Expired domains extended briefly for another year?
 

I've noticed lately that domains I let expire at Moniker are briefly (for about a month) showing an expiry date a year into the future, like they've been renewed, then after that month their delegation is removed and they disappear from the net. Anyone else seen this extra month of free rego on the way out?

thats quiet normal

Since when? My past experience has been that domains were redelegated to the registrar on the day they expire. Makes it a bit confusing to check WHOIS and see it has another year on it, had to double check it wasn't automatically renewed.

Is it a Moniker only thing perhaps, extending the reg to allow more grace, then getting a refund when they cancel after it's apparent it won't be renewed by the customer?

Registry auto-renew grace period - can be upto 45 days (for gTLDs, such as .com, .net, .org, .info, etc; ccTLDs have their own rules with many not having any grace period at all).

45 days is the max. Many registrars (again, to reiterate this is applicable for most gTLDs; ccTLDs have their own rules) wait about 30-42 days before deleting, though it's possible for a registrar to delete a domain nearly immediately after it expires.

After a registrar deletes a domain it then goes into the registry 30 day grace period - then after that goes to into "Pending Delete" (some gTLDs, such as .BIZ, use somewhat different terminology that can confuse matters) then 5 or so days later deletes and is available to others, including drop-catchers.

On a related note, when checking the status of a domain, be sure to check the registry directly ... very important, since many registrars use their own proprietary statuses that may not reflect reality - ie. eNom's infamous "Extended RGP" status that implies the domain is in redemption when it's often already been renewed and paid for, and won't be deleted anytime soon.