Have you ever paid a ransom for an expired domain?

Hey folks

Uncomfortable question time: have you ever paid what felt like a ransom to get an expired domain back?

Not talking normal renewal. Talking "your domain entered redemption, that'll be $250 plus a week of paperwork" type stuff

I'll go first: yeah. Hetzner wanted €180 to restore a project domain I let slip. Felt dirty. Paid it. Fixed my alerts same day

Be honest. Anon poll energy even though we're all named here

The distinction matters. A "ransom" implies bad faith negotiation, whereas what you describe is, to my knowledge, an automated process with fixed pricing. The lack of transparency is problematic. As far as I know, many registrants do not understand the difference between:

• Grace period (renew at normal price)
• Redemption period (additional fee applies)
• Pending delete (domain becomes available to anyone)

Thanks for raising this, @marcus_qc. It's a topic we see often in support tickets.

— In many cases, what users call a "ransom" is actually the standard redemption fee set by the registry, not the registrar. We don't control that pricing at Contabo.

— We'd be happy to check your specific situation via DM if you'd like clarity on what fees were registry vs. Registrar.

— For anyone unsure about their domain's timeline:

• Day 1-30: Grace period, standard renewal
• Day 30-60: Redemption, additional fee required
• Day 60+: Pending delete

— Jane @ Contabo

I saw this Poll and I have to respond because I have a story and people always tell me I tell too many details but the details matter so here goes it was 2019 or maybe 2020 I think it was March because my cat Mr. whiskers was shedding and I had oatmeal for breakfast with blueberries not the frozen ones the fresh ones and it was raining outside which is rare for where I live and my server at the time was on RackNerd and I had this domain for my blog about knitting which I dont do anymore because of the arthritis and I got the email that said it expired but I didnt see it because I was at the dentist getting a filling and then when I got home Mr. whiskers had knocked over my plant and I cleaned that up and then I saw the email and I panicked and called them and they said $300 and I said thats a ransom and they said no maam thats redemption and I said I dont know what that means and they explained it and I paid it and I still have the domain but I dont use it and people always say why do you keep paying for it and I say because I paid $300 for it and they laugh but im not laughing and now you all know the whole story so dont complain about the length because I warned you.

Martha the cat and oatmeal are not the details we need here.