A registrar transfer moves who you pay and manage the domain with. Done in the right order it's invisible to your users. Done in the wrong order, the old registrar's DNS service stops the moment the transfer completes, and your website and email go with it.
Before you start: can it move?
ICANN's Transfer Policy blocks a transfer:
- within 60 days of registration;
- within 60 days of a previous transfer;
- within 60 days of a change of registrant (owner name, organisation or email), unless you opted out of that lock before the change.
The domain must also not be expired or in a dispute. Check the date you last changed the owner details before you start.
Step 1: sort out DNS first
Find out who answers DNS for the domain:
dig +short NS example.com
- Nameservers belong to a DNS provider (Cloudflare, Route 53, your host): nothing to do, DNS doesn't move with the registrar.
- Nameservers belong to the old registrar (e.g.
dns1.registrar-servers.comfor Namecheap): copy every record (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA) to the new provider first, then change the nameservers at the old registrar and wait a day or two before transferring. Export the zone if the registrar offers it; check the TXT records for SPF, DKIM and verification codes, which are easy to miss.
Step 2: handle DNSSEC
If DNSSEC is on and you're changing DNS provider, remove the DS record at the registrar first and wait for it to expire (a day is safe), then move DNS, then turn DNSSEC back on with the new provider's keys. Moving DNS with an old DS record still in place makes the domain fail to resolve for every resolver that checks DNSSEC.
If DNS isn't moving, DNSSEC can stay on. More on how DS records work: DNSSEC explained.
Step 3: unlock and get the code
At the old registrar:
- Turn off the transfer lock (
clientTransferProhibited). The registrar must let you do this within 5 days of asking. - Get the authorisation code (also called EPP or auth code). The registrar must give it to you within 5 days and can't withhold it over an unpaid bill.
You don't need to turn off WHOIS privacy: since registration data became private in 2018, the gaining registrar no longer emails the published owner for approval.
Step 4: start the transfer
At the new registrar, enter the domain and the code and pay. For most generic domains the transfer adds a year to the registration (up to the 10-year maximum), so you don't lose time you've already paid for.
The old registrar emails the owner to confirm. Approving that email completes the transfer quickly; otherwise the registry completes it automatically after 5 days unless the old registrar rejects it.
Step 5: check everything
- The transfer lock is back on at the new registrar.
- Two-factor authentication is on for the new account.
dig +short NS example.comshows the nameservers you expect.- The website loads and a test email arrives.
- Auto-renew is on and the expiry date moved forward a year.
Country domains
Country-code domains follow their registry's rules: .uk transfers, for example, use a registrar tag change rather than an auth code. Check the registry's documentation.
If the transfer is refused, check the domain's status codes: clientTransferProhibited and other statuses explains each one and the 60-day transfer locks.
Check your domain
The domain expiry checker shows the registrar, status and expiry date after the transfer. Nameward's monitoring alerts you when a domain's registrar or nameservers change, so an unexpected transfer is noticed within hours, and if the transfer lock is left off afterwards.