Here’s a quick guide to recovering a domain that has entered into a ‘Redemption Period’ when purchased through WordPress.com and not renewed.
The Domain enters ‘Redemption Period’ for 30-90 days when the Domain has expired before being released back onto the market (and you’re unlikely to get it back when it does).
If you have purchased a WordPress.com Plan, then you can use the support option to request a recovery of the domain.
If you haven’t purchased a Plan, you need to use the community Support forums (without divulging any personal info).
The first thing to do is to ensure your email address is valid on your WordPress.com account – this is where they will send any emails regarding the request you are about to raise.
Then you simply raise a ticket to state that you accidentally allowed your domain to expire (in our client’s case it was because the renewal notices were being sent to an email account that no longer existed), and that you’re prepared to pay the $80 redemption fee to recover it.
A support agent will then send you a payment request (for which you will should receive an email notification) – pay this and then wait a while for your Domain to be recovered.
If your Domain was pointing to external services, you may need to reapply the settings for these.