Submerged Ideas: Registration: Registrant Transfers FAQ

A registrar transfer is the act of moving a domain name from one domain name registrar to another. For example, you might move your domain name from your current registrar to DomainPeople to take advantage of our technical support or domain services. A registrar transfer service is implemented by registries and made available to all domain registrars to promote competition and improved services to the broader Internet community. Please note that transferring your domain to DomainPeople will not affect the DNS information, contact e-mail, or registrant name associated with your domain name. You may modify these areas after your domain name has been successfully transferred to DomainPeople.

A domain name registrar is the organization or company responsible for providing domain name registration services to the Internet community. An official domain name registrar is either authorized by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an organization dedicated to Internet governance) to provide registration services for the .com, .net and .org global top-level domain names, or is authorized by its respective government to register domain names within a specific ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain name extension). CIRA provides this function in Canada. A registrar must also be authorized by the registry of a Top Level Domain to act as an agent of the registry to process domain name registrations, where the agent is not a reseller. The registrar is also responsible for creating and maintaining a WHOIS database for its customers.

Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy by switching to DomainPeople:

Our real-time Domain Account Manager, which allows you to easily manage your domain names online
A dynamic web site
A growing list of domain services
Free, customizable one-page web site for 1 year
Free, unlimited e-mail aliasing for your domain name for 1 year
Free, 24/7 customer support
Free, additional year, which is added to your current registration term (total term not to exceed 10 years).

All you need is a valid credit card and approval from the administrative and/or billing contacts for the domain name (on file with the current registrar). Use our automatic transfer form to submit your transfer request online.
Once DomainPeople has received your transfer request, a confirmation e-mail is sent to the administrative and billing contacts to confirm the request to transfer the registrar to DomainPeople. In the interest of security, each e-mail confirmation request will have a password embedded in the message, and a field to enter the word "Yes" to confirm, or "No" to deny the transfer.
If you do not have access to either the administrative or billing e-mail addresses, please contact your current registrar for information on changing your e-mail address before initiating a registrar transfer request. If a reply does not contain the original embedded password within the message body, the e-mail will not be processed to confirm the transfer request.
Please note, if only one of the contacts confirms the transfer request, it will still be processed. However, a five-day waiting period is given so the remaining contact can reply. To speed up the process, please ensure that both contacts reply to the confirmation request e-mail. This signals our system to send the transfer request to the registry immediately. The request will not be processed if either the administrative or billing contacts denies the transfer.
The next steps

The next steps

Once the request has been confirmed, DomainPeople processes the transfer request by contacting the registry.
The registry then notifies your current registrar of the transfer request.
The current registrar is given five days in which to grant or deny the transfer request.
If no response is received within the five-day period, the transfer request is granted to DomainPeople.
The transfer process takes five to ten calendar days to be completed.
Once your domain is successfully transferred, we send you notification by e-mail.

Only .com, .net and .org domain name registrations can be transferred to DomainPeople through our automated service.
The domain name(s) undergoing the transfer cannot currently be involved in a dispute or on registry lock.
Your domain name must have been registered for at least 60 days with your current registrar.
You must ensure that either the administrative or billing contact replies to the confirmation request sent to the e-mail addresses on file with the current domain name registrar.
To speed up the process, both contacts should reply.

There is a $10 USD fee for the registrar transfer service, which includes one additional registration year added to your remaining registration term (term not to exceed 10 years.) Your credit card will only be charged once we receive confirmation from the current contact(s) to proceed with the transfer. Please note, it is the responsibility of the Authoritative Holder (Registrant) of the domain to ensure that the request to transfer will not denied by the current Registrar, prior to initiating and paying for the Registrar Transfer services. Fees are non-refundable but can be applied to subsequent transfer requests at DomainPeople's sole discretion.

Once you have initiated and confirmed the registrar transfer, the transfer process takes approximately 5 to 10 calendar days to be completed.

No. Your web site and e-mail services will not be affected by DomainPeople's registrar transfer service. The transfer does not affect the DNS information, contact e-mail, or registrant name associated with a domain name at the time of transfer. You may modify these areas after your domain name has been successfully transferred to DomainPeople.

Your current registrar has the ability to reject a domain name transfer request initiated by DomainPeople in the following situations:

The transfer request was initiated within the first 60 days of the original registration date.
There is a dispute over the domain name.
There is a pending bankruptcy of the domain name holder.
There is a dispute over the identity of the domain name holder.
The discretion of the registrar

You will be notified via e-mail in the event that your domain name cannot be transferred due to one of the above reasons.