Domainer's Gazette-Home

I went outside the domain auction field this past week and bought a domain direct from a mom-and-pop operation. Buying direct is great, mainly cause I seem to get a better price than at auction, and - based on the way I target them - they include fully built websites I can immediately monetize.

Aside from extensive research and the lengthy negotiations buying a domain direct entails, the domain transfer process tends to be the most difficult. Difficult because the actual process is incredibly involved, and stretches out the acquisition process several days, ie. several days which might allow the second party to second guess the sale and back out.

If you do land a domain acquisition directly from a 2nd party, here are a few transfer steps you’ll be presented with. Prepare yourself for these codes and passwords, and you’ll drastically speed up the transfer process:

1. WHOis Domain Admin Contact Email Address - make sure the domain holder’s Admin contact email is up-to-date within their account, as that’s where your registrar will forward the transfer request. If it isn’t, they obviously ain’t gonna get the request, and that’ll slow this whole process down (not good). Case in point, the domain I just purchased had the hosting company’s generic email listed as the WHOis Admin contact.
2. Unlock The Domain for Transfer - most, if not all, domain registrars lock down domains within individual accounts. Lock down, meaning, the domain in incapable of being moved anywhere unless it’s unlocked by the domain holder. If you’ve bought a domain from a 2nd party, one of the first steps is to have *them* unlock that sucker. If they don’t unlock it, and you attempt a domain transfer from your registrar, you’re gonna get a failure notice back - and in some cases, you’ll lose the transfer fee you ponied up. Once they unlock it, you can being the domain transfer process.
3. EPP Transfer Authorization Key - Once the domain holder unlocks the domain, they’ll be presented with an EPP Domain Transfer Authorization Key (typically, it’ll be presented on screen, or emailed to them). The domain holder will need to forward this key to you, the domain buyer, as your registrar will ask for it when you’re moving through the domain transfer process (I usually just have the domain holder email it to me.)
4. Transaction ID &/or Security Code - Once you, the domain buyer, initiate the domain transfer request, your registrar will forward an email to the Admin on record for the domain. This email will basically state to the domain holder that a request has been initiated. Most importantly, this email will include some type of transfer authorization and/or security code. As the domain buyer, you’ll need the domain holder to pass you this information as well, as your registrar will request these codes during the transfer.
5. Expedite the Domain Transfer - Once you’ve plugged in the EPP Code and Transaction ID/Security Code, you’ll enter the 3-5 day transfer waiting period (which ain’t good cause time ain’t your friend in this process). I’m not sure why this waiting period occurs, but there are ways around it. In most cases, you have the ability to expedite this transfer. If you get thrown into this sandbox, request the domain holder to approve the transfer (either through their online account, or by calling their registrar).

Preparing yourself prior to a transfer, and being proactive collecting these codes will enable you to quickly transfer that domain into your account..

now..did I miss anything?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Tips & Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.