.ca Domain Lifecycle Explained

[liberator]

Hey,

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I have regarding the .ca domain lifecycle and how it works. This may help to eleviate some confustion.

- After registering a domain it is place into the Add-Grace Period, this period lasts for 5 days and during this time a registrar can delete the domain for a refund. There are specifications for how many a registrar can delete to avoid "tasting".

- After the 5 days add-grace period the domain is moved to Registered for 1-10 years depending on the number of years of registration.

- 60 Days after registration the "transfer prohibited" flag is removed allowing you to transfer your domain to a new registrar or to push to a new registrant

- After the registration has expired it is moved into an auto-renew grace period, this deducts the renewal fee from the registrar and they will either collect it from the client or issue a delete command. This period lasts for 45 days if the registrar doesn't delete the registration. Domains in this stage are pushable and transferable currently but this may change I've been told.

- If the registrar issues a delete command the domain name is moved to Redemption Grace Period, this period lasts for 30 days, domains are transferable and pushable in this period.

- Lastly the domain enters TBR status if its not renewed / transfered in the RGP, where it stays for 60hours to 1 week depending on the time it drops.

I hope that helps, if you have any specific questions feel free to post here or send me a PM.

Best Regards,

Jason

[Ilze]

Hey,

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I have regarding the .ca domain lifecycle and how it works. This may help to eleviate some confustion.

- After registering a domain it is place into the Add-Grace Period, this period lasts for 5 days and during this time a registrar can delete the domain for a refund. There are specifications for how many a registrar can delete to avoid "tasting".

- After the 5 days add-grace period the domain is moved to Registered for 1-10 years depending on the number of years of registration.

- 60 Days after registration the "transfer prohibited" flag is removed allowing you to transfer your domain to a new registrar or to push to a new registrant

- After the registration has expired it is moved into an auto-renew grace period, this deducts the renewal fee from the registrar and they will either collect it from the client or issue a delete command. This period lasts for 45 days if the registrar doesn't delete the registration. Domains in this stage are pushable and transferable currently but this may change I've been told.

- If the registrar issues a delete command the domain name is moved to Redemption Grace Period, this period lasts for 30 days, domains are transferable and pushable in this period.

- Lastly the domain enters TBR status if its not renewed / transfered in the RGP, where it stays for 60hours to 1 week depending on the time it drops.

I hope that helps, if you have any specific questions feel free to post here or send me a PM.

Best Regards,

Jason

Jay,
This is wonderful!! Too bad CIRA can't be as informative...You are the best~~

[stewie]

Hey,

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I have regarding the .ca domain lifecycle and how it works. This may help to eleviate some confustion.

- After registering a domain it is place into the Add-Grace Period, this period lasts for 5 days and during this time a registrar can delete the domain for a refund. There are specifications for how many a registrar can delete to avoid "tasting".


- After the 5 days add-grace period the domain is moved to Registered for 1-10 years depending on the number of years of registration.

- 60 Days after registration the "transfer prohibited" flag is removed allowing you to transfer your domain to a new registrar or to push to a new registrant

- After the registration has expired it is moved into an auto-renew grace period, this deducts the renewal fee from the registrar and they will either collect it from the client or issue a delete command. This period lasts for 45 days if the registrar doesn't delete the registration. Domains in this stage are pushable and transferable currently but this may change I've been told.

- If the registrar issues a delete command the domain name is moved to Redemption Grace Period, this period lasts for 30 days, domains are transferable and pushable in this period.

- Lastly the domain enters TBR status if its not renewed / transfered in the RGP, where it stays for 60hours to 1 week depending on the time it drops.

I hope that helps, if you have any specific questions feel free to post here or send me a PM.

Best Regards,

Jason

Thanks Jay

[DOTCA]

Hey,

I thought I would share some of the knowledge I have regarding the .ca domain lifecycle and how it works. This may help to eleviate some confustion.

- After registering a domain it is place into the Add-Grace Period, this period lasts for 5 days and during this time a registrar can delete the domain for a refund. There are specifications for how many a registrar can delete to avoid "tasting".

- After the 5 days add-grace period the domain is moved to Registered for 1-10 years depending on the number of years of registration.

- 60 Days after registration the "transfer prohibited" flag is removed allowing you to transfer your domain to a new registrar or to push to a new registrant

- After the registration has expired it is moved into an auto-renew grace period, this deducts the renewal fee from the registrar and they will either collect it from the client or issue a delete command. This period lasts for 45 days if the registrar doesn't delete the registration. Domains in this stage are pushable and transferable currently but this may change I've been told.

- If the registrar issues a delete command the domain name is moved to Redemption Grace Period, this period lasts for 30 days, domains are transferable and pushable in this period.

- Lastly the domain enters TBR status if its not renewed / transfered in the RGP, where it stays for 60hours to 1 week depending on the time it drops.

I hope that helps, if you have any specific questions feel free to post here or send me a PM.

Best Regards,

Jason

Well explained. Thanks Jason

[Spex]

After registering a domain it is place into the Add-Grace Period, this period lasts for 5 days and during this time a registrar can delete the domain for a refund. There are specifications for how many a registrar can delete to avoid "tasting".

How is this done? I've never wanted to "taste", but I sure have reg'd a few domains that I regretted the next day. Everytime I emailed the registrar, they told me I couldn't receive a refund.

But thank you for the posts, very informative

[liberator]

Registrars are allowed to delete 5% of registrations in a 30 day period, so if in the last 30 days Ready.ca registered 100 domains we would be allowed to delete 5 domains. Registrars will most likely only delete typo's, but I know Namespro has deleted domains for me in the past without any question.

[DOTCA]

Jason, Now that this lifecycle has been well explained.. why don't you take the challenge to explain how Transfers work.. Registrar and Registrant. I think better to refer to your page than to ask CIRA. Much convenient and better still, more accurate!!

[liberator]

Sure will create a topic for both and explain the process

[silentg]

Thank you for the explanation of .ca life cycle.

[Vanster]

Great info liberator. Trying to figure this out via cira.ca would be tortuous if not impossible. One would probably have to read the registrar docs to figure it out... Not fun

Thanks!

[katherine]

Sticky

[hugegrowth]

So are you saying after a .ca has expired, it can live for 45 days at the registrar, then 30 days beyond that? Total 75 days?

I just realized yesterday that after a .ca expires now, you can't transfer it unless it's renewed first. Is this the new norm?

It used to be you could transfer a .ca within it's 30 day suspension period, because the transfer cost reg fee which would add another year to the registration, not the same anymore.

[liberator]

Yes you can still transfer within that 75 day period after the expiration, for more information on transfers you can view this topic http://www.dnforum.com/f510/transfer...ad-441310.html

Cheers,

Jay

[pandersen]

Yes you can still transfer within that 75 day period after the expiration

I think as has been explained but important to note is that you MAY have 75 days but you could have far less. A registrar may (and there are some that do) delete a domain name as soon as it hits the expiration. That triggers a 30 day hold.

I just point it out so somebody doesn't expect 75 days and wonder why their domain is in TBR suddenly.

CIRA now shows better output in whois to show you if a domain is in redemption.

[Adam Dicker]

Sticky

Stuck

Good info!

-=DCG=-

[Eifwen]

Hey,

- If the registrar issues a delete command the domain name is moved to Redemption Grace Period, this period lasts for 30 days, domains are transferable and pushable in this period.

Jason

So I have domain in redemption with @$*&firms, so I try to transfer to namespro. I send an email for auth code and I get this reply

For .ca domains:

Your domain name has expired over 40 days ago and is now in redemption with the registry. To reclaim ownership of your domain and avoid losing the domain when it gets released at the end of the redemption period, you may do so by remitting payment for the following:

Reactivation Fee = $135 USD (to get the domain back from the registry)
Domain Renewal Fee = $9.95 USD (to renew domain for one year)

Kindly reply to this e-mail to signify your agreement of the reactivation and domain renewal charges and call us at 1-877-399-9909 or 416-661-2100 with
the card number you would like to use for the payment. Once we receive your agreement to pay the reactivation and domain renewal charges we will proceed
with the renewal and billing process.

Regards,
Sathees
Netfirms Billing Team

Is this correct what they are saying? I thought we were able to transfer domains in redemption.

[DOTCA]

So I have domain in redemption with @$*&firms, so I try to transfer to namespro. I send an email for auth code and I get this reply

For .ca domains:

Your domain name has expired over 40 days ago and is now in redemption with the registry. To reclaim ownership of your domain and avoid losing the domain when it gets released at the end of the redemption period, you may do so by remitting payment for the following:

Reactivation Fee = $135 USD (to get the domain back from the registry)
Domain Renewal Fee = $9.95 USD (to renew domain for one year)

Kindly reply to this e-mail to signify your agreement of the reactivation and domain renewal charges and call us at 1-877-399-9909 or 416-661-2100 with
the card number you would like to use for the payment. Once we receive your agreement to pay the reactivation and domain renewal charges we will proceed
with the renewal and billing process.

Regards,
Sathees
Netfirms Billing Team

Is this correct what they are saying? I thought we were able to transfer domains in redemption.

I think different Registrars have different policies. But this is one good example of how one can be in a big mess. Wow.. $135?? That's way too much!! I can understand asking you to renew first.. which I feel might not be too much to ask.. after all, there are many other Registrars doing it I was told.

[pandersen]

Is this correct what they are saying? I thought we were able to transfer domains in redemption.

Different registrars are allowed to have different policies. I would have to check as I cannot remember whether there is a requirement to give an auth code at any time in the life cycle that it would make sense.

I'd first suggest asking to clarify that the policy applies to dot-ca domain names.

"Redemption" in many gTLD's refers to a sequence of events the registrar has to do including paying a signfigant (4x normally) fee to the registry and fill out forms and such which are also expensive to the registrar.

In dot-ca it's just a renew command. However as many registrars took their gTLD engine and tweaked it for CIRA there may be some gaps where staff at registrars just assume (or the registrar has put a policy) that the larger fee should apply.

Of course I urge all domain owners to make their transfer decisions *before* you even get into auto-renew grace. It's always much cleaner to deal with these things ahead of time.

[Eifwen]

Just an update. After what went down I email cira last night about the matter. I just received email from Veronique Charron at cira.

Thank you for your interest in .CA. Note that you have no obligation to renew a
domain name with your current Registrar. You can still transfer a domain name
even if it has not been renewed.

Your Registrar must provide the code within 5 days of receiving your request for
the code. You must also ensure that there are no locks in place on the domain
name, your Registrar may provide you with the ability to enable some additional
security locks on the domain name. In order to transfer your domain name any
locks put in place by you or your current Registrar must first be removed.

If your Registrar will not provide the authorization code within 5 days from the
moment you requested it, please do not hesitate to forward us any written
communication regarding this issue you had with your Registrar. We will gladly
escalate the issue.

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to reply to this email
and I will be pleased to answer any additional questions you may have. You may
also contact our Customer Service Department by calling 1-877-860-1411.
Alternatively, you may visit our public website at www.cira.ca and click on
"Contact Us".

Kind regards,

Veronique Charron
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)


About 5 minutes later I receive an email from netfirms with auth code. (coincidence, maybe. I have no idea if cira contacted netfirms)

[DOTCA]

Just an update. After what went down I email cira last night about the matter. I just received email from Veronique Charron at cira.

Thank you for your interest in .CA. Note that you have no obligation to renew a
domain name with your current Registrar. You can still transfer a domain name
even if it has not been renewed.

Your Registrar must provide the code within 5 days of receiving your request for
the code. You must also ensure that there are no locks in place on the domain
name, your Registrar may provide you with the ability to enable some additional
security locks on the domain name. In order to transfer your domain name any
locks put in place by you or your current Registrar must first be removed.

If your Registrar will not provide the authorization code within 5 days from the
moment you requested it, please do not hesitate to forward us any written
communication regarding this issue you had with your Registrar. We will gladly
escalate the issue.

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to reply to this email
and I will be pleased to answer any additional questions you may have. You may
also contact our Customer Service Department by calling 1-877-860-1411.
Alternatively, you may visit our public website at www.cira.ca and click on
"Contact Us".

Kind regards,

Veronique Charron
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)


About 5 minutes later I receive an email from netfirms with auth code.

Wow.. so it worked.. Good to know this and thanks for sharing.