For agencies and freelancers
Handing a domain to a client without breaking anything
Two different operations hide behind the word “transfer”. Do them in the wrong order and the name is frozen for two months. The correct sequence is written down by ICANN and by Afnic; almost nobody reads it.
What you leave with: the exact order of operations, the real deadlines at each registry, the ten checks to run afterwards, and the handover email.
“Transfer” means two things
Changing registrar moves the name from one provider to another. The registrant does not move; only the company holding the registration changes.
Changing registrant changes the person or company the name is registered to. The registrar does not move.
The two are independent, and they are often done together: you are returning a domain to a client who also wants it moved to their own provider. That is precisely where the order becomes decisive.
The change of registrar goes BEFORE the change of registrant
ICANN's Transfer Policy, which covers generic extensions, requires the registrar to advise the prior registrant that if their final goal is to move the name to a different registrar, they should request the inter-registrar transfer before the change of registrant — otherwise they trigger a sixty-day transfer lock.
Afnic says the same for .fr: where both operations go together, it recommends carrying out the change of registrar before updating the registrant.
Two registries, two texts, one instruction. Do it the other way round and you will spend the following weeks explaining to your client why their domain cannot move.
The sequence, start to finish
It assumes you have access to the account the name currently sits in. If you do not, the page on domain ownership is the one you need first.
- 1
Record the starting state
Registrar, expiry date, registrant on display, declared name servers, and the full DNS zone exported to a dated file. That is your way back if something goes wrong.
- 2
Check no lock is in place
A name can be locked against transfer at the registrant's request — a useful protection that simply has to be lifted first. For generic extensions, ICANN requires the registrar to remove that lock, or provide a reasonably accessible method to remove it, within five calendar days of the registrant's request.
- 3
Check no waiting period is running
Still for generic extensions: a transfer may be denied if it is requested within sixty days of the name's creation date, within sixty days of a previous transfer, or during the sixty-day lock that follows a change of registrant.
- 4
Get the authorization code
It is the password that proves to the gaining registrar that the request really comes from the registrant. For .fr, Afnic requires the registrar to give it free of charge to the registrant, and to them alone, on request; failing to do so can be sanctioned.
- 5
Start the transfer from the GAINING registrar
It is always the new one that initiates, never the old one. You give them the name and the code, they handle the rest.
- 6
Let the clock run without touching anything
Do not change the name servers, the zone, or the contact details while the operation is running. Registries generally refuse any other operation while a transfer is pending.
- 7
Once the transfer is complete, change the registrant
And not before. This, and only this, is where the name passes to the client.
- 8
Run the checks again
The list is just below. Consider nothing finished until you have been through all of them, including the ones for the days after.
The real deadlines, registry by registry
These are the durations written into the registries' own texts, not estimates. Your registrar can be faster; it cannot be slower without being at fault.
| What happens | Generic extensions (.com, .net, .org…) | .fr |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts the transfer | The gaining registrar, with the registrant's authorization. | The new registrar, the request being validated by the authentication code supplied by the registrant. |
| Lifting a lock set by the registrant | Within 5 calendar days of the registrant's request. | Not provided for in this form by the procedures guide. |
| Silence from the losing registrar | No response within 5 calendar days of the registry's notification results in a default approval of the transfer. | No reaction within 8 days of the notification and the change goes through at the end of that period. |
| Objection from the losing registrar | Denial is only possible in a closed list of cases, and the reason must be given to the registrant and to the gaining registrar. | If it objects within 8 days, the total duration extends to 22 days, at the end of which the operation goes through anyway. |
| Effect on the expiry date | The transfer extends the registration by one year, with the total unexpired term never exceeding ten years. | The expiry date is extended by one year. |
| Change of registrant | Confirmation from BOTH the prior and the new registrant, collected by the registrar through a secure mechanism. A 60-day transfer lock follows, unless the registrant opted out beforehand. | Agreement of both parties collected by the registrar, timestamped proof retained, operation carried out within a period that cannot exceed 7 days. |
Country-code extensions each have their own rules: this table only covers the two columns it shows. For a .be, a .ch or a .io, the relevant registry is the authority, and it alone.
The checks after the transfer
A transfer that succeeded at the registry is not a transfer that succeeded for the client. What breaks is everything around it.
0 of 10 checked
What you never do during a transfer
Change the name servers
A hosting move and a domain transfer are two projects. Run them together and nobody can tell which of the two broke the site.
Let the name drift toward expiry
A transfer started days before the deadline is a gamble. Renew first, transfer second: the transfer will add its year on top.
Take the service down “while it goes through”
The name keeps resolving throughout the operation. There is no reason to switch anything off, and plenty of reasons not to.
Delete the domain to re-register it cleanly
Never. For .fr, deletion triggers a thirty-day redemption period during which no transmission and no transfer is possible — at the end of which the name returns to the public pool, first come first served.
The handover email to the client
It does two things at once: records the handover, and plants the two security reflexes your client will have to hold on their own.
Subject: [domain] is now in your name
Hi [first name], It's done: [domain] is now registered in your name, at [registrar]. What that changes for you, concretely: — you are the registrant. The name is yours, and it follows you whatever happens between us; — the account at [registrar] is in your name, at your address. Keep the login somewhere safe: it's the key to everything else; — the next renewal is due on [date]. [Say here who pays it and how.] — I stay listed as technical contact and keep looking after it as before. Two things never to do, if anyone ever asks you by phone or email: give out the domain's authorization code, and approve a transfer request you didn't start yourself. When in doubt, call me — Sunday included. I've attached a record of the current configuration for your files. [signature]
Where the numbers on this page come from
- ICANN — Transfer Policy: five calendar days to lift a lock and for default approval (I.A.3.5 and I.A.3.7.4), denial possible within 60 days of creation or of a previous transfer (I.A.3.7.5 and I.A.3.7.6), 60-day lock after a change of registrant and the advice to transfer first (I.A.3.8.5 and II.C.1.3), one-year extension capped at a ten-year term.
- Afnic — Technical and operational procedures guide (in French): the 8-day and 22-day periods for a change of registrar, the one-year extension, both parties' agreement and the 7-day limit for a change of registrant, the obligation to supply the authentication code free of charge, and the recommendation to transfer before changing the registrant.
- Afnic — Practical guide for .fr registrants (in French): the thirty-day redemption period after deletion, during which no transmission and no transfer is possible.
After a transfer, it is the following month that gives you away
A forgotten record, an auto-renew never switched back on, a signature left half-done: none of it shows on the day. DomainVigil reads the full state of every domain and alerts you the moment it drifts from what is expected.
Monitor the transferred domainNo card required. The full reading arrives in seconds.