SHORT ANSWER: An expired domain is a domain name that’s registration has expired.

LONG ANSWER: When you purchase a domain name, it must be registered to a person or a business, your choice. Once your domain name is registered, it’s yours for one year, then you have an option to renew. Every year after that you can renew your ownership. Domain name renewal costs anywhere from $5 to $15, depending on which domain name registrar you use.

Most domain name registrars give you the option of a multi-year renewal, which saves a few dollars and the headache of renewing every year. Multi-year renewals are a good idea if you have a domain name you are pretty certain you will want for the foreseeable future.

Even if you decide to let go of the website attached to the name, you can always use it for PPC and affiliate ads like the big guys do!

An expired domain name is just a domain name with an expired registration - nobody owns it anymore. If you don’t renew your domain names at the end of each year, they become available for purchase on the open market.

Why would someone let go of a good domain name?

• Maybe the domain name wasn’t so good after all!
• Absentminded website owners who simply neglected to renew their domain names;
• Webmasters who got tied up in other ventures or interests;
• Webmasters who discontinued a site due to time constraints;
• Webmasters who ran out of money to continue to operate.

As domain name renewal comes around, you should get several renewal notices from your domain name registrar. If your email address on file with your domain name registrar is invalid, you will miss your renewal notice!

These days, when a domain name expires, domain name registrars “take over” the name for a few months afterwards, before releasing it to be sold again. Why would they bother? Because just maybe there is still traffic finding its way to your old domain name. And traffic is money. The domain name will now point to a parked page with PPC ads, with all monies going to the registrar. Smart!

Here’s the rub: if you decide you want the name back after it’s expired and the registrar has assumed control of it, the registrar will charge you anywhere from $50 to $150 (those are the prices I’ve seen) to pull that domain name out of limbo and reinstate it to you! (You never know about a domain name. Out of the blue it could get a few PPC dollars - even if only from misspellings!)

The lesson here is, if there is any chance you can use that domain name, make sure your email address is good so you don’t miss your renewal!