Domain Name Registrar Transfers - Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to transfer registrars?

Why would I want to transfer registrars?

How much does it cost?

Which domain extensions do you accept?

Will transferring change my information?

How do I change registrars?

Are there any conditions for my domain to be successfully transferred from another registrar?

I requested a transfer but nothing happened. What went wrong?

I paid for a domain transfer, but I had to renew it with my prior registrar. What do I do now?

I got the transfer approval email, but when I clicked on the link, it came up as "Invalid Key".  What do I do?

When I tried to approve my transfer, it said "Warning, your ID is invalid. Contact Technical Support". What's wrong?

How can I check the status of my transfer? 

I didn't receive the admin approval email. Can I resend it? 

My transfer got denied by my previous registrar. Can I resubmit it?

Who do I contact for additional assistance?

What does it mean to transfer registrars?

If you already own a .com .net .org .us .biz or .info domain name, you registered it using a domain name registrar. By using our Transfer Registrar tool, you are simply requesting transfer of your domain name from the registrar you originally registered with and making DomainsNow4U.com® the registrar of record.

If you have just registered or renewed a domain name, please note there is a 60 day transfer hold. This means you have to wait two months from the registration or renewal date before you can transfer your domain.

At this time we can accept transfers of .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us, .tv, .name, .cc, .eu and .mobi domain names.

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Why would I want to transfer registrars?

When you registered your domain name you probably paid up to $70.00. Now that it is coming due, you can save yourself money by taking advantage of DomainsNow4U's free transfer offer. 

In addition, once the transfer is complete, you'll benefit from our easy-to-use domain management system, you'll benefit from all our FREE domain services, you'll manage all your names under one roof, and you will benefit from our personalized customer support.

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How much does it cost?

There is no fee to transfer your .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO and .US domain names to our registration service. Our $12 charge is simply for a one year extension to your domain name's current expiration date. There are no hidden extra costs. For example, if your domain name still has 10 months to run and you transfer it to us now, it will then have 22 months before expiring. 

Important: In your own interest, do NOT leave your decision to transfer to the last few days before expiry! This is because after receiving your transfer request, some losing registrars delay taking action until your domain name has expired and then require renewal before acting on the transfer request!

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Which domain extensions do you accept?

We currently accept transfers for the following top level domains: .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO., .US, .TV, .NAME, .CC, .EU and .MOBI domain names.

Important: Before submitting your transfer request to us, you must obtain a "transfer authorization code" from your current registrar.

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Will transferring change my information?

No.  All existing information in your domain record will be preserved. Once the transfer has been completed, you can then use our Domain Management Control Panel to change any information you want.

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How do I change registrars?

If your domain was registered with another registrar, you can transfer it to DomainsNow4U.com®, and choose DomainsNow4U.com® as your new domain registration service.

Simply click here to submit your Registrar Transfer.  If you have an existing account with us, enter your username and password. If you have never used our services before, click on the New Users button, and set up an account with a username and password. This is how you will get access to your domain once the transfer is complete.

Important! Before submitting a name for transfer, please make sure that:

1.  The Admin Contact's email address is up-to-date and working.

2.  The domain is "un-locked" at your current registrar.

3.  You have obtained an "authorization code" from your current registrar. 

Note that after submitting your domain transfer request the administrative contact listed in the WHOIS record will be asked to verify the transfer request.

Once you've approved the transfer, your domain should migrate to our system within about 5 days. For this reason we recommend you begin the transfer procedure at least 2 weeks before the domain expiry date.

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Are there any conditions for my domain to be successfully transferred from another registrar?

Yes.... 

• Your domain must be registered or renewed at least 60 days ago. If your domain was registered or renewed less that 60 days ago, your current registrar will probably deny the transfer.  Remedy: Patience :-)  Wait until 60 days are up, then return to DomainsNow4U.com to request a transfer to our service.

• Your domain name's current admin contact email address must be working in order to receive and confirm the transfer request.  Remedy: Update your domain's admin contact email address at your old registrar before starting the transfer process. Also ensure there are no spam filters installed which might stop you receiving our messages. 

• Your domain should have at least 20 days before expiry. This is because after confirming your transfer request, it can take about 5 days or more for transfer to complete. If your domain expires during this period, your old registrar will refuse the transfer. Remedy: The best way is to renew with your old registrar for one year and then request transfer to us. Doing so admittedly means paying the high fee to your old registrar one last time, but ensures the transfer will be successful -- plus you will not lose any validity time because transfer to us adds one further year. So after transfer is complete, your domain will have two years before expiry.

• Your domain name must not be "On Hold" with your old registrar. Reasons for this could include non-payment, in dispute, or if the domain has expired or has been marked as pending deletion. Remedy: Contact your old registrar to sort out the problem first. Then start the domain transfer process. 

• If you want to transfer a .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ or .INFO domain, you must obtain a "transfer authorization code" from your current registrar prior to submitting your transfer request to us.

Click this link for more information about the domain registrar transfer process.

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I requested a transfer but nothing happened. What went wrong?

There are a number of reasons why a domain transfer request may not succeed...

1.  The most common reason is because the registered email address of the Administrative Contact of the domain name is out of date.  See, when you submit your transfer request, we send an email to the Administrative Contact of the domain in order to verify that the transfer request is genuine and has not been initiated by an unauthorized person. The administrative contact of the domain MUST respond to our email. If there is no response, the transfer of your domain cannot proceed. 

Remedy: Login to your account at your old registrar and update the email address of your domain's Administrative Contact. 

Then login to your account at DomainsNow4U® with your username and password and follow the online instructions.

2.  Another reason why a domain transfer may not succeed is because the domain is "locked" or the losing registrar refused for some reason. 

Remedy: Please login to your domain account at your prior registrar and ensure that your domain is "un-locked", or contact your prior registrar.

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I paid for a domain transfer, but I had to renew it with my prior registrar. What do I do now?

If your domain will not transfer because it has expired, or if your registry has it locked until you renew it, you do have a couple of options although we only recommend the first. 

One option is to pay the registrar their fee to renew it for a year, and then continue the transfer. The other is to allow the name to drop, and then try to re-register it. We don't recommend the second option under any circumstances. Here's why... 

It's entirely possible that someone else will get your domain before you have a chance to reserve it. Additionally, it is the policy of some registrars (most notably Network Solutions) not to release domains no matter how long they have expired. If you want the domain at all, you'll have to pay them at some point, sooner or later. 

Therefore, we recommend that you do renew the name with your prior registrar for one additional year. Then, you can continue the transfer process to our system. You lose nothing by doing both. You'll get a one year renewal from your prior registrar, and then we will add one MORE year on to the end of your term. 

If your name was on hold and has been released by your current registrar, please contact us to resubmit your transfer.

And remember, your transfer is completely risk-free. If it fails to go through for any reason at all, please contact support and we'll refund your fee, no questions asked.

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I got the transfer approval email, but when I clicked on the link, it came up as "Invalid Key".  What do I do?

If your link returns a value of "invalid key" after you paste the approval code in, this is most likely a result of multiple emails being sent out.

The latest version of your admin approval email makes all older versions obsolete, and any key off these old emails will not function properly. 

If you receive an invalid key warning, check for a later email in your inbox. If it's not there, here's what to do:

1.  Delete any transfer approval email you already received.

2.  Login to your domain control panel with your username and password.

3.  In the "Manage Your Domain" section, click the "Check Transfer Status" link. Your domain transfers will appear. Follow the online instructions to have a new email sent to the registered admin contact for your domain. The new email will be generated within about 24 hours.

4. Follow the instructions in the new email. The url link in the email is long and might break over 2 lines. So please take care that you copy and paste ALL of the url link, otherwise you will get an error message.

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When I tried to approve my transfer, it said "Warning, your ID is invalid. Contact Technical Support". What's wrong?

If the link you're clicking on for transfers returns this response: "Warning, your ID is invalid. Contact technical support", then the remedy is to have the entire link contained in the browser window.

Some email programs have a "page-wrap" feature that breaks our link into two parts, like this example: 

If you wish to verify and approve the transfer(s), visit the following link:
https://secure.onlineaccess.net/trans.php?
[email protected]&key=ti&FID=&IYD=1&secID= 

For conveniences' sake, let's break this example down like this: 

If you wish to verify and approve the transfer(s), visit the following link:
linkpart1
linkpart2 

You will have to copy (CTRL + C) the first part of the link (which begins with "https:" and ends with "?" in the example above) and paste (CTRL + V) into the address bar of your browser window. Do not hit GO or hit the Enter key yet. 

Return to the email and copy the second part of the link on the line below the first one (which begins with "email=" and ends with "=" in the case above) and copy it into the address bar of your browser window, after the first part of the link you pasted there earlier. 

In your browser window then, the address you need to go to is: 

linkpart1linkpart2 

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How can I check the status of my transfer?
I didn't receive the admin approval email. Can I resend it?
My transfer got denied by my previous registrar. Can I resubmit it?

You can use the "Check Transfer Status" tool to manage your domain transfer away from your previous registrar to our system.

Access the Manage section through our Member Login with your username and password, and select the "Check Transfer Status" link. Your domain transfers will appear. 

Some will require no intervention from you (marked in green). Others (marked in yellow) may require you to resubmit an admin approval email if the domain has not been approved for transfer to us. Or, you may resubmit a domain for transfer if it has been approved at our end, but your prior registrar denied the transfer.

If a domain appears in red, it's status cannot be determined automatically. Please contact us for help with these domains.

A domain that has successfully completed transfer will appear in blue.

Some of the most common reasons for your prior registrar denying the transfer include:
>  Not answering their confirmation email in time.
>  Not answering their confirmation email in the proper format.
>  The domain is expired or nearly expired.
>  The domain is locked at your prior registrar.

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