About License Expiry Notices

If you have received a notice telling you that an SSL Certificate license is due to expire, and you have already purchased a new one, you are in the right place. These notices often continue to arrive after a new license has been bought, which understandably causes confusion.

This page explains what the license expiry notices are, why they are sent, why they keep arriving for an older license even once a new one exists, and why the best course of action is usually to disregard them rather than turn them off.

The Purpose of License Expiry Notices

A license expiry notice is sent to let you know that an SSL Certificate license is approaching the end of its term, so that you can purchase a new license and keep the resource it secures protected. It advises you to buy a new license before the current one lapses.

We are obligated to keep notifying you about an active license until that license is no longer valid. While a license remains live, its notices continue, because the notice relates to that specific license rather than to your account as a whole.

These notices are sent at 21, 14, and 7 days before the license expires. A Certificate as a Service (CaaS) license receives its notices on the same schedule.

Purchasing or Extending Your License

What a notice asks you to do depends on the type of license. A traditional SSL Certificate license is not extended, so you purchase a new license to continue securing the same resource.

A Certificate as a Service (CaaS) license can be extended instead. Extending continues the existing license, so a brand new license does not have to be purchased, and your Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) client keeps issuing without interruption.

To extend a Certificate as a Service (CaaS) license, choose the extension option on the product ordering page rather than the new license option, and provide your ACME Account ID. The system checks that the Account ID is valid for the product you have chosen and lets you extend by one to three years.

If a license is set up for automatic extensions, it is extended approximately 14 to 21 days before it expires, and an e-mail notification follows to confirm this.

Every License Stands Alone

Each SSL Certificate license is a separate product with its own validity period, its own Certificate Authority (CA) Reference, and its own set of licensed domains. A notice is sent against a Certificate Authority (CA) Reference and the domains that belong to it, not against a domain in general.

This matters most when the same domain appears on more than one license. You might hold several licenses that each secure the same website, and each one sends its own notices on its own schedule. A notice for one license has nothing to do with any other license you hold.

When you purchase a new license, you create a further separate license with its own Certificate Authority (CA) Reference. The notice you are seeing belongs to the older license, so it is unrelated to the new one you have just bought. Learn About Your SSL Certificate Obligations 🔗

Notices Continue Until a License Ends

Purchasing a new license does not stop the notices for an older one. The older license remains valid until the end of its term, and we continue to notify you about it for as long as it is live. This is why a notice can still arrive even though a newer license is already in place.

Note : If you have already purchased a new license for the same resource, no action is required. The older license will reach the end of its term on its own, and these notices can be safely disregarded.

You can let the older notices run their course. Once the older license reaches the end of its term, the new license takes its place, and the notices for the older one stop.

Disregard Rather Than Disable

Because these notices are useful, the best approach is to disregard the ones you no longer need rather than switch them off. They are the only proactive e-mails we send about a license, so turning them off removes a safeguard rather than reducing clutter.

Please also avoid marking these notices as junk or spam. Doing so can place your e-mail address on a suppression list, which may quietly stop other important messages, such as validation e-mails and login links, from reaching you at all. Learn About E-Mail Suppression Lists 🔗

What These Notices Exclude

It is just as important to know what these notices do not do. We send license expiry notices only. We do not send notices during the license term to tell you when to reissue your SSL Certificate, because reissuing is carried out by you in the tracking system whenever a new SSL Certificate is needed.

We also do not monitor the validity of each installed SSL Certificate or notify you when one is due. Checking what is actually installed and tracking its expiry is your responsibility, which is why receiving license notices is far better than receiving none at all. Learn About Your Monitoring Responsibilities 🔗

The tracking system shows the validity dates for both your license and the SSL Certificate last issued under it, and it provides calendar reminder files you can import to set your own reminders. Reissuing is free for as long as the license remains active. Learn About The Tracking System 🔗

Most Popular Questions

Frequently asked questions covering why Trustico® license expiry notices are sent and when, why they continue after a new license is purchased, why each license has its own notices, how a Certificate as a Service (CaaS) license can be extended, and why it is best to disregard rather than disable them

The Purpose of License Expiry Notices

A license expiry notice lets you know that an SSL Certificate license is approaching the end of its term, and it is sent at 21, 14, and 7 days before expiry. It advises you to purchase a new license so the resource it secures stays protected. We are obligated to send these notices for as long as the license remains valid.

Notices After Purchasing a New License

Notices often continue after you have purchased a new license, because they relate to the older license rather than the new one. The older license stays valid until the end of its term, and we keep notifying you about it until then. In almost every case, no action is required.

Separate Notices for Each License

Each SSL Certificate license has its own validity period, its own Certificate Authority (CA) Reference, and its own licensed domains. A notice is sent against a Certificate Authority (CA) Reference and the domains that belong to it. When the same domain sits on more than one license, each license sends its own notices independently.

Disregarding Rather Than Disabling Notices

These are the only proactive e-mails we send about a license, so the best approach is to disregard the ones you no longer need rather than switch them off. Turning them off removes a useful safeguard. The older license will reach the end of its term on its own.

Marking Notices as Junk or Spam

Please avoid marking these notices as junk or spam. Doing so can place your e-mail address on a suppression list, which may quietly stop other important messages from reaching you. Adding our sending address to your safe senders helps keep genuine messages arriving.

Reissue and Validity Monitoring

We send license expiry notices only. We do not send reminders during the license term telling you when to reissue, and we do not monitor the validity of each installed SSL Certificate. Checking what is installed and tracking its expiry through the tracking system is your responsibility.

Extending a Certificate as a Service (CaaS) License

A Certificate as a Service (CaaS) license can be extended rather than replaced with a brand new one. You choose the extension option on the product ordering page and provide your ACME Account ID, which the system validates before allowing an extension of one to three years. If automatic extensions are enabled, the license is extended approximately 14 to 21 days before it expires, and an e-mail notification follows.