a 28-day grace period for renewal for .hk domain names. After the grace period elapses, these domain names are deleted.

Note

The redemption period may be inaccurate by up to 24 hours. This error may be caused by reasons such as system operation queues and time differences at the domain name registries. You can check the actual status of domain names in the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console.
You can check whether a domain name is in the redemption period based on the status displayed in the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console. The expiration time and status of a domain name in the WHOIS output may be different from the information displayed in the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console. These differences may be caused by auto-renewal and transfers. Therefore, the information in the WHOIS output can be used for reference only.
Domain names that do not pass real-name verification cannot be redeemed after they enter the redemption period.
After a domain name expires and enters the redemption period, Alibaba Cloud can retain this domain name within your Alibaba Cloud account, transfer this domain name to a dedicated Alibaba Cloud account for centralized management, or add the domain name to the pre-release domain name list and offer the list to the public for bidding. If you do not redeem your domain name within the redemption period, you lose the ownership of the domain name, and the successful bidder during the pre-release obtains the ownership of the domain name.

Procedure

To ensure the service stability of your domain name, you need to renew your domain name before it expires. This can prevent losses that occur if you fail to renew your domain name in time. If you fail to renew a domain name within the renewal grace period, the domain name enters the redemption period. To redeem a domain name, perform the following steps:

Note

When a domain name enters the redemption period, the costs of redeeming the domain name from the domain name registry are much higher than those of registering or renewing the domain name. For more information about the redemption prices of domain names, see Domain name fees.
During the redemption period, domain name resolution is suspended. After the domain name is redeemed, you must reset the Domain Name System (DNS) records of the domain name. In most cases, it takes 24 to 48 hours to resume the domain name resolution.

Log on to the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Domain Names. On the Domain Names page, click the Domain Names to Be Redeemed tab.
Note
If you cannot find your domain name that is waiting to be redeemed on the Domain Names to Be Redeemed tab, the domain name may have been deleted by the domain name registry after the redemption period elapses.
Find the domain name that you want to redeem and click Redeem in the Actions column.
Complete the redemption process as prompted.
Note
In most cases, the validity period of a domain name is increased by one year after the domain name is redeemed. For specific domain names, you must renew them to extend their validity periods after the domain names are redeemed. You can check whether the expiration time of a domain name is updated in the Alibaba Cloud Domain Names console after the domain name is redeemed. If the expiration time of the domain name is not updated, you must renew the domain name to extend the validity period.