United States
United Kingdom
Domain Registration
Transfers Frequently Asked Questions
Can I transfer a domain to Sargasso?
Yes. However, there are some conditions. We cannot do registrar transfers for domains that are On Hold or Past Due with the current registrar. To be on the safe side, you should start the registrar transfer process at least two weeks before the expiry of the domain.
Please note that if a com/net/org domain does expire and you have to renew with the old registrar, you should not transfer until 45 days past the anniversary date. If you do, the year paid to the old registry will be lost and they do not give refunds.
The Admin Contact Email address for the domain must be valid. Contact the current registrar to make this change if necessary. We will send a transfer authorisation message to the registered Admin Contact. You must follow the directions in this message in order for the transfer to succeed.
Currently, the automated system doesn't support transfers for some ccTLD domains.
Note that all transfers are sanity-checked to prevent high-profile domains like "aol.com" from being transferred fraudulently.
Registrar transfers are sent to the Registry where it awaits approval. Unless the losing Registrar explicitly denies the transfer (for instance, if the domain is past it's expiry date), it will usually go through this step within 9 days. It can go through sooner if the losing registrar explicitly approves the transfer. This will vary from registrar to registrar.
Please note that some Registrars have added confirmations of their own for transfers away from their system. Be on the lookout for any e-mails from your existing Registrar and read them carefully before acting. For example, some registrars require you to click a link to authorise a transfer. Others require you to click a link to deny a transfer. As the effect of clicking is immediately, it is important that you read the directions carefully!
Please note that when you process a transfer, it will not show up as "Active" until the transfer has completed successfully. It usually takes 3-5 days but may take as long as 10 days.
What steps must I take before initiating a transfer?
Before you attempt to transfer a domain, make sure that the Admin Contact Email for the domain to be transferred is valid. If the Admin Contact Email address listed in the current whois info is no longer valid, you must contact the original registrar to request it be changed. We can't assist you in transferring the domain until we can verify who is accepting the transfer.
The confirmation Email contains detailed instructions for the Admin contact. This includes a unique URL which displays an option to either accept or decline the transfer.
You must also make sure that the domain is not in a payment hold (outstanding payment) with the current Registrar, and that the domain name is not locked at the Registry. Check the WHOIS record for the domain to make sure it does not show REGISTRAR-HOLD or REGISTRAR-LOCK.
Can I change nameservers during a transfer?
No. To prevent your domain becoming unavailable during a transfer, the nameservers are left at their original settings until the transfer is fully complete. At that point you can sign in to your control panel to change the nameservers.
This is a Registry restriction and not one of Sargasso. You may wish to change your nameservers with the old Registrar prior to initiating the transfer.
Can I change contact information during a transfer?
For some registries, you can change contact information during the transfer. These include .com and .net. For others the contacts are locked as above during the transfer, and can be changed in your control panel afterwards.
Can transferring my domain to Sargasso cause any downtime?
No. Changing the registrar entry for your domain on the root servers is immediate, and is not much different than changing contact information or nameserver entries (except that it can only be done by a registrar under certain circumstances). The lengthy part of the process is the approvals all along the line from the Registrant to the losing Registrar to the Registry to the gaining Registrar.
Nameserver entries are the only thing really critical to your domain pointing where it should. When you transfer a domain to us, the nameserver entries cannot be changed until the transfer is completed.
What factors could prevent or delay a registrar transfer?
Do you own the domain? or have you made arrangements with the Admin Contact to approve the transfer?
Is the Admin contact Email address valid? Have they disabled spam filters that might affect confirmation messages from us or from the losing Registrar?
Has the domain been registered for longer than 60 days? (There is a mandatory waiting period for potential domain disputes)
Has the domain already been transferred within the last 60 days?
Is the domain expired or past due at the current Registrar? Most registrars do not allow expired domains to be transferred away.
Some registrars have added their own confirmation requirements for transfers away from their system. Please contact them directly for details and make sure the Admin contact is aware of what they have to do.
Why has my transfer not completed?
Please see the checklist in the previous question and ensure the Admin contact is valid and that any spam filters have not deleted our confirmation message.
If the admin contact is valid and they have not received our transfer approval e-mail, please contact support and we can resend it to them.
If they have received and processed our transfer approval e-mail, the affair is out of our hands. You may wish to contact the losing Registrar to find out why, as every registrar has a different transfer away procedure.
Can I transfer an expired domain?
In most cases, you cannot transfer an expired domain. Contact the losing Registrar to see whether they will allow this.
If they will not allow it, you will need to renew the domain with them. However, be careful not to transfer the domain until 45 days after the date you renewed it with them. Otherwise you risk losing the renewal year that you paid with them (and they will not refund your money). See the next question.
Why did I lose a year when I transferred my domain?
Unfortunately, this is a common problem. Domains that expire, are renewed and then immediately transferred lose the renewal year. There is no refund.
Please see the ICANN advisory at the bottom of this page.
What is an authcode?
A transfer authorization code is required when transfering any .org, .info, .biz, .us, .name and .cn domain name from one registrar to another. The transfer authorization code is created at the time of registration and can be obtained from the current registrar for the domain. Please contact the current registrar for the authcode in order to transfer your domain to Sargasso.
If you are transferring your domain away from Sargasso, please contact support for your authcode.
How do I transfer a .de domain?
DE transfers are handled differently than in other TLDs, in two important aspects: the cost of failed requests and the loss of time remaining on the old term for transferred registrations.
DENIC, the registry for .de domains, adds a new twist to transfer requests because their transfer fee is non-refundable, whether or not a .de domain is successfully transferred. Therefore if the transfer fails for any reason, we cannot retry it without charging you an additional transfer fee. This is out of our control.
It is important to note .DE transfers time out after 5 days if the request is not acted upon.
It is also important to note that when you transfer a .de domain, you will lose any remaining time before expiry. The new expiry date will be 1 year from the date of the transfer. In order to minimize lost time, we have instituted a minimum/maximum 1-year registration term.
Finally, due to the requirements of the .DE registry operator, we will require a faxed authorisation from you if you want to transfer a .DE domain either to or from Sargasso.
Can I transfer my domain away from Sargasso?
Sure! Although we're sorry to see you go, we will allow a transfer away from us providing that there are no outstanding balances on your account and providing that the domain has not expired.
For certain domains you will need to contact support for your authcode in order to proceed with the transfer. Your new registrar will advise you if this is the case.
