What happened with google.com.ar
In April 2021, a guy from Berazategui went to NIC Argentina, saw that google.com.ar was listed as available and registered it. It cost him 270 pesos. For a few hours, Google Argentina's domain was in his name, until it was given back.
Google's case was a rare one. What happens every day is quieter: we checked 400 business websites in Buenos Aires and 81 no longer have a domain. The link is still on their Instagram, their business card and their shop window, and it leads nowhere.
How to check when your domain expires
If it ends in .com or another common extension:
- Go to the dashboard of the provider where you bought it (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Hostinger or another) and look for the expiration date and whether auto-renew is on.
- If you don't know where it is, look it up on lookup.icann.org: it shows the expiration date and which provider it's registered with. The owner's name is almost always hidden for privacy.
If it ends in .ar (.com.ar, .ar, .net.ar):
- Go to nic.ar and search for your domain.
- The domain details show the expiration date and the owner, the person or company whose name it's in.
- Put the date in your calendar with a reminder a month before.
What happens if it isn't renewed
If auto-renew is off or the saved card has expired, the domain expires anyway. Sometimes whoever registers it next is someone who buys expired domains to resell them.
An Argentine .ar domain is valid for one year and is renewed on nic.ar with the owner's tax ID login: NIC Argentina doesn't renew it on its own. Once it expires, there's a short grace period in which it can still be renewed. After that, the domain is removed and anyone can register it.
If it's in the name of whoever built your website
It happens a lot: the designer, the agency or a friend registered the domain with their own details to get things done faster. While that person is around, there's no problem. The day they change jobs, move or stop replying, renewing it depends on someone who's no longer there.
- For a .com: ask them to move it to an account in your name at the same provider, or to give you the transfer code so you can move it to yours.
- For an Argentine .ar domain: the owner can transfer it to another person through Trámites a Distancia (TAD), with their tax ID login. The transfer is complete when the new owner accepts it. It can't be done during the grace period, so it's better not to wait until it expires.
Do it in advance and in writing, even if it's just a message. It's easier to ask today than two years from now.
How we do it at Exos
We leave our clients' domains in their own name, paid with their own payment method, with a note of when it expires and how to renew it. The website is theirs, and so is the domain. That's how we build websites.
And once your domain is in order, check what people see when they recommend you: your link preview on WhatsApp.