Why do closed businesses leave their website up?

Cupán Studio sells café websites. We build them for cafés in Ireland, so we have an interest in the answer.

In a 2022 boards.ie thread, posts gave several reasons: one post said: "Just not a priority, especially if they were more of a bricks & mortar business", posts said websites are outsourced, one post said domain names and hosting are typically annual payments and another that hosting might be paid for several years, it may be up to the web developer to take a site down, and one post said companies do not want to advertise that they have closed. Posts also disagreed about liquidators and domain names, and we have not checked that. The thread is about closed businesses in general, not cafés, and is from September 2022. Our view: if a café closes for good or moves, say so on its website and its Google listing the same week, and know who holds the domain and the hosting login before that day comes.

Where the question came from

The question comes from a boards.ie thread titled "Why do closed businesses in Ireland never put up a sign on their website they are closed?", started on 24 September 2022. Its posts run from 24 to 26 September 2022. It is about closed businesses in general, not cafés.

What did the thread ask?

It asked why a closed business does not say so on its website. The opening post (24 September 2022) said: "Why do permanently closed businesses in Ireland never put up a sign on their website that they're closed?" It went on: "In other words, why do they pretend that there're still trading when they're not." Posts replied with reasons.

What reasons did posts give?

Posts gave several, and each is that post's own reason.

One post (24 September 2022, 17:56) said: "Just not a priority, especially if they were more of a bricks & mortar business." It added: "But for many small businesses, the physical place of trading is where things happen."

Another post (24 September 2022, 21:36) said: "Many websites are outsourced and treated in the same way that print advertising was in the past. They may not be updated over a year." The same post said: "It depends on when the domain name was registered or renewed and when the business paid for the web hosting. Both of these are typically annual payments."

A later post (24 September 2022, 22:00) said: "If the website development is outsourced then it may be up to the web developer rather than the business to take down the website." It also said: "There are options to renew domain names for up to ten years though most renewals are yearly." A different post (25 September 2022, 00:06) said: "Hosting might be paid for several years as well, all outsourced and forgotten when the place closes."

On not wanting to announce a closure, one post (24 September 2022, 17:18:15) said: "Companies don’t want to ‘advertise’ that they’ve closed basically (unless it’s a retirement etc)". Another post (25 September 2022, 10:48) made a comparison with advertising: "As pointed out above, websites for many are just an extension of advertising. Would you pay any attention to an advert in last years paper?"

One post (24 September 2022, 22:56) gave a reason for keeping a site: "Keeping some web presence is probably much cheaper than trying to recreate the same, it's not like keeping a shop leased on the main street just in case."

Is it true that a liquidator takes the website?

Posts in the thread disagreed, and we have not checked either side, so this is not legal advice. One post (24 September 2022, 16:48) said: "They can't. If they go into liquidation they're website is taken." A later post (24 September 2022, 21:22) said: "ITs a domain that's related to the business. A liquidator gets that as well". The post of 21:36 that day said: "In theory, the liquidator of a business should get the domain name as a business asset but most of them are deleted without being sold."

Other posts pushed back. One (24 September 2022, 22:56) said: "But a business that closes isn't automatically liquidated." Another (25 September 2022, 10:48) said: "There's many a business just closes - no liquidators involved." These are what the posts said.

What can a café take from it?

Our view, not the thread's: if a café closes for good or moves, say so on its website and on its Google listing the same week. Know who holds the domain and the hosting login before the day comes, so the notice can go up. If the closure is only for a while, see how to mark a café temporarily closed on Google. On keeping a site current, see is an out-of-date café website losing customers.

Sources

• boards.ie, thread "Why do closed businesses in Ireland never put up a sign on their website they are closed?", 24 to 26 September 2022, read 27 October 2026.
• Cupán Studio, marking a café temporarily closed on Google, read 27 October 2026.
• Cupán Studio, an out-of-date café website, read 27 October 2026.

This is a summary of a public 2022 boards.ie thread about closed businesses in general, not cafés, read on 27 October 2026, not legal advice or advice for your shop. The quotes are the posters' own words; our view is marked as ours. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland.