Registrar guide

Renewing and locking a domain at Tucows and OpenSRS.

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

Where the settings are

Everything below is in your reseller's control panel.

Renewing

  • Tucows and OpenSRS are wholesale registrars, so you almost certainly manage the domain through a reseller.
  • Identify the reseller from your invoices, then renew there.
  • If you cannot identify the reseller, a domain lookup shows Tucows as the registrar but not who sold it.

Transfer lock

Set through your reseller, not directly with Tucows.

Moving the notices somewhere safe

Through the reseller. Tucows does not take contact changes from end customers directly.

Worth knowing about Tucows and OpenSRS

This is the situation where the registrar shown in a lookup tells you almost nothing about who to contact. If you cannot find the reseller, start with whoever built your website — it is usually them.

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 personal, and not at the domain that is expiring.
  • The renewal date recorded somewhere other than the registrar's email, because that is the channel that failed.

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.

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