By Colin Finnan, Transfer Support Associate
Every day, domain names are transferred through Sedo. Although many domainers follow through with transfers, how can you be certain that a domain transfer is relevant for you? To help you figure it out, here are a few common instances when a transfer is needed:
*You didn’t know too much about domains when you registered your first one and would now like to move it to a registrar that has some better end user options.
*If you’re a domainer who has tons of domains all over the place and would like to consolidate them under one account.
*Perhaps you’ve sold your domain and you now need to transfer it to a new owner who has bought the domain from you.
If you are still interested in the possibility of transferring your domains you should first recognize that there is not just one type of transfer, there are actually two types; one being an internal transfer and the other being an external transfer. Internal transfers are transfers that take place between two accounts within the same registrar and external transfers take the domain out of the current registrar altogether and move it to another registrar.
Internal transfers are usually very quick; as the domain is staying in the same place from the registrar’s perspective. However, they are not offered at every registrar and the process can vary depending on which registrar you use. Most well know registrars will let you carry out one of these transfers right through your account interface for free, however for others you may have to pay a small fee or contact the registrar itself to initiate the account change. The typical account transfer works on a push method, where you initiate the transfer from the current account to the receiving account and, depending on the registrar, some pushes will need to be accepted by the receiving account. Another type of internal account change works on the pull method which is the opposite of a push, where the gaining account requests the domain be transferred to it. Again, the losing account will probably have to authorize the transfer. The best way to find out if an internal account change is possible or not (and the method by which it works) is to contact the registrar directly, as each registrar has its own requirements and restrictions.
With external transfers, however, not all registrars have easy interfaces to work with or they employ complicated rules when transferring a domain out of their system. This often makes external transfers a longer process depending on the extension. Almost everyone has heard of .com, .net, .org and even .biz so transferring domains with these Top-Level Domains (TLDs) is a very straight forward process no matter what the registrar. To help the process move along quickly it is important that you’re prepared with the following three things for all external domain transfers:
* First the domain will need to be unlocked if it has a locking function.
* Second most TLD’s have what’s called an authorization or EPP code, which will usually be used at the gaining registrar as a security measure.
* Third the email listed in the domain’s Whois information will need to be a working one so that it can receive authorization emails from both gaining and losing registrars. You can verify this information by visiting http://www.whois.sc and looking up the domain being transferred.
If the domain’s Whois has a privacy protect setting on it, the transfer emails may not get through and the domain may not be approved for transfer. With most registrars you can usually get all of this through your account interface or by just contacting the registrar directly where the domain is currently at.
Now this process works for a lot of the TLD’s out there but there are still others that will require more work to transfer. For instance if you bought a .co.uk domain from someone and wanted to get the domain transferred into your name, forms would need to be filled out by both the current owner and the new owner and then sent into the .co.uk registry for processing.
There are also some TLD’s that require residence in order for someone to own them, these are primarily country codes TLDs (ccTLDs). An example of this would be .de for Germany or .eu for European Union. Now, there are some people who own these residency required TLD’s with out actually having residence. How do they accomplish this? Many registries have provisions for allowing non residents to register their tlds provided they have a legitimate business purpose for operating in the space. There are multiple Trust Services which provide a physical address within the host registry’s country or area to tie the domain to, allowing Non residents the ability to register domains easily and without much hassle. The trust service usually charges some premium above the normal registration fee to provide this service.
I hope this gives you a deeper understanding of the transfer process. If you have more questions on domain transfers please let us know. Please visit our Customer Support Center at support.sedo.com , where you’ll find a detailed knowledge base of frequently asked questions and answers.
Source: Sedo.com -- Reprinted with permission -- July 8, 2008
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