How to Transfer a Domain to Another Registrar (EPP Code Guide)

Moving a domain between registrars is a standard, regulated process that takes five days for a .com and minutes for a .uk. It goes wrong for predictable reasons — a lock still on, an old email address, DNS records that vanish — all avoidable. Here is the sequence and the traps.

Before you start

• Check the expiry date. If it is within two weeks, renew at the current registrar first; a transfer that completes after expiry can fail or cost extra.
• Check the 60-day rule. ICANN forbids transferring a gTLD (.com, .net, .org, .io…) within 60 days of registration or of a registrant contact change. If you just updated the owner's name or email, wait.
• Note the current DNS records. dig example.com ANY will not show everything; log in to the current DNS host and copy every record. If the current registrar also hosts your DNS, those records may stop resolving the moment the transfer completes.
• Make sure the WHOIS email works. Approval emails go to the registrant contact. Turn off privacy if it hides an address you cannot read.

The gTLD process (.com, .net, .org, .io, .dev …)

1. Unlock the domain at the current registrar: Registrar lock / Transfer lock → off.
2. Get the auth code (EPP code, transfer key) — a button in the same place. Some registrars email it; some show it.
3. At the new registrar, choose Transfer domain, enter the name and the auth code, and pay. The fee includes a one-year renewal added to the current expiry, so you lose nothing.
4. Approve. The old registrar emails the registrant contact asking whether to allow the transfer. Approve, and it completes within an hour; ignore it, and it completes automatically after five days. (Some registrars offer an instant release button instead.)
5. Confirm at the new registrar. WHOIS now shows it: whois example.com | grep -i registrar.

The .uk process

Nominet's system is different and faster:

1. At the new registrar, find their IPS tag (a short code like 1AND1 or GODADDY).
2. At the old registrar, change the domain's IPS tag to the new one.
3. The domain appears at the new registrar within minutes; you may need to accept it there.

No auth code, no five-day wait, no 60-day rule.

After the transfer

• Recreate DNS if it was hosted at the old registrar and did not carry over — check the site and mail immediately.
• Re-enable the lock and privacy at the new registrar.
• Set auto-renew and check the contact details are yours.
• Nameservers: the transfer keeps the existing nameservers, so if DNS is at Cloudflare or your host, nothing changes.

The traps

"Transfer failed — domain is locked." Step 1 missed, or the unlock has not propagated; wait an hour and retry.

"Invalid auth code." Codes expire, sometimes within days; request a fresh one. Copy without trailing spaces.

The site went down after transfer. DNS was at the old registrar. Recreate the records from your notes — this is why you took them.

Email approval never arrived. Privacy service, old address, or spam folder. Update the contact at the old registrar (mindful that a registrant change triggers the 60-day lock on gTLDs — changing the email alone usually does not, but check).

A "transfer" offer by post or email from a company you have never used. That is domain slamming — an invoice designed to look like a renewal. Ignore.

Transferring to a web designer, or from one

The same process, plus: the domain must end up in your registrar account with you as registrant. A designer who holds the domain in their account "for convenience" holds your business. Ask for the auth code and move it; a reputable one will not object.

What VPSPioneer does with domains

We register and transfer domains through the client area, with free DNS hosting in Plesk and a Let's Encrypt certificate on every domain the moment it points at us. If a transfer in is part of a hosting move, we sequence it so DNS never lapses — it is one of the items on the migration checklist.