After a domain has passed through any applicable expiration grace period (see What Happens When a Domain Expires), the domain may go into redemption status.
"Redemption Grace Period," or RGP, is a time frame during which the previous registrant can reactivate an expired domain after the registrar has issued a delete command to the registry. Only the previous registrant can retrieve the domain during this time frame, and it must be retrieved through the previous registrar. The Redemption Grace Period is named differently for some TLDs; the .org equivalent, for example, is "Pending Delete - Restorable."
Domains in our system can go into either Redemption Grace Period or Extended Redemption Grace Period. Note that a domain can be recovered from its redemption period however at a significant cost.
"Pending Delete" refers to the 5-day timeframe after redemption during which time the registry holds the domain and it cannot be recovered. Once the Registry deletes the domain, it becomes available for anyone to purchase as a new domain. It is available on a first-come first-served basis.
