A domain you registered or transferred here is yours, and moving it to another registrar is a request you make yourself in the client area. Nothing has to go through a ticket.
Before you start: move the services, not just the name
This is the step people skip. If the domain is using our nameservers, or if its mail is handled here, those are tied to the name rather than to the registrar, and a transfer can take them with it.
Write down every DNS record on the domain first: the A records, the mail records, the TXT records including SPF and anything used for verification. Recreate them wherever the zone will live afterwards, point the nameservers there, and confirm that the site loads and mail still arrives. Then transfer. Doing it in that order means the transfer is a paperwork change rather than an outage.
The two things the new registrar needs
- The registrar lock off. Open Domains, click the domain, and switch the lock off on its page. It exists to stop a transfer nobody authorised, so it has to come off for one you did authorise.
- The authorisation code. The same page has a button that requests it. The code, sometimes called the EPP or auth code, is what proves to the registry that the person asking for the transfer controls the name.
Then start the transfer at the new registrar and give them the code. The rest happens between them and the registry.
What happens next
The registry sends a confirmation to the address in the domain's registrant contact, so that address has to be one you can read. If nobody answers it, most registries release the name to the new registrar automatically after five days: the confirmation speeds it up rather than being the only route.
For most generic extensions the transfer adds a year to the registration, so the time remaining on it is carried over rather than lost.
When it will not go
- Inside sixty days of registration or of a previous transfer. This is a registry rule and nobody can waive it. Wait out the sixty days.
- The lock is still on, or the code was mistyped or has expired. Request a fresh one and try again.
- The extension does not work that way. Some country extensions run transfers on their own rules, and a few do not offer them at all. If yours is one of those, ask us and we will tell you what the registry actually allows.
After it completes
Turn the registrar lock back on at the new registrar, set the renewal arrangement there, and check the site and the mail one more time. Then cancel anything you were keeping here only for that domain's sake.