Domain redemption periods in the gTLD life cycle

gTLD domains which are registered through us are renewed on a yearly basis. If a domain is not renewed, it will be set to expire with the Registrar. However, a 30 day Auto Renew Grace Period follows which provides customers with the option to renew the domain and avoid deletion.

Should a domain not be renewed during this time, it will proceed to a stage which ICANN refers to as the Redemption Grace Period. The domain remains in this stage for a further 30 days. ICANN has required that registries implement this facility to allow the original registrants to redeem a deleted name. The Redemption Grace Period process is to provide additional time to catch erroneous deletions before the name is made available for re-registration.

When a name enters this period, it is removed from the zone file (a file on a nameserver that defines a domain name with its associated sub-domains, IP addresses and mail server). As a result, any Internet services for the domain name will be disabled (e.g. email or website facility). The registrant must act immediately if they want to keep the name.  It is possible to renew a gTLD up until this point, although redemption fees may apply.

If no action is taken, no further grace periods are offered and the domain moves into a 5 day Pending Delete stage, before deletion follows and the domain is released for public registration.