I want to register a domain that has expired, but it says domain not available. Print

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For .com,.net and .org Expired domains are retained by the registry by available for the previous registrant to renew. Below are details on how this process works:

* After a domain expires, most registrars have a grace period of 1 - 45 days, during which time the previous registrant can reactivate the domain by simply renewing it. Our registrar current grace period is 29 days; however, there is no guaranteed grace period, and this time frame is subject to change without notice. We encourage previous owners to renew as quickly as possible to avoid disappointment caused by losing the domain.

* After the grace period, the domain is deleted from the registrar database. The domain is held for an additional 30 days (Redemption Period) by the registry. Note: This only applies to .com, .net, and .org domain names and there is currently a fee of around £100 - 250 (depending on registry, domain and exchange rate) to the registry to recover the domain.

* This is followd by 5 more days (Pending Delete status), and will be dropped for anyone to purchase after that time.

You can check the status of a domain via a whois lookup - it will tell you the status of the domain (i.e., Redemption Period). The "updated date" is usually when the the 30 redemption period began.

For .EU domains as soon as the domain expires it is put in to a quarantine for 40 days - while in the quarantine it can be restored to the original owner at a higher cost than the standard renewal would have been. After the 40 days if it is not restored the domain is dropped and is available for anybody to register again.


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