What if you've registered your domain name(s) but then found your current registrar's support inadequate? Or you've found another that offers cheaper renewal rates. Or maybe, you just want to consolidate your domain name holdings under one company? For whatever reason you want to transfer, three things are important to know/.

Exactly how do you go about the transfer? How much will it cost you? And how long will it take?

How?

The process varies from registrar to registrar. Some registrars ask you to fax or mail in a form (downloadable from their site) which may or may not need to be notarised. We use a web-based form for transferring domains.

Either way, the concept is basically the same and does not need any technical know-how.

• Go to our support centre and initiate a transfer request.
  
• Approve the transfer confirmation email sent by us to your domain's Admin contact email (you can use the WHOIS lookup to find this out).
  
• Once the we submit the transfer request, your old registrar will then have 5 days to either accept or reject the transfer.(although some automate the process).
  
• Look for and approve a second email, this time from your old registrar, confirming your intent to transfer away from them. You need do this within 3 days or else the transfer request is cancelled.
  
• If the old registrar however does not respond within the prescribed period, the transfer is considered approved and transferred to the new registrar (which is ussually our own Australian registrar - DistributeIT).
  
• Verify the success of the transfer by checking your WHOIS record again. An additional pregistration period should be added to the expiration date and the technical contact listed should be the new registrar (or it might have your details instead)
  
• Steps 2 and 3 are important because InterNic will not accept the transfer request without authorization from either the Administrative or Technical Contact for the domain.
  
• You might also need to modify your domain's DNS using your new registrar's administration tool. However, we would usually discuss whether this step should be conducted before or after you initiate the transfer.

In some cases, your old registrar may deny the transfer. The most common reasons for this include:

• The domain name is in legal dispute
• The identity of the domain name holder is in dispute or unknown
• The domain name holder is in bankruptcy
• The domain has only been with the registrar for 60 days
• The current admin contact's email address was unable to confirm the transfer request
• The domain name owner has waited until the end of the registration period and the renewal fee is past due

How much?

Again, it varies. We will charge you only for the cost of renewal (which is typically for two years for .au domains). Note: selling a domain to another business owner may incur additional statutory fees.

How long?

The whole cycle usually takes about 7 to 10 days (From initiation of transfer, up until the changes made are propagated through the Internet), although in most cases, you'll experience little or no noticeable downtime.

Key lessons that stand out:

• renew domain first
• your account may be locked until transfer is finalised
• Your updated account may affect some existing setting such as email collection, or passwords. We can step you through these possible changes.