Domain Auto Renewal Time Period

[aquiss]

We have a customer who has selected the option on their domain to "Enable" Auto Renew.

They have been emailed a number of renewal reminders (I accept that is normal), but have asked us why the domain has not yet been auto renewed (the domain is 30 days from it's renewal date).

When are domains automatically renewed and/or is there an option in WHMCS settings where this can be set?

[brian!]

2 hours ago, aquiss said:

When are domains automatically renewed and/or is there an option in WHMCS settings where this can be set?

in a WHMCS context, the client setting a domain to "Auto Renew" is them telling WHMCS to invoice them for it's renewal when the NDD comes into invoice generation range (5 days for you if I remember correctly).

https://docs.whmcs.com/Domains_Configuration#Automatic_Renewal

Quote

• Domain renewals can be enabled for auto submission to the domain registrar as soon as you receive payment for them
• This setting is independant <- typo alert! of the auto registration and so you can enable this without enabling auto registration
• To turn this on, go to General Settings > Domains and tick the Auto Renew on Payment checkbox
• Automatic renewal should always be turned off at the registrar, as this would override WHMCS' behaviour and renew regardless of if you get paid or not

once the invoice is generated and paid, then the renewal request should be sent to the registrar.

perhaps you and the client are getting confused by the "auto renew" phrasing - it confused me years ago because I think of that phrase in a Registrar context with respect to that 4th bullet item... whereas in WHMCS, it's basically an "auto renewal invoice" option.

https://docs.whmcs.com/Domains_Configuration#Domain_Renewals

Quote

• By default, all domains are set to auto-renew.
• But this is not the same as what domain regstrars <- typo alert! commonly mean by auto-renew.
• In this case, we mean that an invoice will generate x days (as per your settings) prior to the due date and once paid, the domain will renew.
• It won't ever renew without payment being made.
• It is possible however to set a domain's auto renewal setting to off so that no invoice will generate and it will be allowed to expire.
• This can be done by ticking the Disable Auto Renew checkbox on the domains management page in the admin area or by the client themselves through the toggling of the option in the client area domain details page.
• When the Disable Auto Renew button is clicked in the client area, WHMCS checks for any outstanding invoices and if the domain is invoiced on it's own that invoice is cancelled, or if an invoice for multiple items just the line item for the domain in question is removed from it.
  • Disabling auto-renewal via the admin area will not trigger the automated invoice cancellation, allowing an existing renewal invoice to be kept, or cancelled manually as desired.
  • The Upcoming Domain Renewal Notices will still be sent as normal and clients can renew the domain manually if they wish.

if the client had wanted to renew NOW, then they could have gone to the Renew Domains page - index.php?rp=/cart/domain/renew - and renewed immediately (if the option is enabled)... though it's well-known that there are some issues with that page (and I don't know if they've been resolved in v7.7).

[aquiss]

Thanks @brian!

That makes far more sense now. You are indeed correct  on the 5 days :)

I agree that the wording is confusing, especially for the client.