You can make sure that your custom domain name is (or isn't) automatically renewed each year, if you purchased it through Blogger or through Google Apps.
What is renewing a custom domain about?
If you purchase a domain through Blogger (and thus through one of eNom or GoDaddy), the only option you have is to buy it for one year.
After the term of your contact is finished, you need to either buy it again or switch your blog to use another domain name (perhaps your old blogspot name). And if you don't buy the domain again, someone else will be able to buy it.
If your custom domain name is important to you (and it will be if your blog is successful), then you will want to make sure that you have done the "paperwork" to re-purchase well before it's due to expire. Your domain registrar should send you a reminder email about a month before the registration is due - but it's sometimes very easy to miss details like this.
Luckily, Google makes it easier by providing an option to automatically renew your domain each year.
Using the auto-renew option
When you first purchase a domain, one of the questions is whether to automatically renew the registration each year. I usually answer "no" because I don't want my credit card charged with something I didn't specifically authorise.
But there are some domains that have become very important to me, and I want to be certain that they are renewed. So I'm prepared to turn auto-renew on for them.
Follow these steps to turn domain auto-renew on:
1 Go to Google Apps (www.google.com/apps)
2 Sign in by entering your domain name, and choosing Manage this Domain.
3 Log in with the administrator account that you set up when you first purchased the custom domain.
4 Choose the Domain Settings tab, and from that the Domain Names sub-tab.
5 Make sure that the the Automatic Renewal check-box is set to on, ie ticked (or off / unticked if you don't want to auto-renew).
6 Press Save
What happens next
If the Auto-renew option is ticked, then about a month before the renewal is due Google sends you an email to remind that that it's going to occur.
After that, at the appropriate time, Google charges the Google Checkout / Wallet account associated with your Google Apps account (ie the one you used to purchase the domain) for a one-year renewal.
The one thing that you need to do is make sure that the credit card that you have linked to the Google Checkout account is still valid.
You can find more information about Domain payments on this Google help page.
Related Articles
Checking the credit card that is linked to your account
Setting up an administrator for your custom domain
Transferring Blog Ownership.
Understanding Google accounts
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