Domain Transfer Process

 August 12, 2021      Michael Bickerton

Now that we’ve got your attention on this blog, you may be asking “What is the process of transferring our domain?”

 

When an agency requests a domain name transfer, we are initiating the initial step in a series of activities that leads to the transfer of a domain:

  • With the client’s permission, the agency requests a transfer.
  • To approve the transfer, the client sends an email to the WHOIS database’s administrator contact.
  • The Administrative Contact confirms the transfer and unlocks the domain while sending the domain’s AUTH code. To guarantee that the request is confirmed, make sure the agency is identified as the administrative contact and receive the unlock code from their current registrar before requesting transfer. The transfer request will fail if confirmation is not received within five days, and they will have to start the process over.
  • The new registrar will next send an email to the TLD (top level domain) extension’s management organization.
  • The managing body will send an email to the old registrar seeking confirmation of the release if there is no reason not to release the domain. If no response is received within five days, the domain will be automatically transferred to the new registrar.
  • The client will receive an email from the agency’s new registrant informing them that the transfer is complete. In most cases the DNS information will be copied from the old registrar to the new as part of the process, but if this does not happen, the agency may need to log into your new registrar’s account control panel and enter the DNS information manually.

 

Once the transfer is complete, the transfer time frames are mostly determined by when the other registrar accepted the transfer. In most circumstances, it takes around 7 days or so to totally transfer in once all of the stages are completed. Because the procedure is dependent on the time it takes the client or the agency to confirm the transfer, as well as the time it takes your current registrar to accept or reject the transfer, it’s difficult to provide an accurate timetable.

 

Note that in most cases, it takes 12 hours or less for the transfer to be completed.

 

Interested to read more? Check out NameCheap blog for more information about the process of transferring domains.

 

Previously, What Is Domain Transfer?

Next up, All About Domains.

 

Amy Chung, Oakville, ON, August 2021

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