An expiring domain is a domain that has not been renewed by its owner before the expiry date. After this moment, the domain names enters the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), which is a period of 30 days that starts at the expiry date, if a domain is not renewed by its registrant. During the Redemption Grace Period, only the registrant can recover a domain (there are fees associated to this service). In case the registrant does not wish to renew the domain, there is a 5-day period called Redemption Hold Period (RHP). During this time, only name catchers, which are registrars specialized in expiring domains can purchase the domain. They do it for domains that have been back ordered by their clients and for other domains which seem to have some potential. The domains are then put on sale. Those which are not sold are generally dropped by the name catcher, which means that they are deleted and become available again for registration.

 

Back to the domaining basic information >>

Back to the domain name glossary >>