Domain terms & policies

Domain terms and policies

In short: a name is yours once your payment is confirmed, not when you add it to your cart. Keep your contact details accurate and renew before the expiry date; we email you 30 days, 14 days, 7 days and 1 day before it expires. Miss it and your website and email stop working, but you can still renew for a while. After that, getting the domain back costs a restore fee, and eventually the name is deleted and anyone can register it.

1. Timeline at a glance

1. Active Reminders 30 / 14 / 7 / 1 days before
2. Expiry date Website & email stop after 5 days
3. Grace renew at normal price
4. Redemption restore fee applies
5. Pending delete cannot be recovered
6. Released Anyone can register it

Grace, redemption and deletion periods are set by the registry (AfgNIC). Ask our support team for the current lengths.

2. Registration & term

• You register a domain for a fixed number of years. Most extensions allow 1 to 10 years; the limits for each extension are shown at checkout.
• A domain is registered at the registry only after its order is paid.
• You can renew at any time, for one year or several, as long as the new expiry date is no more than 10 years from today. Renewing early never loses time: the years are added to the current expiry date.

3. First paid, first served

Domain names go to the first customer who pays for them. Adding a domain to your cart or placing an order does not reserve it.

• If another customer’s payment for the same name is confirmed before yours, your unpaid order is cancelled automatically and we email you. If the order also contains other domains or services, only that domain is removed and you pay only for the rest.
• If you had already paid, or submitted a bank transfer that is still being checked, nothing is cancelled automatically. Our team reviews the order and contacts you about a refund or account credit.
• To secure a name, pay straight away online or from your account balance. A bank transfer counts once we have confirmed it. Unpaid orders are cancelled automatically 96 hours after they are placed.
• The registry also allocates names first come, first served: a name already registered through another registrar is not available.

4. Renewal reminders

We email renewal reminders 30 days, 14 days, 7 days and 1 day before the expiry date, and one more notice within 5 days after it if the domain has not been renewed.

• Reminders go to the domain’s registrant contact and to the email address on your Domain.af account. Keep both up to date so you don’t miss them.
• Each reminder is sent once. If a domain joins your account close to its expiry date (for example after a transfer), you get only the reminders that still apply.
• In your account, domains expiring within 30 days are marked Expiring soon. The Renewal Center lets you renew many at once on one invoice.
• Reminders are a courtesy. Renewing on time is your responsibility, even if an email is filtered as spam or never arrives.

5. Auto-renew

• You can turn auto-renew on or off for each domain in your account.
• When a domain with auto-renew reaches its expiry date, we create the renewal invoice and pay it from your account balance. The domain is renewed at the registry once that invoice is paid.
• If your balance is too low, the renewal does not happen and we email you to say so. The domain then follows the expiry steps below until you renew it yourself.
• Auto-renew charges at expiry, not before, so keep enough balance on your account ahead of the date.

6. What happens at expiry

• Once the expiry date passes, the domain is marked Expired. You can still renew it from your account at the normal renewal price during the grace period.
• After 5 days, we place the domain on hold at the registry. While it is on hold the domain stops resolving: your website, email and any other service using the domain stop working.
• As soon as you renew, the hold is removed automatically and the domain works again. DNS changes can take a few hours to reach everyone.
• While a domain is expired you can renew it, but you cannot change its nameservers, contacts or other settings.

7. Grace period

After expiry the domain stays registered to you for the period set by the registry (contact support for the current length). During this time you can renew it at the normal renewal price, and nobody else can register it.

8. Redemption & restore

If you don’t renew during the grace period, the registry moves the domain into redemption for the period set by the registry (contact support for the current length).

• A domain in redemption cannot be renewed directly. It must first be restored, which costs a restore fee on top of the renewal price (see the table above).
• Restoring is done by our team at the registry. Contact support as early as you can; a restore takes longer than a normal renewal.

9. Pending delete & release

When redemption ends, the domain enters pending delete. At this stage it cannot be renewed or restored by anyone, including us. The registry then deletes it, and the name becomes available for anyone to register.

10. Suspension

A domain can be suspended or put on hold while it is still paid for, for example when:

• it is used for anything the .af acceptable use policy prohibits, such as phishing, malware, spam or fraud;
• its contact details are false or out of date and are not corrected after we ask;
• the registry (AfgNIC), a court or a law enforcement authority orders it;
• a payment for it is reversed or charged back.

Where we can, we contact you first and explain how to fix the problem. Suspension does not stop the expiry date, so a suspended domain still needs to be renewed on time.

11. Keeping contact details accurate

• The registry requires current, complete and accurate contact details for every domain. Inaccurate details can lead to suspension or cancellation.
• Once a year, on the registration anniversary, we email you a reminder to check your domain’s contacts.

12. Transfers & account moves

• Registrar lock: domains are locked against transfer by default. You can unlock a domain from your account before transferring it away.
• Auth (EPP) code: to transfer a domain to another registrar you need its auth code. For your security we confirm each request with a code sent to your email before we show it.
• Transfer in: to move a .af domain to Domain.af, start a transfer in your account and enter the auth code from your current registrar.
• Moving to another Domain.af account: the receiving account has 72 hours to accept the move, or the request lapses. Auto-renew is turned off after the move, so the new owner should turn it back on.

13. Nameservers & DNS

• Every domain needs at least 2 and no more than 5 nameservers. New domains start with Domain.af’s nameservers unless you enter your own.
• If you use our nameservers, you can manage DNS records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and others) in your account.
• Nameserver and DNS changes usually take effect within a few hours worldwide.

14. WHOIS privacy

• Where available, WHOIS privacy replaces your name, address and email in public WHOIS with Domain.af privacy details. Mail sent to the privacy address is forwarded to you.
• When you set or change the forwarding address, we email a confirmation link that is valid for 24 hours.
• Your real details are still held by us and the registry, and may be disclosed where the law or the registry requires it.

15. Identity verification

• For some extensions (for example .edu.af) or some orders, we may ask you to verify your identity or eligibility before a registration or transfer is completed.
• If verification is needed, the order waits until it is approved.

16. Refunds

• Registrations, renewals, restores and completed transfers are paid to the registry when they are processed, so they are generally non-refundable.
• If an order fails and the domain is not registered, renewed or transferred, the amount is returned to your account balance, or refunded to the original payment method on request.
• Unused account balance can be refunded on request, less any payment processing fees.

17. Disputes

Disputes about who has the right to a .af domain name (for example trademark claims) are decided under the registry’s dispute rules published by AfgNIC at www.nic.af. Domain.af follows the registry’s or a court’s decision but does not decide ownership disputes. While a dispute is open, the domain may be locked against transfer or changes.

18. Getting help

Questions about a renewal, an expired domain or a restore? Contact our support team. The sooner you get in touch after expiry, the more options you have.

See also the .af acceptable use policy.