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General Domain Transfer Steps and Tips

by | Mar 9, 2014 | News & Updates, Penguin News and Updates

General Domain Transfer Steps and Tips

When you are transferring a domain registration from one Registrar to another, there are specific steps you will need to take to prepare your domain. Below are the details to prepare your domain for transfer with your current Registrar and then submit the transfer request to us. Requirements may vary for some ccTLDs (for example .UK and .ES). This information is intended as an assistance to the process – some registrars may have slightly different processes but this can help.

Note: If your domain expired with your old Registrar and you renewed it with them, please do not transfer it within 45 days of the previous expiration date. Otherwise an extra year would not be added to your domain name since losing Registrar revokes renewal in such cases. And you’d lose renewal fees paid to the old Registrar and /or not be able to initiate the transfer at all.

Your website will experience no downtime if your domain is already pointed to your current host’s custom DNS servers (hosting or private nameservers).

Steps to move your domain registration to PenguinHosting.ca / The Image Stop ltd.:

1. Verify that the domain name is eligible for transfer.

To make sure your domain name can be transferred, sign in to your current Registrar and check the following:

  • The initial registration of the domain name was at least 60 days ago and the domain has been with your current Registrar for at least 60 days:

Per ICANN’s Policy on Transfer of Registrations between Registrars, domains that are less than 60 days old or were transferred between Registrars within the last 60 days cannot be transferred. Please wait at least 60 days before transferring.

  • The domain name is not on hold with your current Registrar.

2. Prepare your domain for transfer:

  • Disable Whois privacy protection tool or Private Registration for your domain;
  • Verify you have access to the email within the domain’s WHOIS Administrative contact;
  • Unlock your domain – remove the Registrar lock you may have set for added security;
  • Obtain the Auth/EPP code from the current Registrar:

Auth/EPP codes are required for all .com, .net, .org, .us, .biz, .info, .me, .co, .io, .ca, .tv, .in, .mobi, .cc, .pe, .com.pe, .net.pe, .org.pe, .tech, .top, .party, .loan, .faith and other new gTLD domains. If you cannot request an EPP code in account with your Registrar, contact them and ask to provide it to you.

3. Submit your transfer to us via email. We will contact you with any further information that may be needed:

  • Include your domain name & Auth/EPP code separated by a comma.  Example: domainname.com, E9R7;P402*4HS73:

4. Check your email for the verification request:

The email will be sent to the Administrative contact on your domain’s WHOIS. It is sent from donotreply@name-services.com (or support@namecheap.com) email address. This may take a few hours to arrive (and please be sure check your spam folders just in case). If you have not received this within a few hours of your initial request, please contact us for assistance.

After transfer is approved via email, losing Registrars have 5 days to automatically release your domain(s).
More details on domain preparation & what can cause a transfer to fail.

There are a few things that will cause a domain transfer to fail. If you have followed the preparation steps, you have eliminated the majority of these possibilities. The information below will help you understand why you will take each of these steps:

Domain is not more than 60 days old or has been transferred within the last 60 days.
Per ICANN regulations, a domain that has been newly registered or transferred from one Registrar to another within the last 60 days is not eligible for transfer.

The domain is locked or on hold with the current Registrar.
Most domains will have a Registrar Lock in place for added security. We recommend you leave these in place unless you are transferring a domain from one Registrar to another. You should have access to remove these directly within your account at your Registrar. If you do not, contact their help department for assistance;
If the domain has a hold in place, it will be reflected in the domain status when you do a WHOIS lookup. These are usually put in place at either the registry or Registrar level. You will not have direct access to remove these and will need to contact the loosing Registrar for assistance in removing.

Issues with your WHOIS contact information or not receiving the email for verification of the transfer.
Each domain transfer you initiate will require you to verify the transfer. In most cases this verification is completed by clicking a link within an email. This email is sent to the WHOIS contact email. Take a moment to make sure you have access to the registrant and administrative email address.

Note: Some Registrars consider any changes to the Registrant contact information to be an “internal transfer” and may reject any transfer requests for 60 days after changes to the Registrant contact information. If your current WHOIS information is not correct, check with your current Registrar’s Terms and Conditions to see if updating your Registrant contact details are considered an internal transfer.