The domain name transfer is process of moving a domain name from one registrar to a different one. The registrar is company accredited to register internet domain names. The transfer process can usually take up to a week or so. It involves three parties: the current registrar holding the registration information, the new registrar the transfer will be made to and the domain name owner.
The domain name transfer is a 4 steps process:
- Transfer intiation
- Authorization of Transfer
- Accept/Decline the transfer
- Transfer Completion
The domain name transfer is generally initiated by the domain name owner or the technical person on behalf of the owner.
An email is then sent to the current domain owner at the address specified in the domain registration information. The message will pretty much keep you in the loop and is also a security measure to ensure anyone else is not trying to take over your domain name by moving it to another registar.
This authorization email contains a transaction ID and a password you will have to retrieve in order for the transfer to proceed.
At that point you need to log into your current registar web site to acces the Registry records and unlock your domain name . You will be then given an authorization secret code to provide to your new registrar for the transfer to take place.
Within a couple of days, the transfer should be effective and done. After you receive a confirmation email, please log into your account at your new registrar web site, to make sure theDomain Name Servers (DNS) are setup properly and still point to the server hosting your web site.
The necessity to transfer your domain name(s) from one registrar to another can stem from various reasons.
In my personal experience, my old registrar lost his accreditation with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) for failing to comply with some of their strict security guidelines. Afterwards, all domain names regsitered with that company were transfered to another company which won a bid through ICANN to take over all the clients of the loosing registrar.
The registrars switch was done smoothly. However after all the frustration I had with my previous registar over the last week preceding that switch, I decide to find a domain registration company on my own by transferring all my domain names to the registrar of my choosing.