If you see a page that's not your own when you visit your domain, your domain registration may have lapsed. Expired domains often resolve to what's called a parking page where other sites are advertised.
Note: This is not to be confused with an under construction page that is displayed before your website is published.
If you have an active Turbify plan and your domain is registered through us, we will automatically renew your domain registration annually--or, in the case of multiyear Domains registrations, at the end of your term. However, if your plan goes inactive due to non-payment or voluntary cancellation, we stop renewing on your behalf. That means that the domain registration will lapse at the end of its term.
Should this happen, the domain is no longer yours. It may be used for advertising, and after a few weeks our domain registration partner, Tucows, may sell your domain name to someone else.
Depending on how much time has passed since your domain expired, you may be able to remove the advertising and reclaim the domain by signing up for a new Small Business plan.
Check the domain WHOIS
The first step is to check the WHOIS information for your domain. The current status of the domain will determine whether or not the domain can be renewed and service with Turbify reactivated.
In the WHOIS info, check each of the following items in order:
1. Does the domain exist?
If the WHOIS gives a result like "Domain not found", the domain registration has lapsed. Please contact our support for assistance before attempting to reactivate the service. We will need to assist you directly to get the domain re-registered and the account reactivated in the best possible fashion.
2. Is the registrar Tucows?
Tucows is our domain registrar partner. If the domain is not registered with Tucows, you need to be sure that you have control of the domain with the current registrar before making any attempt to reactivate service with us. You will have control of the domain with another registrar only if you registered the domain elsewhere before signing up for service with Turbify or transferred the domain registration elsewhere before it expired.
If the domain was not originally registered elsewhere, and you did not transfer the domain to another registrar, the domain is no longer yours. The domain was either sold to another party by Tucows or it was deleted and subsequently re-registered by another party. In that case, Turbify cannot assist you with regaining control of the domain.
3a. If the registrar is Tucows, is the reseller Turbify?
If the reseller is Turbify, the domain is still within our control with Tucows and renewal/reactivation should be possible. Check item 4 below for more detail on how to do so.
If another party is shown as the reseller, the same circumstances apply as if the domain was with another registrar.
4. What does the domain status show?
If the domain status shows "RedemptionPeriod" or "PendingDelete", please contact our support for assistance before attempting to reactivate the service. We will need to assist you directly to get the domain re-registered and the account reactivated in the best possible fashion.
If the domain status shows a message like "Ok" or "GracePeriod", you should be able to reactivate your domain yourself.
Important! If you are uncertain about your domain's WHOIS status, registrar or what any other component showing in the WHOIS for your domain means, please contact our support so that we can assist you.