New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
.IO owners using namecheap, beware.
Not sure how well people know, but it seems you can't renew .io domains if you're less than 12 days to the expiry, and it's $200 to get it out of redemption. Kinda a joke.
Just don't get caught out like I did 
From Namecheap: http://i.imgur.com/ZpZEWRK.png
Comments
Why..?
Hmm, I use Gandi and definitely not subjected to that rule.
The annoying thing is that .io can only be registered for a year and you can't renew until 60 days before expiry. But definitely no nonsense about not being able to renew 12 days before the expiration date.
You can see the conditions here: https://www.gandi.net/static/contracts/en/io/pdf/special_conditions_IO_1.2.pdf
Might just be namecheap trying to regain money from when they told .io cheap then..
This is probably a Namecheap fee and not .io. I'd ask for clarification as to where io charges a fee before expiry.
I'd also suggest you take this up with the NIC direct if the domain hasn't expired:
http://www.nic.io/faq.xzx
Try get a EPP code from Namecheap and transfer out, or get it from NIC.IO direct and mention the issue.
I can't remember exactly what but Namecheap tried to charge me a fee before and I asked for them to clarify where ICANN had the specific cost they mentioned and it suddenly was waived.
BTW, if you are not planning to pay the $200 and planning to drop the domain anyway, I'd recommend initiating a transfer
Strictly speaking, you should be able to do it since you are technically the owner.
A lot of redemption fees are extortionate. The trick is not to let the domain expire first.
It's not expired, it expires on the 2nd of April.
Let them set to $2000 for sure.
Time to transfer to other registrar, isn't?
@tortau
@Patrick
The thing is Namecheap locked the transfer option for him. So they can try and get his $232.88 before the real expiry.
That's insane. I like the extension, but I like my wallet better.
Okay, that is just plain wrong. This is definitely something to be reported to nic.io
Title should be renamed, this is just Namecheap trying to take fees out of oblivious clients.
I pretty much renewed my io domain few days before renewal at Gandi without a issue.
changed
Nice.io says they can be renewed for 1,2,5 years.
I see why the registers claim one year. Nic.io gives them 50 percent off on one year purchases.
Abandon the domain and get one from a TLD (and a registrar) with less ridiculous and downright backstabbing policies. From the content at https://luket.io/ it doesn't seem like you managed to develop it that much in a year, so maybe not too late to switch.
There's actually a site there, was actually moving it when I remembered it needed renewal -- also the e-mail side is used for a lot of important things.. so
Thanks for the tip!
For me, if registrar asking too much for renew I just let domain expire than re-register with other provider
I can register more than 60 .COMs with this price at Godaddy.
This is too much for renewal even if you renew domain a day before expiry there should be normal renewal fees. Better ask their support.
As if support care haha, http://pastebin.com/zbdejNVb
Thanks for the warning. this aint right.
Wow, NC is really messing up lately.
At this point I'd strongly consider not paying these scam artists even another cent. As you noted there is no concept of "redemption period" for .io, this is something purely invented by Namecheap.
Maybe you could still change your E-Mail, remember it doesn't go into the "available" state for another 90 days, a plenty of time to go around change your address at various accounts, or to mass-mail people your new contacts.
But @rm_ if the OP doesn't renew the domain would stop resolving as of April 2nd (per OP) so a bit tight timeline to notify everyone. It's possible, just challenging.
Normally you could initiate transfer any time before expiration, but if they have prevented him from generating the EPP code; then rock meets hard place on this one.
(Edit: If he was able to initiate the transfer state, then the domain would keep resolving until the transfer is completed even if it is after the expiration date. I did 200+ like this recently from NC)
Gandi deleted my domain the next day after it expired after I asked, I doubt Namecheap would do this unless you pay or won't do it at all.
He can just ask NIC.io to intervene and get EPP or something.
@LukeT, try this? http://www.nic.io/faq.xzx#transfer
If you are having trouble getting an AuthCode from your registrar (e.g. they are no longer in business), you can reset the Owner's password and use that password instead of an AuthCode.
https://www.nic.io/login.xzx
That it will stop resolving, is rather harmless. What I'd be more worried about, is someone else snatching it up from you, and then being able to get all of your (password recovery for various accounts) E-Mails. And this won't happen for 92 more days, lots of time to go around all the accounts that you use and change your E-Mail everywhere.
As for notifying real people, it's not like you absolutely need the old address to still work in order to tell them your new one.
Seems I overlooked the transfer feature in namecheap, so got that process started. Although I have a feeling they won't allow the transfer to go through..
I hear you. But, some systems can be a PITA if they decide to require you to do email verification to the old address (i.e., if they do it as a result of you trying to change the email address to your new domain).
Not necessary, but can be a bit of a PITA. Believe me I am not advocating paying that extortion fee either. I have been down this road (with a different domain registrar) many years ago, but got the domain back. As with anything else, it is a combination of time + effort + money.
Cheers
Wow I think I am going to move my domains. Namecheap used to be great but now it seems the website is slow or down or under maintenance whenever I want to use it and they have all sorts of "hidden" fees. Did you know that if you don't activate your whoisguard subscriptions within a year, you lose them? ~.~
Others have been hit by this too (and it seems Namecheap decided to help out that customer):