Free Domain Auto Renewal Issue

[hkhost]

Sorry, I can't find information about this topic. 

Free domains are supposed to ONLY renew if there is an active product linked to it and their expiration date matches. Unfortunately, the expiration dates on many Hosting accounts do not match with the domain's  (usually 1-day difference). Therefore, the domain gets renewed 1 month in advance (invoice renewal fee = 0USD), even though we don't know if the client will renew the Hosting plan.

a) Why would annual expiration dates on Hosting and Domains be different if registered on the same day?
b) Does domain extension affect the renewal date?
c) Does leap year affect expiration dates? (366 vs 365 days year)

How to avoid domain renewals by mistake? Do we need to check each account with free domains to see if the expiration date matches? Is there any "hook" or automated solution?

Thanks!

[brian!]

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

Sorry, I can't find information about this topic. 

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

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

Free domains are supposed to ONLY renew if there is an active product linked to it and their expiration date matches.

if their next due dates match, not expiry dates.

Quote

As long as the payment method for the domain and the hosting account is the same, and the next due date is the same, when the time for the invoice to generate comes up (based on the settings in your Automation settings), WHMCS will invoice for the hosting and the domain on the same invoice.

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

Unfortunately, the expiration dates on many Hosting accounts do not match with the domain's  (usually 1-day difference).

are you domain syncing next due dates to expiry dates ?

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

a) Why would annual expiration dates on Hosting and Domains be different if registered on the same day?

see above - if ordered at the same time, NDD should be the same on both... but if, for whatever reason, a domain is actually registered the following day, and then you are syncing NDD with expiry dates, then they could go out of alignment and result in two invoices instead of one.

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

b) Does domain extension affect the renewal date?

not in the sense I think you mean - it will affect what happens after expiry though.

5 hours ago, hkhost said:

c) Does leap year affect expiration dates? (366 vs 365 days year)

no - though I can't recall what happens when a domain is registered on Feb 29... but you won't have to worry about that occurring for another 4 years.

8 hours ago, hkhost said:

How to avoid domain renewals by mistake? Do we need to check each account with free domains to see if the expiration date matches?

it might be an idea to check... if there are only a few, you could check them manually - otherwise, you might need to run a SQL query / write a report, to see if there are discrepancies.

8 hours ago, hkhost said:

Is there any "hook" or automated solution?

there might not be much use in a hook synchronising dates for these products, if there is a domain sync cron task running that is changing them back again.

[hkhost]

Sorry,  I used the wrong wording as I was talking about the Next Due dates that are not matching in some hosting accounts with free domains (mainly some old accounts with 5+ years on the system). 

I guess some products/services should be renewed one day in advance and others exactly the same date as registered in WHMCS. 

Anyway, thanks a lot for the feedback @brian! I will keep checking from my side.