Domain expiration is something that's more complicated than most people realize. As an example, I'm not sure if there's a definitive source stating that auto-renew grace is part of the ERRP. In my opinion it's not and the ERRP typically won't trigger for high value domains because they'll be sold or auctioned by the registrar instead.

As far as I know, the ERRP rules describe the policies for the deletion of expired domains, which isn't required, so working off the auto-renew grace status was a good choice here. Most people don't realize that expired domains aren't guaranteed to go through the ERRP lifecycle [1].

> You should be aware that during the auto-renew period, the domain name may be available to third parties for registration, depending on your registrar's terms of service. You may also run the risk of having your domain name auctioned to a third party by your registrar during this period (depending on your terms of service)

The process described here sounds like a pretty reasonable approach to a hard problem. It won't catch everything, but it's a good approach and it's nice to see some effort put into the issue.

1. https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registrant-about-errp-...