Also called domain life cycle · domain name lifecycle
Domain lifecycle, explained
For a .com, a registration runs one to ten years at a time. If it is not renewed, the registry auto-renews it the day after expiry and the registrar has up to 45 days to renew or delete it; during this grace period the owner can usually still renew, and many registrars auction the name. Once deleted, it enters a 30-day redemption period, when the owner can restore it for a fee, then five days of pending delete, after which it drops and anyone can register it.
Counted from expiry, a .com typically drops between about 35 and 80 days later, depending on how long the registrar holds it before deleting. Country-code extensions run their own timelines. For investors each stage is a buying channel: grace-period names go to expiry and pre-release auctions, names that reach pending delete are caught at release by drop-catching services, and backorders can target either route. A name sold in a pre-release auction never drops, so it keeps its original creation date.
Example. A .com deleted by its registrar 40 days after expiry becomes registrable again about 35 days later, once redemption and pending delete have run.
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Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.