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Domain Transfer Frequently Asked Questions

Transferring domains is the process of moving domains from one registrar to a different registrar. As one of the fastest-growing registrars in the world, we transfer many domains each day from other registrars.. We aim to make the process as simple as possible and have provided answers to the most commonly asked transfer questions below:

How does the free year added to my domain work?

When transferring a domain to your NameSilo account you will pay the transfer fee as shown on our pricing page, and, upon transfer completion, one year will be added to the expiration date of the domain.** This extra year is added at no additional cost to you. For example, if your domain expires on December 1, 2019, upon transfer completion the domain will expire December 1, 2020.

One mistake we see many people make is to wait until their domains are very close to the expiration date before transferring thinking that they will lose any time remaining with their domains if they transfer before the expiration date. This is not necessary. When transferring domains there is absolutely no time lost. Again, 1 year is added to the existing expiration date upon transfer completion.

** The only times the extra year is not added to the expiration date is if the domain had been renewed at the previous registrar within 45 days of the transfer (You can find complete details about this issue here), or if adding the extra year would exceed the maximum number of years permitted by the registry/ICANN (typically 10 years).

How long do transfers take to complete?

The short answer is that some transfers can be completed within 30 minutes, while others will take 5-6 days. This difference is entirely based upon the registrar from which the domains are being transferred. Some registrars (such as NameSilo) allow expediting outgoing transfers, while others do not. It is not required that registrars provide this option. Please ask your current registrar if you do not know. Other factors impacting the time it takes to complete transfers include how quickly the domain is unlocked, retrieving the correct EPP authorization code and verifying the email our system sends to confirm the transfer. We offer a much more detailed domain transfer checklist and process overview as well.

Will my domain have downtime if I transfer it?

Unfortunately, we cannot typically answer this question as there are a number of different possible configurations for your domains as well as how different services such as web site, email, etc. are setup. A good rule of thumb, although not the case 100% of the time, is that the services associated with your domain will not be impacted if your domain does not use your current registrar's name servers. We are sorry, but we cannot help to determine possible issues related to transferring your domains. However, we do offer a number of transfer configuration options to help ensure no downtime in the event you are using your current registrar's name servers. As you will see via the previous link, the default behavior for transferred domains is to make no changes to name servers, so, if you are using a third-party's name servers (not your current registrar), then your domain services should not be impacted in any way and no special configuration should be required.

How are custom/private name servers handled?

Any custom/private name servers you have will not be impacted by a transfer. For example, if you were transferring the domain example.com and had ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com setup, both of those name servers would not be impacted by transferring and there would be no need to set them up again once the transfer completed.

Is managing the transfer process easy?

We make the transfer process as easy as possible. We do this by offering a user-friendly Transfer Manager that provides the status of any pending transfers and also lets you know if any actions are necessary to continue to process.

What if my domain is expired or will expire during the transfer process?

This is unfortunately a question that we cannot answer with a definitive yes or no since there are a few things to consider. The short answer is that it should be possible to transfer domains that have recently expired. There is much more information on this issue on our transfer of expired domains article.

What if my current registrar does not allow me to transfer my domain?

All registrars are required to provide everything necessary to transfer your domain including allowing you to get the EPP authorization code, unlocking your domain and making any necessary changes to WHOIS such as updating information and removing privacy if necessary. If your registrar is not allowing you to do any of these things, we would recommend filing a complaint on ICANN's transfer complaint form..One thing to note is that many companies that offer domains are resellers for actual registrars. You may therefore need to contact the parent registrar for your domain if the company you are corresponding with is a reseller and is not providing support. You can determine the registrar for any domain by doing a WHOIS search.

What if my registrar rejects the transfer?

Registrars are only allowed to reject transfers for a specified number of reasons. They are also required to provide the reason for rejection. You can read much more about your rights and what to do if your transfer is rejected on our How to handle rejected transfers article.

Do I need to remove WHOIS privacy to transfer my domain?

We typically recommend removing domain privacy services prior to transfer. This is not always a requirement, but some registrars do not permit transfers if privacy services are used. Additionally, some privacy services shield the email addresses associated with the domain in WHOIS and we therefore cannot complete the step above. You can leave the privacy service on for your domain if you are sure that your registrar will still permit the transfer, and you verify that you can receive email addressed to the administrative contact address in WHOIS.