Domain Registrar Transfer Services FAQ
What is a Registrar?
A Registrar is an organization or company that is accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to provide registration services. We provide registration services in partnership with Internet Names WorldWide, a division of Melbourne IT Ltd.
How much does it cost to transfer the registrar of domain names?
Transferring the registrar of a domain name requires a £5 set up charge plus £15 per year for each year of registration. For example, a domain name transferred to Linkmatics costs £17 (£5 set up transfer + £15 registration) for the first year, and all additional years will cost £15 each. This is a huge saving off the "industry" price. When the registrar of your domain name is transferred, you can renew your domain name for just £10 per year for periods of 1-2 years; £15 for periods longer than 3 years. a transferred registration can only be renewed for a period of up to 9 years. It is not possible to renew a transferred registration for longer then 9 years. A current registration may be renewed for 10 years but not a transferred registration.
What domain names may be transferred ?
We currently do registrar transfers of .com, .net, .org, .info, .co.uk, and domain names to internet names worldwide. We may do others on request.
My domain name registration does not expire for a long time. Why should I transfer?
As long as you transfer your domain name during the time period from 45 days AFTER renewing your domain name registration and BEFORE the next renewal payment is due, you can transfer up to one full year of time to another registrar. If you have registered your domain name for more than one year, any period of time beyond one year is not transferred to the new registrar. For instance, if you have 8 months before your domain name registration with the current registrar expires, and then you transfer the domain to Internet Names WorldWide (INWW) and renew the domain registration for one year, you would then have 1 year and 8 months until your next renewal. The time period that domains are registered for--up to a maximum of 1 year--DOES transfer with the domain name from one registrar to another.
What happens if I renewed my domain already with my current registrar but now I want to transfer the domain to Linkmatics?
If you renew a domain within the automatic renewal period of 45 days after renewal or expiration and then transfer that domain to another registrar during this same period (up to 45 days after renewing your registration), the period of 1 year is retracted by the registry and only the year(s) of the transfer is applied. The losing registrar should advise the registrant of this fact. Therefore, in order to prevent this retraction, we recommend that you initiate registrar transfers before the automatic renewal period occurs at the time of expiration, or at least 45 days after you renew your domain registration.
Is it true that I could lose time I have paid for if I transfer Registrars?
If you transfer your domain name to Linkmatics with INWW, a maximum registered period of one year may transfer to the new Registrar. For example, if you registered a domain for 5 years with your current registrar and you transfer the domain name to INWW through Linkmatics WITHIN 45 days of your renewal date, you would lose all five years. The maximum amount of time that can possibly be transferred with a domain name is 1 year. The domain name is then registered for only the new time you registered for at the time of transferring the domain name to Linkmatics. You must contact the losing registrar regarding any possible credit for lost time.
Why should I use you as my Domain Name Registrar?
We offer you:
- Easy online management of all of your domain names in one place
- The ability to update domain name information and DNS for all of your domain names online
- A high-level of security for your domain name assets
- Discounted registration and re-registration services
How do I transfer my Domain Name from one Registrar to another?
An online form in the Reseller Backroom starts the transfer process.
Once you submit the domain name for transfer, we send an email to the administrative contact of the domain name. This form requires that the administrative contact confirm the request to transfer the domain name registrar online by agreeing to certain terms and conditions. The administrative contact may agree to the terms and confirm the request, or he or she may choose to not approve the transfer. If the administrative contact does not take any action regarding the confirmation request the default action will be to reject the registrar transfer request.
You will receive an email notifying you of the action (confirmation or rejection) resulting from the transfer request sent to the administrative contact. If the administrative contact approves the transaction, the 'losing' registrar may also require that the administrative contact respond to another e-mail authorizing the transfer. Failure to respond to their request may also cause a transfer request to be rejected.
You will be notified of the final result of your request via an email. If the transfer was successful, you will receive an invoice for the domain name you transferred. The entire process may take 6-10 days to complete, depending upon the response time of the administrative contact.
Will changing Registrars affect my e-mail or my Web site?
No. There is no impact on the function of your domain name when you use our registration service. Your Web site and e-mail will not be disrupted.
What is the default Technical Contact information for registrar transfers?
The current registrar transfer process provided by Internet Names WorldWide (INWW) requires that we use a single default technical contact. As a reseller of INWW, Linkmatics's technical information is used as the technical contact for any registrar transfers initiated under our account. We have attempted to make this technical contact information as generic as possible to preserve the relationship you maintain with your customers. The technical contact can easily be modified after the registrar transfer process is complete.
How long will it take to change registrars?
The change of registrar process typically takes 6-10 days to complete. You can verify that the domain name transfer is complete by checking your domain name Whois information 6-10 days after you submit a domain name registrar transfer request.
My domain name is about to expire. Can I still transfer the registrar to you?
We do not recommend making a change of registrar request for domain names that will expire in less than 15 days. Should any problems arise, we want to allow adequate time to resolve any issues before your domain name registration expires.
Expired domain names may also be placed "on hold," a situation which would cause a site to become inaccessible. If you have less than 15 days until your registration expires, it is generally best to simply renew the domain name with the current registrar and then move it a few months before the domain name expires.
Who is Internet Names WorldWide, a division of Melbourne IT (MIT) and what is their relation to Linkmatics?
We register domain names through a special partnership Linkmatics has accessed with Internet Names WorldWide, a division of Melbourne IT, an official registrar accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
If there are problems with my transfer, will I be notified?
We will attempt to notify you via e-mail when the change of registration has failed. The message will contain a description of the error(s), as well as instructions for correcting the problem. We will not bill you for the transfer of registrar service until the process is complete.
Can a change of registrar request be rejected?
Your current registrar may require you to reply to an e-mail authorizing the transfer of your domain names from their service. Failure to reply to such e-mail may cause a transfer rejection.
The losing registrar has the ability to reject a domain name transfer requests for the following reasons:
- If the transfer request was initiated within the first 60 days of the original registration date
- If there is a legal dispute over the Domain Name
- If there is a pending bankruptcy of the Domain Name holder
- If there is a dispute over the identity of the Domain Name holder
- If the losing Registrar rejects the request (the 'discretion' of the losing Registrar)
- If the registration is the subject of a litigation matter or trademark dispute
- If the Domain Name is "on hold" for any reason
What do I do if my transfer request is rejected?
If your domain name is involved in one of the situations listed above, you must resolve the matter with your current registrar prior to moving your domain name to us.
Can I modify my domain name account information at the same time that I request a registrar transfer?
No. Once your domain name transfer is complete (after 6-10 days), you can make modifications online quickly and easily using the Domain Manager in the Reseller Backroom.
Do I need to host my domain name on Linkmatics servers in order to use the registration service?
No. There is no requirement to be hosted in our name servers nor even in one of our data centres to take advantage of this offering.