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Domains

How to Transfer a Domain to MyDomains.tech

Updated

Moving a domain to MyDomains.tech takes about ten minutes of your attention and then a few days of waiting. Most of the work happens at your current registrar, not here, which is the part most guides bury.

Before you start, it is worth knowing what a transfer actually changes. It moves who manages and bills for the registration. It does not move your website, your email, or your DNS records — those follow your nameservers, which stay exactly as they are unless you change them yourself.

Step 1: Check the domain is eligible

A domain cannot be transferred if any of the following is true:

  • It was registered, transferred, or had its registrant contact changed in the last 60 days. This is an ICANN lock on gTLDs such as .com, .net, and .org, and no registrar can waive it.
  • It has already expired and entered redemption. Renew it first, then transfer.
  • It is under a registry hold or dispute.

If you registered the domain a month ago, note the date it becomes eligible and come back then.

Step 2: Unlock the domain at your current registrar

Log in to the registrar you are moving away from and find the domain’s settings. Look for Registrar Lock, Transfer Lock, or Domain Lock, and switch it off.

This lock exists to stop unauthorised transfers, so it is on by default and it is meant to be slightly awkward to find. It is usually under a “Domain” or “Security” tab.

Step 3: Get the authorization code

In the same place, request the authorization code — also called an EPP code, auth code, or transfer key depending on the registrar. It is a short string of mixed characters that proves you are entitled to move the domain.

Some registrars display it on screen; others email it to the registrant address on file. A few make you wait a few minutes for it. Codes can expire, so get it when you are ready to start rather than weeks ahead.

Country-code domains sometimes work differently. .uk domains move by changing the IPS registrar tag to ours instead of using a code, and a handful of other ccTLDs have their own process. If your extension is one of them, ask us and we will tell you exactly what it needs.

Step 4: Turn off WHOIS privacy

If the domain has WHOIS privacy enabled at your current registrar, switch it off for the duration of the transfer.

The approval email in step 6 goes to the administrative contact in the WHOIS record. A privacy proxy replaces that address with a forwarding one, and forwarding is exactly where approval emails go missing. Check while you are there that the administrative contact email is one you can actually read today — a stale address on a domain registered years ago is the single most common reason a transfer stalls.

Free WHOIS privacy is switched back on once the domain is with us, on every extension whose registry permits it.

Step 5: Start the transfer at MyDomains.tech

Go to our domain page, choose the Transfer a domain tab, and enter your domain. You will be asked for the authorization code from step 3.

You are paying the transfer fee for your extension at this point, and that fee adds a year to your registration on top of whatever time is already left on it. For 74 extensions — mostly ccTLDs — the transfer is free. The exact figure for your extension is on its page in the domain extension directory.

Step 6: Approve the transfer

Two emails follow. One comes from us confirming the transfer has been submitted. The other comes from your current registrar asking you to confirm you want to release the domain.

Approve that second email. If you ignore it, most gTLD transfers still complete automatically after five days, but approving it can finish the job in hours instead. Many registrars also offer an “approve transfer” button in their control panel, which is faster than waiting for the email to arrive.

Your current registrar may show a retention offer at this stage. Declining it does not affect the transfer.

Step 7: Confirm everything still works

Once the transfer completes, the domain appears in your client area, where you can manage DNS, contacts, and renewals.

Check three things:

  1. Your website still loads. It should — the nameservers came across with the domain.
  2. Your email still arrives. Send yourself a test message from an outside address.
  3. Auto-renew is on, and the expiry date includes the year the transfer added.

If you are also moving your hosting to us, do that after the transfer has settled, and follow connecting your domain to web hosting — changing nameservers replaces every DNS record, including the MX records that route your email.

If the transfer fails

Transfers get rejected, and the rejection almost always names its reason:

  • “Domain is locked” — step 2 did not take. Check the lock again at your current registrar.
  • “Invalid authorization code” — the code was mistyped, has expired, or was regenerated after you copied it. Request a fresh one.
  • “Transfer prohibited: 60-day lock” — see step 1. Nothing to do but wait.
  • Nothing happened at all — the approval email went to an address you cannot read. Fix the administrative contact and restart.

A failed transfer leaves the domain where it is — nothing is lost at your current registrar, and you can start again as soon as the cause is fixed. If you were charged for a transfer that could not complete, contact support and we will sort it out.

Need help?

Transfers are the part of domain management most likely to go sideways, and we would rather do it with you than watch it stall. Send us a message or open a support ticket with your domain name and we will tell you exactly what it needs.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to transfer a domain?
It depends on the extension, and the fee is not just a fee — a transfer adds a full year to your registration, so you are buying a year at the same time as moving the domain. A .com transfer is $13.49 and includes that extra year. 74 extensions transfer in free of charge, mostly country domains that move by registrar tag or authcode rather than by paid transfer, including .uk, .au, .nz, .za, .at, .ch, .dk, .se, .jp, and .pl. Every extension's transfer price is published on its page in our domain extension directory.
How long does a domain transfer take?
For most gTLDs such as .com, .net, and .org, five to seven days. Once you approve the transfer, your current registrar has up to five days to release the domain, and many transfers complete sooner if you approve the release at that registrar too. Country-code domains vary widely — some complete within hours, a few take longer.
Will my website or email go down during the transfer?
No, provided you change nothing else. A transfer moves who manages the registration, not where the domain points. Your nameservers and DNS records normally carry across unchanged, so the site and mailboxes keep working throughout. The risk is not the transfer itself but changing nameservers at the same time — do those one at a time, and note your existing MX records before touching anything.
Why is my domain not eligible for transfer yet?
The usual reason is the 60-day lock: ICANN prevents a gTLD from transferring within 60 days of being registered, transferred, or having its registrant contact details changed. A domain can also be blocked because it is still locked at your current registrar, because the authorization code is wrong or expired, or because it has already expired and entered redemption.
Do I need to turn off WHOIS privacy before transferring?
Often, yes. The approval email goes to the administrative contact in the WHOIS record, and a privacy proxy usually replaces that address with a forwarding one that can silently drop the message. Switching privacy off for the few days of the transfer is the reliable path. Once the domain is with us, free WHOIS privacy goes back on for every extension whose registry permits it.
What happens to the time left on my registration?
You keep it. The year that the transfer adds is stacked on top of your existing expiry date, not instead of it. A domain with seven months remaining expires nineteen months after the transfer completes.
Can I transfer a domain that is about to expire?
You can, but do not leave it to the last week. Some registries refuse transfers close to the expiry date, and an expired domain cannot be transferred at all until it is renewed. If yours expires within about 10 days, renew it at your current registrar first and then transfer — the renewal year is not lost.
Can I transfer several domains at once?
Yes. Each domain still needs its own authorization code and its own unlock, but they can go through the cart together. If you are moving a large portfolio, contact us first and we will coordinate it with you.