Pricing, expiry and the grace period
A name is rented, not bought. This page is what that costs, when it runs out, and what happens after.
The price
| Length | Per year |
|---|---|
| 3 characters | 640 L2P |
| 4 characters | 160 L2P |
| 5 characters or more | 5 L2P |
Short names are scarce and priced that way. From five characters on, every name costs the same. An emoji counts as one character, so a name of three emoji is a three-character name and costs 640 L2P a year.
A registration of several years is that many times the yearly price, and every transaction also costs the ordinary network fee. The price you see on the page is what your wallet sends; anything over what the chain turns out to need is refunded in the same transaction.
Prices come from a contract on the chain, and they are the same for everyone. There is no auction and nobody to negotiate with.
Expiry
Every registration has an expiry date, shown on the name's page. Up to that date the name is yours, nothing can happen to it without your wallet signing, and its records keep working.
You can extend at any time, by any number of years, and the new time is added to the current expiry rather than starting from today. Extending early loses you nothing. See Manage your name.
The grace period
When a name expires it does not become available straight away. For 90 days it sits in a grace period, during which the previous owner, or anyone else, can still extend it and everything stays as it was.
During those 90 days the name is not available to anyone else, and the page says so with a Grace period status and the date it ends.
The name keeps resolving during the grace period, so an expired name that is still pointing at your wallet does not stop working the day it expires. It stops working when the grace period ends and someone else registers it.
After the grace period
The name becomes available, but not at the normal price. It carries a premium on top, starting at 100,000 L2P and halving every day, until after about three weeks it is back at the base price.
The premium exists so that a valuable name does not go to whoever runs the fastest script the second it becomes free. It goes to whoever wants it most, at whatever point on the falling curve they decide it is worth it.
The page shows the premium for today alongside the yearly price, and the total includes it. A name in this state has the Premium status.
Reading the timeline
| When | State | Who can register it |
|---|---|---|
| Before expiry | Registered | Nobody. The owner can extend |
| Expiry to 90 days after | Grace period | Nobody. Anyone can extend, records keep working |
| Days 91 to about 112 | Premium | Anyone, at a premium that halves daily |
| From then on | Available | Anyone, at the base price |
Do not let it lapse
If a name matters to you, extend it well before expiry, and do not rely on the grace period. Ninety days is a long time to be unavailable, and a name that reaches the premium phase is one you may have to buy back at a price you set for yourself by waiting.
There is no reminder from the chain. Note the date, or register for enough years that it is not a worry.