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A Step By Step Guide to Transfer Domains Out Of GoDaddy
- Shpigford 15y agoIf you're transferring to Namecheap, you can combine both the domain name and the EPP code on the same line (comma separated). That'll save you a step of having to re-submit it for each domain.
- jeffepp 15y agoAwesome. Going to update that in the post - Thanks Shpigford!
- yuhong 15y agoIt also happen to coincide with the CSV format supported by GoDaddy's export, so you can open the CSV using a spreadsheet, delete all columns but the domain name and EPP code, open the CSV using a text editor, and copy/paste.
- j79 15y agoThis is a great step by step guide for transferring domains. Exactly what I needed (I tried earlier and quickly got lost!) I do have a question for anyone who could help: Can I transfer a domain which is set to expire in 2019? And, are there typically fees for transferring a domain?
- jeffepp 15y agoIt seems that the transfer adds a year thankfully and does not reset the clock
- larrys 15y agoThe only thing I would add is that a domain can never have more than 10 years on it. So if you created a domain today with a 10 year period and decided to transfer it in 3 months it wouldn't get a year added to it when you transferred. Note that the year is not actually added to the domain by the registrar. It's part of the way the system works for .com .net domains with Verisign which operates the backend for <b>all</b> registrars.
- praxeologist 15y agoNice. This is what I was worried about because I just renewed two domains with GD. I'm going to try to make time to do the transfer soon.
- RexM 15y agoA year is typically added to the expiration, it is not reset. There is a cost associated with transferring a domain. For namecheap it cost me $7.98/domain, with the coupon code SWITCH2NC to transfer.
- noinput 15y agofound this also: use SOPASUCKS as coupon to transfer from goddady to namecheap credit: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/godaddys_sopa_support_sparks_calls_for_boycotts_an.php#comment-392608247 http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/godaddys_sopa_support_s...
- lukeholder 15y agonamecheap adds 1 year to your existing expiration date when you switch. Nothing to do on your part. No need to contact support with the question like I did.
- qeorge 15y agoFWIW, this is a common (and excellent!) practice. So no matter which registrar you transfer your domains to you should get an extra year added to your registration.
- aeden 15y agoIt's actually a requirement for gTLDs like com/net/org. When you transfer a domain the registry automatically extends the domain 1 year (or the minimum). If the registrar is charging for the transfer and the extension then you're being taken for a ride.
- xelfer 15y agothanks for this, my godaddy domains were registered for 10 years, so this makes it easier to switch. i thought they only gave me 1 year from the transfer date.
- underworld12 15y agoHow long does the transfer process take? Also, what about DNS configurations?
- Shpigford 15y agoIn my experience it took around 12-36 hours for the entire process with 30+ domains. And nameservers will transfer.
- felideon 15y agoIf my memory doesn't fail me, Namecheap gives the option to either keep the same nameservers or switch to Namecheap's nameservers. Unless you host your DNS externally (and you have GoDaddy configured to use those), you will have to switch to Namecheap's nameservers and I believe reconfigure your records. For a smooth transition, you could change your nameserver configuration on GoDaddy before transferring, and then have Namecheap keep the settings. EDIT: Just noticed another commenter mention that you can export your zones from GoDaddy.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- re_todd 15y agoThis is awesome, everyone says to transfer, but most people won't because it's too much of a hassle. This helps alleviate that barrier. I've just tweeted this and will email my friends too. We nerds are a kind of multiplier effect. GoDaddy, you're days are numbered.
- obituary_latte 15y agoI really wish I had a spare $754 ($681 with code) to transfer all my dumb domain names.
- Shpigford 15y agoI used the opportunity to do some house cleaning. I had to quit being sentimental and be honest with myself about what I would _really_ use. Then I just let the ones I didn't want anymore stay with GoDaddy to eventually expire.
- justinmares 15y agoJust a warning - GoDaddy will automatically charge your credit card to renew current domains. You have to remove your payment information or delete the domains.
- courtewing 15y agoThis isn't entirely accurate. GoDaddy has both auto-renewal and manual renewal. I'm not sure what the default is these days, but you can set your domains to manual renewal and let them expire. Be warned: you're going to get a ton of email notifications from GoDaddy as your expiration dates approach.
- saturn7 15y agoThanks for that, didn't even realize you could delete domains before they expired. Just deleted 30 domains from godaddy that i had no intention of renewing.
- Jasber 15y agoWhy not post them somewhere and transfer them to someone who might use them?
- _delirium 15y agoNote that you also have to disable domains-by-proxy (domain privacy) if you have it on any domains before they can be transferred.
- bravura 15y agoThis is also my understanding. Which essentially means that you cannot transfer any domains out of GoDaddy without losing your anonymity.
- citricsquid 15y agoPurchase third party whois privacy. Whois privacy costs nothing to run, it's just a company saying they own the domain on your behalf, this opens you up to domain theft though, I don't understand why people use it. Set up a PO Box somewhere and use that.
- dchest 15y agoSet up a PO Box somewhere and use that. Is it allowed to use a fictional name?
- citricsquid 15y agoI am 99% sure the only requirement is any contact delivered makes it to you, so yes.
- dchest 15y ago3.7.7.1 The Registered Name Holder shall provide to Registrar accurate and reliable contact details and promptly correct and update them during the term of the Registered Name registration, including: the full name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and fax number if available of the Registered Name Holder; name of authorized person for contact purposes in the case of an Registered Name Holder that is an organization, association, or corporation; and the data elements listed in Subsections 3.3.1.2, 3.3.1.7 and 3.3.1.8. 3.7.7.2 A Registered Name Holder's willful provision of inaccurate or unreliable information, its willful failure promptly to update information provided to Registrar, or its failure to respond for over fifteen (15) calendar days to inquiries by Registrar concerning the accuracy of contact details associated with the Registered Name Holder's registration shall constitute a material breach of the Registered Name Holder-registrar contract and be a basis for cancellation of the Registered Name registration. http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/ra-agreement-21may09-en.htm#3.7.7.2 http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/ra-agreement-21may09-en.h...
- RexM 15y agoAfter you get your EPP codes entered and GoDaddy is notified that you intend to transfer the domain, you can either wait 5 days for GoDaddy to release the domain, or you can go in and immediately accept the transfer by following these instructions: http://support.godaddy.com/help/6040?locale=en http://support.godaddy.com/help/6040?locale=en Then it's just a matter of waiting for everything to finalize. I started the process this morning and it still isn't finalized.
- nivertech 15y agoI need a similar guide for register.com I have one very old domain stuck there because I lost access to email address with which I registered there.
- jameskilton 15y agohttps://dnsimple.com/ https://dnsimple.com/ has a 50% off special for transferring domains off of GoDaddy. They may not be the cheapest (it's $3 a month to host 10 domains + yearly cost for the domain registration), but they have fantastic support and are super simple to use.
- aeden 15y agoIn case you haven't seen it before, I wrote up a step-by-step guide earlier this year as well: http://blog.dnsimple.com/preparing-domains-godaddy-for-transfer-out/ http://blog.dnsimple.com/preparing-domains-godaddy-for-trans... Note the tip at the end: you usually have to wait the full 5 day waiting period when transferring a domain out of GoDaddy because they let the domain auto ack at the end, however you can speed things up using the technique described in this help article on their site: http://help.godaddy.com/article/6040?locale=en http://help.godaddy.com/article/6040?locale=en Copied here in case they remove it. :-) To Accept or Decline a Transfer to Another Registrar Log in to your Account Manager. In the My Products section, click Domains/Domain Manager. From the Domains menu, select Pending Transfers. Select the domain name(s) you are transferring to another registrar, and then click Accept/Decline. Select one of the following: Accept — This option might speed up the pending transfer's completion. Decline — This option cancels the pending transfer, which causes it to fail. Click OK twice. We process your request within 30 minutes.
- nathanhammond 15y agoI can't say enough good things about DNSimple (and I've had lots of bad things to say about other registrars). Are you guys still reselling enom for all of your TLDs? Pretty please will you get your own setup for at least .com/.org/.net addresses? And when/if you do can you make a big stink about it so I know to transfer all of my domains to you guys? I'd love to give you more money...
- aeden 15y agoI can't promise I can do it, but I'll work on it. ICANN accreditation and registry access is all about money. If I can get the working capital then I'll get DNSimple accredited in 2012. Believe me, I'd love to be able to do it.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- fersho311 15y agoThis review is really preventing me from going with namecheap... http://www.webhostingreviews.com/namecheap-reviews.htm http://www.webhostingreviews.com/namecheap-reviews.htm can someone advise?
- rkalla 15y agoDitto, some nasty stuff there. Sounds akin to a typical godaddy experience.
- foxylad 15y agoI transferred all my domains to NameCheap after the elephant slaughter, and have had absolutely no issues. Personally I'd like to hear NC's take on the incident before I pass judgement on that post, but if you're not comfortable with them, find another registrar that you are OK with. The whole point is that GoDaddy are bad, not that NameCheap are good.
- CWuestefeld 15y agoAs noted elsewhere, it's the hosting plans that they make their money from, and so that's what I'd aim to transfer. So I've got a two-part question: 1) How does one transfer all the DNS information, including the A and MX records (anything else I need?)? Is this all provider-specific? Or can they just port in the existing data? 2) When I'm ready, I'd want to set up a web site, and especially a mail server. Any recommendations? (I know this has been asked plenty in the past, but this seems a good time to make a list excluding GoDaddy)
- treitnauer 15y ago1) Transferring DNS is a bit of a pain indeed. Luckily GoDaddy lets you export the zone for each domain from their control panel. I would just send this to your new registrar and they can import the settings. Some registrars also give you an option to add DNS records when starting the transfer. 2) This might be helpful for email / website / blog hosting: http://iwantmyname.com/services http://iwantmyname.com/services – these hosted apps and services can all be used with your own domain. (Full disclosure: I'm a co-founder at iWantMyname)
- larrys 15y agoFirst, manage the dns with a third party dns service. Such as http://zoneedit.com/pricing.html http://zoneedit.com/pricing.html or similar. Don't use the dns of the registrar. But if you are talking about moving over just dns servers (not the records that are in those dns servers) that is automatically ported over when you change registrars. But if the dns servers are the dns servers of the registrar that isn't what you want. Which is one of the reasons to use third party dns. If you switch registrars the gaining registrar automatically sets the primary and secondary dns to what it was at the old registrar. I wrote this fast but if you have any questions let me know. This is what I do. To answer about mail server depends on whether you mean the mail server will run on your equipment or on a VPS or?
- 286c8cb04bda 15y agoFirst, manage the dns with a third party dns service. This cannot be emphasized enough. Do not use your registrar's DNS. Do not use your registrar's hosting. Do not use your host's DNS. The three elements -- domain registration, DNS, and web hosting -- should be segregated. That way, if you have problems with one, through chance, malice, or incompetence, you can exercise the other two items to work around the issue. E.g.s: If your web host is DDOSed, change the DNS entries to point to another host; minimizing downtime. If your DNS servers are taken offline by legal action against the company that owns them, change the published servers at your registrar. If your registrar goes bankrupt, your DNS and hosting will continue running smoothly while ICANN handles the domain management. While you're at it, host your email somewhere different than your webhost. If you're account gets disabled because of a billing mistake, you want to get the email that tells you about it, right? It's not even that expensive to implement these steps -- $25, maybe $50 per year. If you are at all serious about something on the Internet, spend the extra money!
- elmcitylabs 15y agoGreat post. We're in the process of transferring 50+ domains from GoDaddy.
- jwn 15y agoThanks for the guide! I've got 21 domains at Godaddy and I've started transferring the inactive ones as a test. Once I've got a feel for the process I'll start moving the ones that have DNS entries with GoDaddy as well.
- jbail 15y agoI just transferred my 47 domains out of GoDaddy. I've been meaning to do it for awhile --- primarily because the price keeps inching up and because I find their advertising and use of spokeswomen sort of distasteful. Seeing Jillian Michael's face when I'm buying a domain or setting up DNS records for a client is pretty much the last thing I want to see. I guess you could say SOPA was the last straw. Transferring 47 domains cost a pretty penny, but it feels really good to leave that circus behind. I went with Namecheap, primarily because I've heard good things about them and this blog post made it easy. I like how simple and snappy their web site is. Much quicker and easier to use than Godaddy...and no Jillian Michaels staring me down.
- lux 15y agoSame, but I think it was 46 for me ;) Big relief having finally gotten off my butt to do that. Well worth the $200+ and at least that renews them all for an extra year at the same time, so it's not like I wouldn't have spent it anyway (just not all at once).
- jbail 15y agoKnowing that I would need to pay to renew them anyway made it slightly less painful. It's tough to cough up $300+ at once, but SOPA is a horrible idea and GoDaddy apparently has no clue who their customers are. I'd be very curious to see some stats on how many transfers happened because of this effort.
- lux 15y agoWould love to see that stat. I guess competitors could post about spikes, giving us a sense based on their numbers.
- freejack 15y agoWe did 10x the inbound xfer volume on the 22nd vs. the 21st. So far on the 23rd, we're at 80% of the volume we saw on the 22nd. This only counts completed transfers, and there are a ton more in process as people fiddle with the Godaddy knobs and dials. One of our customers wrote a great transfer how-to that can be found here... https://twitter.com/technologypoet/status/150084142577623042 https://twitter.com/technologypoet/status/150084142577623042 ...and to head off any bandwagon jumping criticisms, we've been publicly opposed to this sort of legislative gerrymandering long before Godaddy stepped out in favour of it... https://www.hover.com/blog/hover-opposes-sopa https://www.hover.com/blog/hover-opposes-sopa
- nxn 15y agoAnyone familiar with any good registrars that support both .me and .it domains? EDIT: gandi.net looks like the best bet if anyone else needs both .me and .it.
- poutine 15y agoJust transferred 40 domains off of GoDaddy using this. Thanks.
- satyajit 15y agoJust transferred (recovered/save/gavelife) (well, just) 3 domains out of GoDaddy. Rest of my domains are gathering dust elsewhere, but I am happy that this marks the end of my relationship with the nasty GoDaddy. Best wishes to them with their skimpy dress ads on SupBowl!
- DannyDover 15y agoQuick tip, you can use the promo code 'switch2nc' to save a dollar off each transfer. (I am not affiliated with namecheap, the promo code or anything related. I am just cheap :-p)
- chrislaco 15y agoJust transfered out 34 domains. Thanks for the export instructions!
- chrislaco 15y agoAlso, item of note for these instructions. GoDaddy auth codes sometimes contain commas, so they'll export as quoted values. The domain,authcode trick in the bulk form doesn't work. Make sure to enter the unquoted auth codes for those domains in the cart during transfer.
- halfbrown 15y agoSo much good info here in the comments and in Jeff's post. I'll be moving my domains ASAP!
- btilly 15y agoFor those looking for alternatives, it is worth noting MediaTemple's unofficial position on this topic: http://twitter.com/#!/demian_sellfors/status/149950134556426240 http://twitter.com/#!/demian_sellfors/status/149950134556426... (Demian Sellfors is the CEO.)
- PhrosTT 15y agoCount me in for about 14 or so plus SSL certs and other fun. What a windfall for Namecheap.
- noinput 15y agoI just setup a tumblr for anyone interested, i'll keep count for those that want to submit: goodbyegodaddy.tumblr.com http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3384048 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3384048
- dazbradbury 15y agoI'm not sure whether it was the HN posting, but it seems Tumblr is not coping with the amount of traffic. Whilst that isn't all that interesting, I just wanted to say kudos for having a link to charity on the error page: We're very sorry Our servers are over capacity and certain pages may be temporarily unavailable. We're working quickly to resolve the issue. In the meantime, please consider donating to the Red Cross to help those in Japan who are in need of support. Unfortunately, the link provided is broken: http://www.ifrc.org/en/get-involved/donate/donation-japan http://www.ifrc.org/en/get-involved/donate/donation-japan Anyone from Tumblr watching?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- cemregr 15y agoI've been having trouble accessing this page for the last hour. Oh, tumblr.
- jsnrkd 15y agoThe tutorial took about 10 minutes to complete for my domains. I've been on the look out for an easy way to leave GoDaddy for a while now. Thank you!
- yurisagalov 15y agoThe site seems down for me, but Google has a cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1BOfAgmNnuAJ:blog.jeffepstein.me/post/14629857835/a-step-by-step-guide-to-transfer-domains-out-of-godaddy+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1BOfAgm...
- bigohms 15y agoHuge believer of voting with your pocket. We have just submitted to have the last 247 GoDaddy domains transferred.
- bigohms 15y agoJust wrapped up drinks with a CTO of a large enterprise, he's feeling the vibe after a hearty SOPA chat and has committed to move their portfolio of over 1,700 domains off GoDaddy by year's end. Their expenditure is over 20K/year and with a discount code floating around here (thanks guys!), he's putting the savings into bonuses
- marquis 15y agoGoDaddy will stay in business while ad syndicates continue to accept their money. Is there an ad syndicate that allows you to specifically black-list companies? Some kind of 'ethical ad' startup?
- generators 15y ago1 from me : their backordering system for domain is cool and that's the only reason I got even one there...
- chaselee 15y agoOur domain was registered through Google and they stuck it on GoDaddy. Working on getting it transferred safely. Nice post Jeff!
- epynonymous 15y agocouldn't access the link, but i noticed that godaddy puts a lock on domain transfers by default, after removing the lock, my current registrar, iwantmyname.com, asked for a $10 transfer fee. i'll probably wait until they catch onto the fact that there's a mass exodus from godaddy and give free transfers :)
- ck2 15y agoThe irony is that godaddy has the fastest transfer out I've ever experienced with almost realtime acks if your receiving registrar supports it. (and I've used nearly a dozen registrars, not just resellers) You can be out in under 4 hours, all depends on how fast the registry responds.
- wangjing16899 15y ago问题
- YoungEnt 15y agohttp://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/ http://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/ count how many people and domains left godaddy!
- PakG1 15y agoCan someone please provide advice for SSL? I don't think it's as easy? Am I stuck for SSL?
- amalcon 15y agoYou mean your cert? Technically, you don't need to transfer the cert -- nothing prevents two CAs from signing certificates for the same domain. You can just buy the cert from someone else and start using that.
- olifante 15y agoThis is the straw that broke the camel's back. I just migrated my 44 domains to NameCheap. Use the "sopasucks" discount code, it takes $1.99 off each .com domain. For some reason, .me transfers are much more expensive than .com transfers: $19.99 vs $8.98
- joell 15y agoWe'll be transferring ~30 domains later today.
- jneal 15y agoI've been wanting to move away from GoDaddy for awhile now. I only went to GoDaddy in the first place over 10 years ago because they were the cheapest place. Since then, their prices have risen, their interface has become horrible, their up-selling has become unbearable, and their TV advertisements annoy me. I believe that their support of the SOPA could be looked at as their last straw for me. I'm planning on moving all of my domains on Dec 29 unless they change their stance on SOPA. However, even if they did change their stance I don't think it could really save me as a customer considering all of the other aforementioned issues.
- gluejar 15y agoDon't for get to ask your credit card provider to reverse your GoDaddy Payment- the SOPA-enabled chargeback is the real nightmare for internet companies.
- cefarix 15y agoThank you!
- laserDinosaur 15y agoI only have one domain =( Transferring anyway :)
- benawabe896 15y ago6 domains for me.
- laironald 15y agoI'm so confused. How does GoDaddy dominate the domain market? I guess those Superbowl Dollars are in proper use...?
- jiggy2011 15y agoThis is great and all but I don't really see a boycott as being such an effective solution. The problem with boycotts is they are based on the following things: 1) The spending power of the boycotter. 2) The potential spend of the boycotter on the relevant service/product. 3) The amount of influence you have over others to boycott. So whilst you can move your handful of personal domains that you were using for your hobby website or small startup elsewhere, the biggest spenders on domains I would imagine are going to be medium-large businesses. These are much more cautious to join a boycott unless there is obvious PR benefit (e.g fairtrade or animal testing free products spring to mind) because they are beholden to shareholders and are generally conservative when it comes to changing suppliers unless there is a clear cost-benefit. The only people in the organization that are likely to care about this will be the techies who unless they are the CIO/CTO do not have the influence to affect domain purchasing decisions. The conversation probably goes approximately like this: Boss: Good day underling! Please secure us the following list of 100 domain names from the great godaddy, lord of the DNS! Techie: But sir , we shouldn't use godaddy. There is an active boycott because of SOPA, how about company X instead? Boss: What is this SOPA of which you speak? Techie: explains SOPA Boss: Damn hippies! I neither understand nor care for their plight, godaddy is cheaper and we already have an account with them. I know not of this company X, do they advertise at the superbowl? Techie: but... Boss: Please do as I command and grace godaddy with our pieces of silver. Techie: enters company credit card details at godaddy.com