A domain name (website address) i.e. www.mybusinessname.com.au is both a component of the initial cost of your website as well as an ongoing cost. The cost depends on the type of domain name that has been registered and can vary between $18-100.
How often you have to pay a renewal fee for your domain name is also dependent on the type of domain name that was registered on your behalf. The majority of domain names available to be registered are renewed yearly. But in Australia, the most common domain name, the .au suffix i.e. mybusinessname.com.au must be renewed every second year.
Domain Renewal Dates
In relation to Australian Domain names, a common point of confusion is when the client has registered their domain name prior to us creating a website for them and then receives an invoice sooner than 2 years. This occurs because when a domain name is transferred to us the registration renewal date or 'expiration date' is not renewed or reset. As a result, we will invoice you whenever the renewal date falls due i.e. 2 years after you last paid a renewal fee for your website's domain name regardless of who that invoice was paid to.
In the case of Australian administered domain names like .com.au and .net.au they can only be registered for a period of 2 years. Whereas most international domain names allow for upfront renewal for up to 8 years.
Domain Name Transfer Costs
The only exception to the above is when the domain name is transferred to us and the domain name is due to expire in less than 30 days. In this instance, we are required to forfeit the remaining days, and renew the domain name for a period of 2 years from the date of commencing the transfer. This is dictated to us by the Australian Domain Name Authority (auDA).
Also, note that some other international domain names like .com require the domain name to be renewed upon transfer regardless of when it was last renewed.
