Transferring domain from one registrar to another

Question

I have a domain from my old web host, which was free with my hosting account.

After a few years, I am moving to a VPS. Most of my other domains were registered with Namecheap, so it was just a matter of changing a few DNS records.

However, given that my old host does not provide me with a DNS control panel, and I don't want to be paying a full hosting bill for just domains, I'm now looking into transferring it.

My old host says there will be a charge of $15 to them. NameCheap's page seems to imply you don't need the current registrar to do anything, but it also seems to be based on sending an email to the one listed in whois.

Of course, my old host have whoisguard on the domain so the only email on it is protect@whoisguard.com (and not a unique longrandomstring.protect@whoisguard.com, just protect@whoisguard.com) which doesn't go to me. Again, there doesn't seem to be an option to disable this.

So, is it a case of paying my old host's fee, and paying again for the domain from NameCheap, or is there some other way to transfer my domain?

(I'm not really sure which of the trilogy sites this is best for.)

Answer 1

I think it is fair to assume the domain is not a .uk . If it is - then the mechanism is push and tag based. If the registrar is not playing nice - you can request Nominet pull rank assuming you have the documents to back up ownership. It will cost - but better to pay them than someone charging a move away fee right?

Assuming other TLD - then it would appear that they have you. The wording "supplied free with my hosting" sticks out there as you have been paying for hosting, and the domain - well what does the WHOIS say - are you even mentioned or is it protected and as far as you know theirs?

First port of call - current supplier - clarification of what you have been paying for, who has current ownership of the domain, and what the fees are for. Armed with said clues, move on - which may involve essentially buying the 'provided free' domain from them to transfer out via unlock, EPP/Auth codes.

Answer 2

I've transfered several domain registrations to namecheap and never had to pay any types of fees to the old domain registrar. Namecheap does require that when you transfer domains to them, you purchase another year of registration however.

Namecheap will send an email to protect@whoisguard.com who should forward it to you. The email process is to simply confirm that you are the owner of the domain which is verified by your receipt of the email.

You might want to do a whois check to make sure your domain records aren't locked. If they are locked, you must unlock them (or have your current registrar unlock them) before transferring the domain. You also might have to obtain a transfer key from the original registrar and provide it to NameCheap, but namecheap will guide you through the process.