Point your web browser to Account Manager > Select Account > Domain Names and press the 'Add Domain' button. The wizard will automatically detect a registered domain name, present the necessary transfer instructions & options and initiate the transfer process.
If you have already added the domain name to your hosting account in Account Manager, simply delete it and re-add to be given the option to transfer.
IMPORTANT: Prepare Your Domain Administrator
Two verification requests will be delivered to the domain's current administrative contact - one from Circa 3000/OpenSRS, authorizing the initial transfer request, and another from your current registrar. If that contact is unreachable, the requests will go unanswered and your transfer unfulfilled. Be sure to notify the domain contact and request acknowledgement of any domain-change requests received for your domain. If the contact is unresponsive, you must update the contact information through your registrar.
Who is my domain administrator? Domain administrators are typically listed in a domain's WHOIS database record. To review the WHOIS database record for your domain, point your web browser to Account Manager > Select Account (Go) > Domain Names > Edit > Review WHOIS Info. If the domain is not listed, you may either add it or use your third-party registrar's WHOIS tools to lookup your domain's administrative contact.
IMPORTANT: Disable Domain Locking
Domain locking, or "domain protection," will defeat any attempt to transfer your domain and must be disabled prior to initiating your transfer request. Furthermore, an increasing number of registrars enable domain locking by default, without the domain owner's consent. To disable domain locking, login to your registrar's control panel and manually disable domain locking for the domain you wish to transfer.
Other Obstacles
Some registrars - particularly Network Solutions - will attempt to sabotage your transfer request in any number of ways. Know these techniques and be prepared for them:
- The losing registrar's transfer confirmation may be disguised to look like an e-mail advertisement, in hopes that you will delete the message before reading the transfer instructions buried at the end of the message. Until your transfer has completed, watch for and read completely any e-mail messages sent to you from your current registrar.
- The losing registrar's transfer confirmation request may include cryptic instructions or tasks, designed to sabotage your reply. Read the instructions carefully! In particular, watch for instructions that ask you to paste specific text into e-mail messages. For example, some require that the text be pasted into the body of the reply message - others into the subject line.
- Expired domain names cannot be transferred - only renewed through the current registrar - a rule that unscrupulous registrars exploit by delaying your transfer requests wherever possible. If they can postpone your transfer long enough, your domain will expire and you will have no choice but to renew your domain name through them for a full year.
- Lastly, if you must contact the registrar for support with your transfer request, refuse to pay any "transfer service" fees. Any such fees are outright robbery.
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