What I learned About Transferring Domains

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After a month of research I finally decided where I wanted my domains registered.  Last week I decided to go with GoDaddy for registering of my domains. Last Wednesday I started the process of transferring my domains over. After dealing with my current register, I decided to wait twenty-four hours so that I would not have any issues with the transfers.

Thursday night after work, I scheduled some time to transfer and purchase some new domains. The purchasing process was simple and I received an April discount and was able to purchase all domains for under $7.00 per domain. Since I purchased five domains I was able to get private domains setup for free!

At this point everything was running smoothly and it was time to complete the process of the transfers. I sent the request emails to my domain admin accounts and received the unlock transfer authorizations codes. I started filling out the information on GoDaddy’s site and I then get a big fat FAIL. The error message says the domains are still locked and to contact the loosing register to unlock the domains.

At this point I started calling support from the original domain register. They show everything is good on their side and its GoDaddy’s issues. I called GoDaddy’s support. They were very helpful and quick to diagnose my issue. Within just a few minutes they found the domains were not released properly and it was in fact my loosing register’s issue and they had to fix it. He then gave me the ammo I would need to prove to them and get the issue resolved. I called the loosing register and I told them what GoDaddy found and their support agreed and tried to release again. He said to give it a few hours for the unlock information to sync up with who.is and I should be able to to complete the transfer. By 7 P.M. on Friday, my domains were still showing to be locked and called support back and they have escalated the issue to their engineers and should be resolved by Monday. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Transfer Process For .Com and .Net

The process for transferring .Coms and .Nets is simple, if you have no issues during the transfer process. You just need to follow these steps and should have a successful transfer. – This works for GoDaddy and should not be much different for other registry providers.

1. Call your current domain register and request a domain release for transfer
2. Purchase your domain transfer from the new domain register
3. In your domain manager, initiate transfer for the domain
4. This sends an email to the email attached to the domain.
5. If you do not know the email that is attached. Check by going to Who.is and entering your domain name
6. Check the email and follow their instructions
7. You will have to enter a transaction id and security code
8. Then enter your authorization code that you received from your original register
9. The authorization should then start – this can take a few minutes
10. Accept the transfer, then the transfer is complete – Once its complete you can not transfer the domain for 60 days.

What I Learned

I learned that domain transfers may not be as simple as support says. When planning a domain transfer plan for delays and do not wait till the last minute. Do not transfer your domain or a clients domain at the end of the registry period but try and move the domain about a month early. By doing this, you have plenty of time to resolve any issues.

Once you know when you want to move your domain, call the loosing domain register two days before you are ready to make the transfer and request the release codes. Several support representatives have said it can take as little as an hour or up to forty eight hours for the release codes and the domain to be unlocked. To check and see if these changes are made you can check with with who.is and it should tell you the domain is transferrable.

Make sure you have contacts for both support groups from the losing and the new register. There are three separate entities and they do not work together. You can only contact your current support group and the new support group where your domain will be hosted.

Finally, make sure you have access to the registered email account attached to the domain. If you or your client does not have that information you will need to contact support where your domain is registered and have it changed.

Review

What was cool about the process was I received a call from a support manager / senior level support representative from GoDaddy Support asking about everything and we talked a few minutes about my unresolved issues and he explained to me what they would do if I was transferring from them and had this issue. He did say that my current register should have a strategy for this and if they can’t get it resolved quickly to talk with my account manager with them.

Overall, my experience with GoDaddy and their support is satisfactory and if all goes well, I will register more domains with them and I will recommend them to my clients, friends, and family.

If you are interested in purchasing new domains or transferring domains check out GoDaddy and their current specials.

Conclusion

If you have any issues with transfers of domains and things you have learned. Please share them with us. I will compile a list and share it in a new post.

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