Transfer Registration Overview

If you registered your domain name someplace other than DreamHost, you may transfer the registration to us.

To do so, you need to go to the transfer section of your web panel and pick the domain you want to transfer the registration of. Then follow the rest of the steps to put in your transfer request! If you're signing up for a new account with us, you can initiate a registration transfer during the account signup process.

You'll have to approve the transfer and renew the domain for another year, and typically it takes a week. Once your domain registration is transferred to DreamHost, you'll be able to manage your whois information, dns nameservers, and renewal options from us instead of your old Registrar!

For the current list of top level domains currently supported for registration transfer to DreamHost, please visit the [Domains -> Registrations] page of the panel; if your domain is in some other top level domain, its registration cannot be transferred; however you still may host sites in such domains at DreamHost.

Note that if the domain is already registered with DreamHost, the domain may be moved between accounts, but there are several special considerations that need to be made, and a couple of restrictions as well. See the article Move Domain Between Accounts.

How do I transfer a Domain Registration to DreamHost?
Below are the requirements for Registrar Transfers of .com, .net, .org and .info TLDs. All requirements must be met before we can process the transfer. No exceptions will be made and all necessary changes must be completed by you and/or the Administrative Contact listed under the WHOIS information for the domain beforehand; otherwise the whole transfer process will be delayed.


 * You must have a current account with us with an active web ID.


 * The domain name must have been registered for more than 60 days with your current registrar (that is 60 days since the beginning of the Service Agreement between you and the current registrar for the domain). If a registrar transfer is initiated within the first 60 days of the registry period, the transfer will automatically be declined by the current registrar.


 * The domain must NOT be "On-Hold" or "locked" by the current registrar.
 * Domains can be "on-hold" for several reasons, including lack of payment of the prior renewal.
 * See Domain locking to learn more about the locked state.


 * The current Administrative Contact email address must be able to confirm and authorize the transfer request. If this domain does not belong to you and you are making this request for someone else let say a friend, family member or client, please have that person be aware of the transfer and to be on the look out for any emails regarding the Registrar Transfer. A confirmation email will be sent from the receiving registrar to the Administrative email contact. If the transfer is not confirmed it will automatically time-out 5 days after the initiation date.


 * To initiate a registrar transfer, go to our "Domains &gt; Transfer" area of our web panel. Enter the domain you want to transfer to us in the "Transfer a registration to us:" form. You'll also be prompted for the transfer authorization code (you'll have to get that from your current registrar) and to fill in the WHOIS information. Follow the rest of the steps to complete the transfer order.

If a problem arises with the current registrar not approving the transfer, the transfer request will automatically timeout and will be cancelled 7 days after the request was initially made. If this is the case, either you or we can either try to submit another request or you may need to contact the current registrar to find the cause of the hold up.

How do I transfer a Domain from one Dreamhost account to another?
1. In the "losing" account (the account that currently has the domain registration), go to Domains > Reg. Transfer > click "Reveal Auth Code" on the line for the domain registration to move. 2. Once you have that auth code, go to the same page in the "gaining" account's web panel, enter the domain name in the text box at "Transfer domain registration(s) to us:" (overwriting "domaintotransferin.com"). 3. Click "Request Transfer". 4. Enter the auth code and contact info. 5. Click "Continue...".

How much does it cost to transfer a domain registration to you?
By ICANN decree, every time you transfer a registration to a new owner for that domain name, you need to renew the domain for exactly one more year. Even if you've got four years left, after the transfer you'll have five!

We charge $11.95/year for domain registrations/renewals, so the cost to transfer a domain to us is ($0 transfer charge + $11.95 = $11.95 to renew it for an additional year with us).

If you've got a webhosting plan with us and aren't already using your one free domain registration, then you can use the free registration for the transfer, and the transfer will be free!

Will there be any downtime?
Nope!

During a domain registration transfer, nothing changes except who the registrar is, and that doesn't really affect anything on the Internet.

If your domain registration expires while you're trying to transfer it over, then your site may go down though! We recommend always attempting a domain registration transfer at least a month before your domain is going to expire. There's no reason to even wait that long though, as you can transfer them at any time.

When you transfer a domain registration, it will also renew for another year.

If I transfer my registration to DreamHost, am I still the owner?
Definitely!

We're not interested in taking people's domains for ourselves! You are still the only owner when it comes to your domain, and may do whatever you'd like with it. You don't have to host it with us, and if you decide to transfer the registration away from us, we won't attempt to stop you!

Of course is if your domain registration expires and you don't renew it, somebody else could and then you won't be the owner anymore. We can't stop that! And, if your domain is found to have been paid for with stolen funds, we reserve the right to freeze your domain name. But you probably have bigger problems than that if you're stealing credit card numbers on the Internet and using them to register domain names! Once a registration has been transferred to DreamHost successfully, your old registrar cannot reclaim the registration without you explicitly approving a transfer back to them.

Unfortunately, getting the registration to transfer away from a registrar in the first place can be a bit more challenging.

Often, registrar's have a "lock" setting which they claim is to prevent unauthorized transfers of domains away from them. You'll have to contact your current registrar to figure out how to unlock your domain if they've locked it for you. It may be tricky, especially if you don't have access to your contact email address anymore.

Also, sometimes domains that aren't locked still just mysteriously fail to be approved away from the current registrar. Network Solutions/verisign is especially notorious for this. If this happens, the only thing to really do is try and re-try to transfer the domain from them, and to try and contact them about it. Unfortunately, registrars can be very unresponsive when it comes to outgoing transfers. :(

Can my current registrar block (or lock) the transfer or transfer it back to them?
Once a registration has been transferred to DreamHost successfully, your old registrar cannot reclaim the registration without you explicitly approving a transfer back to them.

Unfortunately, getting the registration to transfer away from a registrar in the first place can be a bit more challenging.

Often, registrar's have a "lock" setting which they claim is to prevent unauthorized transfers of domains away from them. You'll have to contact your current registrar to figure out how to unlock your domain if they've locked it for you. It may be tricky, especially if you don't have access to your contact email address anymore.

Also, sometimes domains that aren't locked still just mysteriously fail to be approved away from the current registrar. Network Solutions/verisign is especially notorious for this. If this happens, the only thing to really do is try and re-try to transfer the domain from them, and to try and contact them about it. Unfortunately, registrars can be very unresponsive when it comes to outgoing transfers. :(

I have a domain registered with Joker.com and am having problems transferring the registration service to DreamHost
Joker.com has a special procedure when initiating a registrar transfer away from them to another ICANN accredited registrar. A time-window must be established through Joker.com's "Servicezone" by the domain's Owner or Administrative Contact to allow for Joker.com to accept the transfer request from the new incoming registrar.

You MUST  set up the time-window with Joker.com prior to initiating a registrar transfer. Once you have received confirmation from Joker.com that the time-window has been established, you can then proceed to initiate the registrar transfer at http://domainitron.com. Any attempt to initiate a registrar transfer away from Joker.com prior to establishing the time-window will automatically fail 7 days after the initial transfer request.

How do I transfer a dotUK domain?
To transfer in your dotUK domain, you'll need to do the following:


 * 1) At your old registrar, initiate the transfer process, and provide them our IPS Tags as where to transfer the domain to.
 * 2) In a few hours time, you should receive a security code from our provider. The email will be sent to the registrant email on your whois information.
 * 3) With this new code in hand, go to the [Transfer] page in our panel, and process the domain registration transfer.
 * 4) Enter this new security code in the "Auth Code" field, and complete the transfer.