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I'm looking to understand all the details involved in transferring a domain which I own from one registrar to another. Currently hosted with gandi and considering, amongst others, godaddy, name cheap and the web front-end for "whois.com" as options.

A .tech domain registered through gandi.net keeps increasing in price out of all bounds.

I suppose that's the nature of the business.

How do I go about getting pricing options from a competitor to transfer, and what am I looking to transfer? The A and mx record?

Running the domain through godaddy.com shows that they can use a broker to transfer the domain. However, it's from myself to myself, and their price seems a bit high for what it is.

Is that the process in question? I don't see a need to get it right down to the wire, but prior to the domain registration expiring would want to transfer it.

Go Daddy says:

How do I transfer domains to GoDaddy?

Unlock each of the domain names you’d like to transfer. Contact your current registrar for details on how to do this.

You may need an authorization code (sometimes called a transfer key or EPP code) from your current registrar. This isn’t necessary in all cases, such as when transferring country-code Top-level Domain Names (ccTLDs). If the authorization codes aren’t shown in your account manager, ask your current registrar to email them to you.

Name Cheap says:

Prepare your domain for transfer:

 Unlock your domain – remove the Registrar lock you may have set for added security; Obtain the

Auth/EPP code from the current Registrar:

Auth/EPP codes are required for all .com, .net, .org, .us, .biz, .info, .me, .co, .io, .ca, .tv, .in, .mobi, .cc, .pe, .com.pe, .net.pe, .org.pe, .tech, .top, .party, .loan, .faith and other new gTLD domains. If you cannot request an EPP code in account with your Registrar, contact them and ask to provide it to you.

but they also point out that if it's within 45(?) days of the expiration a renewal is also factored in.

What's a good strategy here?

(I'm on a tablet and can't seem to format the quoting above properly, pardon.)

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  • "How do I transfer domains to GoDaddy?" What exactly do you have issues with? On godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search there is a "transfer domains" link just below the search box and from there on the procedure should be explained. Note that you may confuse for now DNS hosting (as you are talking about A and MX records) with registrar. A registrar can do DNS hosting, but you can also use a third party. Changing registrars does not change anything technically (except if you use the registrar as DNS/web provider of course). There are hundreds of registrars. Price vary.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Mar 30, 2020 at 22:51
  • Also it is not a good idea to try transfering a domain too close to its expiration, and certainly not after. You will get far too many problems because of that. We don't know your situation as you did not give the the domain, but you might be better renewing it, waiting 2 months and then transfering it. Note also that registries change prices in which case the change may hit all registrars in some way or another. Compare the energy and inherent possible drawbacks of the transfer with what you can gain price wise and see if it is relevant.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Mar 30, 2020 at 22:52
  • Why do you think GoDaddy will be cheaper? At Godaddy .tech renewals are $70: i.sstatic.net/mqRBS.png
    – Stephen Ostermiller ♦
    Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 14:31

1 Answer 1

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If I understood correctly, you want to transfer .tech domain from gandi.net to some other registrar who is not going to alter the prices over the period.

Let me tell you the process of transfer of domain name: To transfer the domain name from one registrar to another, you need to have following things from old registrar:

  • Unlock the domain name through the domain management portal provided by your old registrar or if it seems difficult to do it yourself, you can ask for support from your domain name provider company.
  • Authorisation Code or Transfer Code for the domain. This code has an expiry. So, after requesting this code, make sure you proceed with the transfer immediately.
  • Very importantly it is recommended that Your domain expiry date should not be withing next 7 days of transfer initialization date. It is not mandatory but strongly advised.

Now coming to the next issue: The variable pricing

  • Please Note that the prices of TLDs and gTLDs vary significantly on a daily basis as similar to currency. So, no domain service provider can assure you fixed pricing for upcoming renewals.

  • Also, there might be a huge price difference between 'New Domain Registration', 'Domain Transfer', 'Domain Renewal' and 'Domain Restore'.

So, if you are considering the transfer of the domain name, you should look into the above points, as some providers might offer you cheap domain transfer pricing but then might charge you way more while renewal. Your existing registrar's price difference is possibly because your domain name might have gone in the 'grace period' or 'pending deletion' state. I recommend checking your domain's current state on popular sites like Whois.com

  • If it shows 'clientTransferProhibited', then your domain is locked by your current domain service provider. You can simply ask them to unlock.
  • If it shows the status as 'autoRenewPeriod' or 'gracePeriod', then your domain has expired but you can still renew it with the existing provider. But it cannot be transferred at this moment
  • If it shows 'pendingDeletion', then you need to pay Domain restoration charges which are way more than the price of the domain. Else you can wait till the domain is again available for purchase to purchase it again.

I guess I was informative enough to clear your doubts. If you still have any issues and want help with the process, do let me know.

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  • "some other registrar who is not going to alter the prices over the period." No registrar can guarantee that, for the simple reason that the registry itself can change the price at any time.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:04
  • "Authorisation Code or Transfer Code for the domain. This code has an expiry. " Not typically in gTLDs.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:04
  • "I recommend checking your domain's current state on popular sites like Whois.com" No need to do that and it might even be dangerous. Instead use either the command line whois command or go to the registry (or at the very least sponsoring registrar) whois webserver to get details on your domain. They should as well be written clearly in any kind of panel provided by the current registrar.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:05
  • "Very importantly it is recommended that Your domain expiry date should not be withing next 7 days of transfer initialization date." I recommend far more than that, typically one month or even two. Also there is no need to wait until the last time to do a transfer because, with some rare exceptions, a transfer will just add one year to the current expiration date so the end result does not depend on when you do it. Exactly like newspaper subscriptions.
    – Patrick Mevzek
    Commented Apr 16, 2020 at 16:06
  • Yes. Surely it is... There is much more to explain in detail. but this might not be the right thread.
    – Chaitanya Ambardekar
    Commented Apr 17, 2020 at 7:33

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