Your domain deserves better management

A transfer moves the management of your domain from one registrar to another — the name, its DNS and its visitors are untouched. You prove ownership with an EPP code from the current registrar, we submit the request to the registry, the registry asks for confirmation, and a few days later the domain answers to your Hostrena panel instead.

The EPP code — also called auth code or transfer key — is a short secret string the registry holds for your domain, proving the transfer request comes from the real owner. Your current registrar shows it in the domain's settings or emails it on request, and ICANN obliges them to hand it over within five days. Treat it like a password until the move completes.

No. The transfer never touches your nameservers or DNS records — it only changes which company manages the registration. Your site serves and your mail flows through the entire process. The one self-inflicted wound to avoid: deleting your old DNS zone before the move completes. Leave everything running and the transfer is invisible.

Generic extensions like .com complete in five to seven days — most of that is a built-in waiting window the current registrar may release early. Country extensions follow their own registry's rules: .uk moves in minutes via a tag change, others take a week or two. The supported-extensions table above shows the typical timeline per extension.

Not yet — ICANN locks gTLD domains for 60 days after registration or a previous transfer, with no exceptions any registrar can grant. The fix is patience: note the date, and start the move once the window passes. Some country extensions run different clocks; the table above is the reference.

On most generic extensions, yes — the registry adds one year to your existing expiry as part of the transfer, stacked on top of the time you already paid for. Expiring in March? After transferring, you expire next March. Country extensions generally keep the original date; the free-year column above tells you which is which.

A legitimate transfer needs three things an attacker rarely has together: the unlock switch, the EPP code, and access to the registrant email. That is exactly why Nameserver Shield keeps the lock on at all times here, and re-arms it the moment your inbound transfer completes. Protect the registrant mailbox with a strong password and 2FA, and hijacking becomes a story about other people.

Under ICANN policy they cannot refuse a valid request without cause — an unpaid balance or an ownership dispute being the legitimate ones. What looks like refusal is usually friction: a hidden unlock toggle, an EPP code that "takes a few days". Clear any open invoice, insist on the code in writing, and if it drags, our support team knows the escalation path for every major registrar.

Mostly yes, each with local flavour: .uk transfers are free and nearly instant — your current provider just changes the IPS tag to ours. .de, .fr, .nl and friends move on standard timelines. .sa and .ae cannot transfer in yet; for those, registering fresh with us and pointing DNS is the practical interim. The table above is the live list.

Fully — the moment the domain lands in your panel you hold the zone: switch to Hostrena anycast nameservers, keep your existing ones, or point at Cloudflare or your host. Many movers keep DNS untouched for a week post-transfer, then migrate records calmly. There is no rush; the records that arrived with the domain keep working.

The exact price per extension is in the table above — for most, it equals a year's renewal and includes the free year, so the move costs you nothing in real terms. .uk is free outright. There are no service fees, no expedite charges and nothing added at checkout beyond what the table shows.

Renew it where it is first, even for a single year — expired domains are frozen for transfer, and waiting risks the redemption fee or losing the name entirely. Once renewed and (if recently re-registered) past any fresh 60-day lock, transfer normally; on most extensions the free transfer year stacks on top of the renewal you just bought.

Usually not beyond their control panel: unlock and EPP code are self-service almost everywhere. After we file the request, any email they send you is either a confirmation to approve or — from some registrars — an offer to release early, which speeds things up. Silence also works: an unanswered confirmation simply lets the transfer complete on the standard timeline.

Yes, at any point during the pending window — five to seven days for most extensions — from your panel or with one message to support, and the domain stays where it was, unharmed. Once a transfer has completed it cannot be reversed as such; you would simply transfer again in the other direction, subject to the registry's 60-day lock.

Start to finish. Tell support which registrar you are leaving and you will get exact, screenshot-level steps for finding their unlock switch and EPP code, plus a human watching your transfer's status until it completes. Moving dozens or hundreds of domains? We will sequence the batch and confirm each arrival — switching registrars should cost you minutes, not an afternoon.

Yes — batch transfers are routine for agencies consolidating client portfolios. Collect the EPP codes (one per domain), hand the list to support or feed them through checkout, and track every domain's progress in the panel. Each domain still gets its own registry confirmation, but the work on your side is one spreadsheet, not fifty support tickets.