There two reasons domains are transferred
- Ownership of domains - Domain has been sold, or transferred to a new owner for an other reason
- Change of service provider or domain registrar
The process may differ slightly between tld's for example .com and .co.za but it will consist of these essential steps:
1. Disable WHOIS/domain privacy.
The WHOIS Privacy hides your information for security and domain spamming. The new registrar will need to verify who owns the domain name, which will not be possible if you have WHOIS privacy is disabled.
2. Ensure admin email is up-to-date.
The admin email is important as it will receive the transfer ticket (request email to release the domain) Confirm the administrative email address with your current registrar or service provider.
Note that changing this field can result in a 60-day transfer lock on the domain (to prevent fraudulent activity), so having an outdated admin email could delay the transfer process.
3. Unlock the domain.
The domain likely has a transfer lock applied to prevent unwanted or accidental transferring of the domain. In this case, it will need to be unlocked.
4. Get the transfer authorization code.
This is like a password that, in theory, should only be accessible by the true owner of a domain name. Some registrars may use a different term, like EPP key, secret code or auth code.
5. Request a domain transfer.
Have the new domain owner request a domain transfer. This will typically involve purchasing an additional year of registration, which will begin once all the remaining time on the domain name is used up. The authorization code from step 4 will be needed in order to request a transfer.
6. Approve transfer request email.
When the (new) domain owner requests a transfer, the administrative email address for the current domain’s owner will receive an email.Approve this request and the transfer process will begin.
How long does the domain transfer take?
Domain transfer time depends on the tld. If all the criteria has been met international domains take 5-7 days and co.za domains take between 1 to days.
