Transferring your domain name: the complete guide

Switching registrars is a common operation: you want a better price, a clearer interface, or simply to bring all your domains together in one place. When properly prepared, a transfer happens without any interruption to your website or your email. This guide details each step, the timelines to expect and the pitfalls to avoid.

What to check before you start

Most failed transfers stumble on a forgotten prerequisite. Take ten minutes to check the following points with your current registrar.

Technical conditions

• Domain locking must be turned off. By default, a domain is locked to prevent unwanted transfers.
• The domain must not have been registered or transferred within the last 60 days. This rule, applied to generic extensions such as .com, .net or .org, protects against hijacking.
• The domain must not have been expired for too long or be in its redemption period.
• You must have the authorization code, also called the EPP code or transfer code.

Administrative conditions

The administrative contact's email address must be valid and accessible: this is often where confirmation requests are sent. Also check that the registrant's information is up to date. If you had enabled a privacy service, make sure you can still receive the messages.

Some country-code extensions follow their own rules. For the .fr, for example, the transfer goes through a specific code issued by the current registrar and does not come with an automatic one-year renewal. Always check the rules of the extension concerned.

The steps of the transfer

Here is the typical sequence, from preparation to receiving the domain.

1. Back up your current DNS configuration: A, CNAME, MX, TXT records and any other useful record. A screenshot is not enough; write down the exact values.
2. Turn off domain locking in your current registrar's interface.
3. Request the authorization code. It is usually shown in the interface or emailed to the registrant.
4. Create an account with the new registrar and start the transfer request by entering the domain name and the code.
5. Pay the transfer fee. In most cases, it includes a one-year renewal that is added to the remaining term.
6. Approve the request when you receive the confirmation email. Without this approval, some transfers stay pending.
7. Wait for the process to finish, then check that the domain appears in your new account.

Timelines to expect

For generic extensions, a transfer takes up to five to seven days, unless you approve the request earlier with the old registrar, which speeds things up. For country-code extensions, timelines vary: some are almost immediate, others take a few days.

Avoid starting a transfer a few days before the domain expires. If approval is delayed, you could end up with an expired domain. Renew first if necessary, then transfer.

Keeping your website and email running

Transferring the domain does not automatically mean transferring the hosting or the mailbox service. What matters is that the name servers and the DNS zone stay consistent throughout the operation.

• If your DNS is managed at the old registrar, recreate the full zone at the new one before changing the name servers.
• If you use an external DNS service, nothing moves: the name servers stay the same during the transfer.
• Do not change several things at once. Transferring the domain, switching hosts and migrating email on the same day makes any outage hard to diagnose.

Practical tip: a few days before the transfer, lower the time to live (TTL) of your DNS records to a short value, for example one hour. If something goes wrong, your fixes will propagate much faster.

The most common blockers

When a transfer is rejected, the reason is almost always one of the following:

• the domain is still locked;
• the authorization code is wrong, outdated or badly copied (watch out for spaces);
• the 60-day rule is not met;
• the registrant's email address is unreachable, so the confirmation is never received;
• there is an unpaid balance or a dispute with the old registrar;
• the domain has a special status, for example suspended pending identity verification.

In all of these cases, fix the cause and then restart the request. If the block persists, contact the old registrar's support: it is required to release an eligible domain.

After the transfer

Once the domain has arrived, do not let your guard down right away.

1. Check that the website and email work from several networks.
2. Check the displayed expiration date and enable automatic renewal if you wish.
3. Turn domain locking back on and, if available, two-factor authentication on the account.
4. Update the contact information and remove old access at the former registrar.
5. Keep your DNS backups for a few weeks, in case a record was forgotten.

In short

A successful transfer rests on good preparation: an unlocked domain, the authorization code in hand, a valid contact email and a backed-up DNS zone. Follow the steps in order, leave a margin before expiration and check everything afterward. If you manage several domains, YADOMAIN helps you track them in one place, which simplifies transfers and renewals.