Registrar guide

Renewing and locking a domain at IONOS.

Where each setting lives at IONOS, and the three changes that actually stop a domain lapsing.

Where the settings are

Everything below is in the Domains & SSL area.

Renewing

  • Sign in and open Domains & SSL.
  • Select the domain from the list.
  • Renewal settings are under the domain's detail page.

Turning on transfer lock

IONOS calls it Transfer protection or Transfer lock, in the domain settings.

Moving the notices somewhere safe

Under Account, then contact details. IONOS bundles hosting and domains, so the notice may reference the whole contract rather than the domain alone.

Worth knowing about IONOS

Because IONOS commonly bundles hosting with the domain, cancelling hosting can affect the domain. Check what a cancellation actually covers before ending a contract.

The three that actually prevent a lapse

  • A payment card that is current. An expired card with auto-renew on is the most common cause of a lapse, and the failure notice goes to the same place as everything else.
  • A contact address that survives someone leaving. Not a personal address, and not an address at the domain that is expiring.
  • The renewal date recorded somewhere other than the registrar's email, because that is the channel that failed.

Related

Check yours

Not sure who holds your domain?.

The free check reports the registrar, the renewal date and whether the transfer lock is on.

A different registrar?

The menus and defaults differ enough to be worth their own page.

Transferring a domain between registrars · Wix Domains · 123-reg · Cloudflare Registrar · Name.com · Bluehost

All 28 in this set