Transferring a Domain Name to CDG

Transferring your domain to us

Domains you have previously registered with other services can be transferred into your CDG Webhosting account and then managed like any other domains with us. A domain transfer won’t affect your website in any way:

  • your hosted website will not be down, even for an instant
  • you can stay with your current website host, if you want

A transfer is the equivalent of a one year renewal — so a full 12 months will be added to the current expiration date. You can transfer domains to us at any time, BUT DON’T WAIT UNTIL THE DOMAIN IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE to start the transfer process! Transferring is a short process, not a one step event, so plan ahead.

At a minimum, every domain transfer involves 2 registrars (the gaining registrar (CDG) and the losing registrar (wherever your domain name is currently registered)), one Registry (.com, .net, .org, etc.), and the domain owner. Safeguards have been built into the Registry transfer system to make sure that domains are not transferred without the documented authorization of the domain owner. That complicates the process just a little. But without the safeguards, some people would steal domains by submitting transfer orders for domains they don’t own!

Plan Ahead For Easy Transfers. Prepararation is Key

To successfully transfer a domain, there are 4 things to consider in advance. Once they’re handled, the actual transfer process is quite simple. For each domain:

  1. Make sure it has not yet expired
  2. Make sure it is “unlocked“
  3. Make sure the whois Registrant and Administrative Contact email addresses are a good ones (changing this at the last minute might delay your ability to transfer!)
  4. Obtain the special transfer “auth code” or “EPP code” for that domain from the losing register (the place where your domain is currently registered), and submit it to us.

That’s it. If those four things are handled, it’s just a matter of submitting a transfer order and then authorizing the transfer.

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Domain Transfer Process Details

Here are the details for each of the four items.

  1. Expired? Expired domains cannot be transferred. If your domain has expired, you need to renew it with the current provider. Then you can transfer it to us after 60 days.
  2. Locked or Unlocked? Domains are often kept locked to prevent unapproved transfers to new registrars. If you look up your domain in the whois,
    • unlocked domains generally say “STATUS:OK“.
    • locked domains may show the STATUS as any or all of these: “CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED, CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED, CLIENT TRANSER PROHIBITED, CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED”. If you see any of these in the whois for your domain, then you must get it changed. You may be able to do that in the domain’s control panel, or you may need to contact the current provider.
  3. Whois Contacts? While in the whois, be sure to check the Administrative Contact e-mail address. Here’s the reason. In order to transfer any domain for you, we’re required to document that we have been authorized to transfer that specific domain. To document that authorization, the transfer system sends an e-mail to the whois Registrant and Admin e-mail addresses. The email message contains a special link to authorize that specific transfer. Therefore, it’s very important that the whois has a current email address for someone who will dependably watch for and reply to the authorization e-mail.
  4. The “EPP Auth Code”! Every domain now has one, although it’s sometimes referred to by other similar names. It is a special transfer password. A domain can’t be transferred without it. You may be able to get it from the current domain control panel, or you may need to contact your current provider. Quite often, there is an automated system which can be triggered to send it to the whois Registant e-mail address. Again, if the whois contact addresses are current, then the auth code is easy to get, one way or another. ((SPECIAL NOTE – you often can’t see the whois Registrant e-mail address in the whois, so you have to look in the contact section of the domain control panel to see it and change it, if necessary.))

NOTE – Our system will NOT allow you submit domains for transfer without the auth codes

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Other Important Information…

Here are the actual steps in any domain transfer from one registrar to another:

  • the domain owner submits a transfer order to the gaining registrar along with an auth code for each domain
  • the gaining registrar sends a confirmation e-mail to the whois Registrant and Administrative Contact email addresses
  • the Registrant/Admin replies to the e-mail, authorizing or denying the transfer
  • upon receiving the authorization, the gaining registrar submits the transfer request to the proper Registry
  • the Registry passes the transfer request to the losing Registrar, starting a 5 – 6 day timeframe for action
  • the losing registrar typically e-mails the Registrant/Admin asking if it should allow or deny the transfer
  • if the transfer is not explicitly denied, the transfer occurs automatically when the timeframe runs out (most transfers do time out and then transfer)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Once a domain transfer is in progress (meaning the Registry has submitted it to the losing registrar), NOTHING about the domain can be changed. The means that you can’t change the whois contact information, the nameservers, or anything else. It also means that the domain will not expire and stop working if the expiration date is reached while the transfer is in progress. If the transfer is ultimately successful, then a year is added to the expiration date and all is well. If it fails for some reason, then the domain has to be renewed with the current registrar.

Domain Transfers Away…

If you want to transfer from us (but then, why would you?!) to another registrar, you need to contact us to unlock your domain and trigger the system to send the auth code to the whois registrant email address. You can contact us by phone at (757) 271-4602 or by email at cdgsupport@cdg-webhosting.com.

Changing hosting does not mean you have to transfer your domain name.

You can simply update your DNS records to point to the new host, and we’re happy to help you do that. But we do understand if you want the domain name and the hosting in one place, sometimes it’s just easier to have one bill to pay.

Let us know if you have any questions or need further help.