Private transfer of a domain name to a new owner

Question

I am a member of a forum. The current owner of the forum does not want to run it any longer. He wishes to transfer the forum to me. The former owner does not wish to reveal his name to me and I don't want my name revealed to him. Is it possible to do this?

We are going to migrate the server, by backing up the database and associated files. I am going to purchase my own web hosting and migrate it to the new host. This is easy to do while retaining privacy.

The problem is, I have no idea how to retain privacy with the transfer of the domain name. I suppose we could just wait for the name to expire and re-register, but there is a chance someone else could swipe the name. I would expect that the domain name owner would have to give a specific name of the person he wishes to transfer the domain name to.

Answer 1

Some domain registrars, like NameSilo, let you transfer a domain to another user of the same registrar without any knowledge of the receiving party except for their username.

Your best bet is for both of you to create accounts with a registrar that supports this feature, signing up with usernames that are not connected to your real identities. Then the process goes like this:

1. He transfers the domain to this registrar that supports pseudonymous internal transfers (48 hours).

2. He types in your username to do an internal transfer from his account to your account (instant).

Then you are in control of the domain. You can either keep it at that registrar or go on to transfer it to your preferred registrar (if do decide to change the domain's registrar again you will need to wait ICANN's 60 day registrar transfer cooldown period).