Most of the attention in the domain industry goes to acquisition: new registrations, launch campaigns and first-year growth targets. For a domain reseller, long-term success depends on what happens a year later, when each of those domains comes up for renewal and a payment card, a contact email or a client’s assumption can decide whether it stays active.
That makes the new .co expired domain policy worth a close look. In this article, we look at:
- What the .co expired domain policy changes
- Why the policy makes .co easier to sell
- Who runs the .co registry
- Four ways to reduce missed .co renewals across your portfolio
- How to add .co to your reseller portfolio with Openprovider
Key takeaways
- Since October 1, 2026, every expired .co must complete the full domain lifecycle.
- Registrars and resellers cannot auction, warehouse or transfer an expired .co without written approval from the .CO Registry.
- keeps the right to renew or restore the domain during the renewal and restore periods.
- Auto-renew, multi-year terms, renewal notices and automated expiry handling keep your clients’ .co domains active.
What the .co expired domain policy means for your clients’ domains
The .CO Registry Policy on Expiring Domain Names took effect on October 1, 2026. It requires every expired .co domain to complete the normal domain lifecycle. Registrars and resellers cannot auction, warehouse or transfer an expired .co to a new owner without written approval from the .CO Registry, and the original registrant keeps full rights to renew or restore it.
The domain lifecycle covers the stages after a domain expires: a period where the owner can renew at the normal price, a restore period with an added fee, and finally deletion, when the registry removes the domain. Our guide on what happens when a domain expires walks through each stage in more detail.
Two practices now need registry approval for .co:
- Pre-deletion auctions, where a registrar sells an expired domain before the registry deletes it.
- Warehousing, where a registrar keeps an expired domain for itself. The registry still allows backorders, which register a domain once the registry deletes it, because they use normal registration.
For your clients, the result is simple: their .co domain stays theirs for the whole lifecycle, and that gives you a strong point to raise in your next sales conversation.
Why the policy makes .co easier to sell
The .co expired domain policy applies to domain resellers as well as registrars. It covers all Registrar-Related Parties, so if you sell .co to your own customers, you follow the same lifecycle rules, and your clients keep their right to renew.
That gives you a clear message for business clients. A missed renewal date gives them time to act, with the full lifecycle to renew and a restore period after that, and the registry applies this rule to every registrar that sells .co. For a client choosing a domain to build a business on, that protection makes .co an easier decision.
The policy also puts more weight on your own renewal process. Once a client’s .co completes its lifecycle, the registry deletes it and anyone can register the name, so a reliable renewal process keeps every .co in your portfolio active and bringing in recurring revenue.
Clients who like this protection often ask a follow-up question: who runs .co, and is it a safe long-term choice?
Who runs .co, and why your clients can trust it
CentralNic, part of Team Internet, has run the .co registry since October 3, 2025. It operates .co with CCI on behalf of MinTIC, Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies. The move to CentralNic transferred 3.3 million .co domains in 29 hours, which CentralNic describes as one of the largest TLD migrations to date.
.co is a country code top-level domain (ccTLD), which lets the registry set its own policies for every registrar that sells it. The expired domain policy is one of those decisions, and it gives your clients the same lifecycle protection wherever they registered their name. Our .co anniversary post covers how .co grew from Colombia’s country code into a global choice for startups.
A stable registry gives your clients confidence in .co, and your renewal process decides how much of that protection reaches them.
Four ways to reduce missed .co renewals across your portfolio
Resellers reduce missed .co renewals with four controls: auto-renew by default, multi-year registration terms, early renewal notices and automated expiry handling. Together, these controls catch many of the renewals that would otherwise slip through when a client forgets, and they give clients who want to keep their domain every chance to do so.
Each one protects both your client’s domain and your recurring revenue, and they work for hosters, MSPs and agencies alike:
- Turn on auto-renew by default: clients who want to let a domain go can switch it off, and the rest renew automatically, with no one on your team stepping in.
- Offer multi-year terms: your clients can register or renew a .co for up to five years in total, which leaves them fewer renewal dates to manage and gives you longer-term revenue.
- Send renewal notices early: send them to an address the client checks, and repeat them as the expiry date gets closer.
- Automate expiry handling: connect renewals to your billing system through an API or a plugin, so your team sees a failed payment before the domain expires.
Your .co clients are the best place to start this quarter, and running all four controls from one platform is the easiest step of all.
How to add a .co domain to your reseller portfolio with Openprovider
With Openprovider, .co runs through the same platform, the same API, the same WHMCS module and the same Openprovider Membership as every other TLD you already sell.
Openprovider Membership gives you cost-price access to Openprovider-accredited TLDs, including .co, with no markup added between you and the registry. That leaves more room for your own margin on every .co renewal. The domain sits alongside the rest of your portfolio in the same Reseller Control Panel, with one renewal view and one place to manage auto-renew and renewal notices.
Sell .co at cost price with an Openprovider Membership
If your clients rely on .co and you want more control over their renewals, create a free Openprovider account and start managing your .co domains in one place.
With the new policy protecting every .co registrant, the resellers who pair it with a reliable renewal process are the ones best positioned to keep those clients for years.
Frequently asked questions
What is the new .co expired domain policy?
The .CO Registry Policy on Expiring Domain Names took effect on October 1, 2026. It requires every expired .co domain to complete the normal domain lifecycle, and it stops registrars and resellers from auctioning, warehousing or transferring an expired .co to a new owner without written registry approval.
Can I still renew an expired .co domain?
Yes. The original registrant keeps the right to renew or restore an expired .co until the lifecycle ends and the registry deletes it. For resellers, this means a client who misses a renewal date still has time to act.
Can registrars still auction expired .co domains?
Only with written approval from the .CO Registry. The registry still allows backorders on deleted domains, because they go through normal registration.
Does the .co policy apply to domain resellers?
Yes. The policy covers registrars and all Registrar-Related Parties, including resellers. If you sell .co to your own customers, the same lifecycle rules apply to every .co in your portfolio.
Who runs the .co registry?
CentralNic, part of Team Internet, has run the .co registry since October 3, 2025, working with CCI on behalf of MinTIC, Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies.
Is .co a safe choice for business clients?
Yes. CentralNic runs .co with CCI on behalf of MinTIC, Colombia’s ICT ministry , and the expired domain policy gives every registrant the full lifecycle to renew or restore their domain before deletion.
Can I sell .co domains through WHMCS?
Yes. Openprovider resellers can sell .co through the Openprovider WHMCS module and the Openprovider API. .co sits in the same catalog as the other extensions you sell, so you can add it to your hosting packages inside a system you already use.
