.de domains

Learn about the guidelines and features of .de domains.

Last updated November 20, 2024

You can register, transfer, or connect domains ending in .de to Squarespace if you have a mailing address in Germany. This TLD is a great option if you have a business or professional presence in Germany and you want a domain that matches your location.

The .de TLD follows different rules than most other TLDs we offer. This guide covers certain special requirements and exceptions from Squarespace and the relevant organization that oversees .de domain registration. To learn more about these requirements and exceptions, visit TLD registry policies.

To find a domain's price, you can search for it on our domain name search page or in your domains dashboard.

TLD features

Browse the table below to learn about the unique features and rules of registering or transferring a domain ending in .de. If you connect a .de domain to your site from a third-party provider, these guidelines don’t apply.

Feature

Rules

Address requirements

You must enter a mailing address located in Germany to register or transfer the domain, then maintain it to keep the domain. If your address changes to a different country, your domain could be suspended without a refund.

Auto-renew

All .de domains are charged for renewal 15 days before their official renewal date.

Important things to note:

  • Your domain isn’t officially renewed until 15 days after your charge date.
  • The auto-renew option locks when your domain is within five days of renewal (15 days after your charge date).

Domain locking

Domains can't be locked.

Failed payments and expired domains

To keep your .de domain active and linked to your site, ensure that you have a valid payment method on file. If your payment method is a credit card and we can’t charge it, we'll make additional attempts to charge your card every 5 days after the first failed charge. If we’re still unable to charge your card 10 days after the payment was due, the domain will expire and will no longer connect to your site. Your next steps depend on who your registrar is:

Tucows: When these domains expire, they return to their registrar, Tucows. You have a 30-day redemption period to contact Tucows and request a renewal.

Key-Systems: If the domain expires, it will no longer appear on your account dashboard. The domain will enter a 30-day redemption grace period during which you can reactivate it. If you don’t reactivate the domain in the 30-day timeframe, the domain will be deleted, and the domain status in Whois changes to “RedemptionPeriod.” If the domain owner requests an AuthInfo2 code during the redemption grace period, the grace period is reset to 30 days. .de domains that are registered with another provider and are in the redemption grace period can be restored with a TransferDomain command (when specifying the AuthInfo2 code) and transferred to RRPproxy.

If a .de domain expires, it will be pushed into TRANSIT at the DENIC registry. To learn more about DENIC TRANSIT visit the Denic Transit page.

Domains with an ongoing dispute are excluded from the Redemtion grace period rule and will be deleted directly and irrevocably.

Five-day registration grace period

There’s no five-day grace period to cancel .de domains and no refunds.

Before you register the domain, ensure that you want to keep it. Double-check the domain for typos.

Free domain offer

You can use the free domain offer when registering or transferring a .de domain.

Nameservers

Denic is the TLD registry for .de domains. They enact policies to ensure all .de domains in their registries are safe and secure. Before making changes to your nameservers, use Denic’s Name Server Tester (NAST) tool to ensure your nameservers meet Denic’s requirements.

To edit the nameservers of a Squarespace-managed .de domain, follow our steps.

Phone number requirements

Enter your phone number including the country code and leaving out any dashes. For example, if your country code is 49, you'd enter 491234567890.

Registration contact options

There’s only an Owner contact. You won’t see Admin, Tech, or Billing contact options.

Registration period

A .de domain can only be registered for one year at a time.

Transferring to Squarespace

At the time of transfer, you’ll purchase a one-year extension of your domain registration through Squarespace. You’ll keep the time remaining on your current registration, plus an additional year.

Verification

You don’t need to take any action or verify your domain via email after registering or transferring. Your .de domain is verified automatically.

Whois Privacy

Whois privacy isn't available.

Why is my domain registration "in progress?"

If your .de domain has a Pending label in your domains dashboard, it needs more time to fully resolve to your site. You don't need to take any action. After the domain is activated, your domain will have a green label in your domains dashboard.

Most .de domains take less than 24 hours to fully resolve, though it may take up to 72 hours. If your .de domain still isn't active after 72 hours, contact us and we'll take a look at your settings to ensure everything is set up correctly.

Transferring .de domains

.de domains have a few special rules and steps needed to transfer them to and away from Squarespace successfully.

Transferring a .de domain to Squarespace

The process of transferring a .de domain to Squarespace is nearly the same as other TLDs, with the addition of these details:

  • Review your domain's DNS records before starting the transfer. If there's a DNSSEC record in place, contact your current domain provider and ask them to delete it. Domains with DNSSEC won't properly transfer to Squarespace.
  • Transferring a .de domain to Squarespace gives you one new year of registration, but won’t carry over any remaining time from your previous provider.

Transferring a .de domain away from Squarespace

You can transfer your .de domain away from Squarespace at any time. You don’t need to wait the usual 60 days after registering or transferring it. Note that any remaining time on your registration won’t carry over to your new provider.

Unlike other TLDs, you don't need to unlock the domain. Follow these steps to transfer your domain away:

  1. In your domains dashboard, click the .de domain you’re transferring away.
  2. Click Send Transfer Code.
  3. The domain’s Owner contact will receive an email with the transfer code. You'll provide this code to your new domain provider to authorize the transfer.

Your transfer code expires 30 days after it’s issued, so ensure that you start the transfer process soon after receiving it.

Clicking Send Transfer Authentication Code more than once sends multiple unique transfer codes. Only the most recent code is valid, so delete any previous emails to avoid confusion.

 

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