Most of the people forgot to renew the domain name and think that the domain name will be available immediately after the expiry date or they can register it again with other service provider/registrar. Actually domain name will not be available public until 75 days after the expiry date. The status of the domain name changes to Expired happens when it is not renewed by the owner of it, it will be available for the owner to renew it for next 30 – 40 days depends on the registrar after the domain expiry, this is called grace period for the domain name, in this period the domain name will be in inactive state and the all the services of the domain like FTP, mails, website will not work and it can be renewed by the owner at the same renewal price.
Here is the next step after the grace period ends the status of the domain will be changed to redemption period. whois information for this domain name will not be available during this period and if the original owner of the domain decides that he want to have the same domain name renewed, he has to pay additional amount around $100, in many cases original owner of the domain name will not renew the domain name in the redemption period.
This is the last phase after the redemption period, if the domain name enters into this Pending Restore period, it will have 7 days to get it restored else the domain will go into a locked status and pending delete period. The domain will be in deletion period for only 5 days. During the last day of Pending Delete status the domain name is mostly dropped in between 11 AM and 2 PM Pacific Standard Time. After this drop from ICANN database it will be available for the public to register it again newly.
By now you might have understand the process of a domain name being expired and dropped, Below explanation about the domain name status codes, when you actually query the domain name whois information, you will get some of these codes, here i will explain in detail about those codes.
Domain Name Status Codes:
ACTIVE: The registry sets this status. A domain can only be modified by the domain registrar. The domain can be renewed. The domain will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server.
REGISTRY-LOCK: Domain name registry sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. The registry must remove the REGISTRY-LOCK status for the registrar to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server.
REGISTRAR-LOCK: This lock status is set by the sponsoring registrar and in this status the domain name can’t be altered or get deleted. The registrar must have to remove the lock status to modify the domain and with this status the domain can be renewed and also it will be included in the zone.
REGISTRY-HOLD: The registry sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. The registry must remove the REGISTRY-HOLD status for the registrar to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone.
REGISTRAR-HOLD: The sponsoring registrar sets this status. The domain can not be modified or deleted. The registrar must remove REGISTRAR-HOLD status to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone.
REDEMPTION PERIOD: The registry sets this status when a registrar requests that the domain name be deleted from the registry and the domain has been registered for more than 5 calendar days (if the delete request is received within 5 days of initial domain registration it will instead be deleted immediately). The domain will not be included in the zone. The domain can not be modified or purged; it can only be restored. Any other registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be held in this status for a maximum of 30 calendar days.
PENDINGRESTORE: The registry sets this status after a registrar requests restoration of a domain that is in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain will be included in the zone. Registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be held in this status while the registry waits for the registrar to provide required restoration documentation. If the registrar fails to provide documentation to the registry within 7 calendar days to confirm the restoration request, the domain will revert to REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain status will be set to ACTIVE only if the registrar provides documentation to the registry within 7 calendar days to confirm the restoration request.
PENDINGDELETE: The registry sets this status after a domain has been set in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status and the domain has not been restored by the registrar. The domain will not be included in the zone. Once in this status all registrar requests to modify or otherwise update the domain will be rejected. The domain will be purged from the registry database after being in this status for 5 calendar days.
