Lifecycle of expired doma...
Expired domains go through different stages. This tutorial explains what those stages are and what your options are if you want to
recover the domain name.
Once a domain expires, it goes through three periods that make it increasingly difficult (and more expensive) to renew. To avoid downtime and high fees, renew your domain well before the expiration date and enable auto-renewal for important domains.
Renewal Grace Period
This period starts the day the domain expires and lasts 30 days for most top-level domains (TLD) such as .COM, .NET and .ORG. The domain's DNS will stop working so the website, email service etc. will stop functioning. The registrant can renew the domain name at the regular rate. Note that some TLDs do not have the renewal grace period such as .NL, .BE and .DE.Redemption Period
This period begins after the renewal grace period ends. The registry collects a high redemption fee to return the domain to the registrant. The domain also put up for auction so you can only get back the domain if the domain is not auctioned off. For TLDs that do not have a renewal grace period, the redemption period starts immediately after the domain expires. This period usually lasts 30 days.Pending Delete
Once the redemption period is over, the domain is pending deletion at the registry. This period usually lasts 5 days and you can no longer get the domain back at this point. Some TLDs do not have the PendingDelete stage. Those domains are released to the public pool instantly after their redemption period ends. Some examples are .NL, .EU, .ES, .FR. and .IS.General Availability
Once the domain name is deleted from the registry, it gets released to the public domain pool and can be registered on a first-come, first-serve basis. You can wait for the domain to come to general availability if you do not want to pay a high premium to redeem it. However, someone may grab the domain before you do.Once a domain expires, it goes through three periods that make it increasingly difficult (and more expensive) to renew. To avoid downtime and high fees, renew your domain well before the expiration date and enable auto-renewal for important domains.