Applies to: Domains

Domains Help

About .co.za Domains

Registry.net.za is the sponsor and Hexonet aka 1 Api GmbH is our backend provider for the country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) .co.za extensions that represent Republic of South Africa.

Who can register .co.za domains?

Anyone can register .co.za domain names.

Registration restrictions

When registering a .co.za domain, you must follow specific requirements.

  • Must use: 1-63 characters
  • Can use: Letters (a-z characters), numbers (0-9) and hyphens (except in the 1st or last characters of the domain name)
  • Cannot use: Special characters (e.g., & and #)
  • IDNs: Supported

Features

  • Registration length: 1 year
  • Renewal length: 1 year
    • Your .co.za domain name renews before its expiration date. If auto-renew is turned on, we'll attempt renewal 21 days prior to the domain's expiration date. If the first attempt fails, we'll continue attempting renewal multiple times prior to the domain's expiration date.
    • If we cannot auto-renew the domain name and you do not manually renew it by 7 days prior to the expiration date, you can attempt to recover your domain with any applicable fees.
  • Backorders: Not supported
  • Transfers to GoDaddy: Supported
    • Transfers to GoDaddy do not receive an additional year extension to the current registration term.
    • An authorization code may be needed if you are transferring away from Hexonet aka 1 Api GmbH, or one their partners. Otherwise the authorization code is not required and this field can be left blank to further authorize the transfer from your account.
    • Once the transfer is authorized in your account it will trigger an e-mail voting procedure. An e-mail will be sent from the registry (ZADNA) to each Whois contact (Owner, Admin, Tech, and Billing). At least one party has to APPROVE for a successful transfer. The transfer will fail if at least one party denies the transfer, and if there are NO votes received (APPROVE or DENY), the domain will not be transferred. If a party doesn't vote, the vote will be disregarded.
    • If the transfer is not accepted in 5 days, the .CO.ZA transfer will fail.
  • Transfers away from GoDaddy: Supported
    • Transfer Lock: Not supported
    • The transfer-away process is unique for .co.za. The domain does not need to be unlocked, and authorization code is not needed to transfer, unless you are transferring to Hexonet aka 1 Api GmbH, or one of their partner's a user transfer authorization code is needed. Contact a GoDaddy Guide to request an authorization code.
    • For non-Hexonet partner transfers, you must first request the transfer with the new registrar, which will trigger an e-mail voting procedure. An e-mail will be sent from the registry (ZADNA) to each Whois contact (Owner, Admin, Tech, and Billing). At least one party has to APPROVE for a successful transfer. The transfer will fail if at least one party denies the transfer, and if there are NO votes received (APPROVE or DENY), the domain will not be transferred. If a party doesn't vote, the vote will be disregarded.
    • If the transfer is not accepted in 5 days, the .co.za transfer will fail.
  • Transfers to another GoDaddy account: Not supported
  • Domain Privacy: Not supported
  • Protection plan upgrades: Not Supported
  • CashParking: Not supported
  • Contact Updates: Supported
    • After completing a contact update, the domain will be locked for up to 7 days while the update processes at the registry.

Nameserver requirements

  • Must use: 0-5 Nameservers, Authoritative Nameservers
  • Can use: IPv4, IPv6
  • Cannot use: DNSSEC, custom hostnames
  • Nameserver updates take up to 7 days. During this time the domain will remain locked and no other changes may be made.

Refunds

For details on refunds, review our refund policy

Cancellation requirements

To cancel your .co.za domain, contact a GoDaddy Guide for assistance.

More info

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