@offthehandle, i think you are missing the point. What
@stub is pointing out is very clear: GoDaddy gives more preference to the auction business than their registrants business. and it is so that they are clipping the renew grace period to "make things more clear".
this is not a problem only with GoDaddy. It has become pervasive. Auction business for major registrars has become a major source of income and not the core business to which they should have always been dedicated to: serving domain registration to costumers. That was their mandate and still is, despite ICANN rules purposely keeping the loopholes open so that they may do whatever they like.
why do you think GoDaddy started a buying spree of domain portfolios in the last 2 years or so?
but at least, in their defense, they are not cherry picking expired domains for themselves like Enom, Network Solutions, Tucows, Domain/MyDomain/etc, Name and others have been doing for years.
Happy Thanksgiving!