Seller checklist

Before the name is offered

1. Confirm the registrant is the party that will sign. A name held in a former company, a personal account of an ex colleague or an agency account has to be sorted out first.
2. Check the status codes on the name. A registry hold, a pending delete or an unresolved contact verification stops a sale before it starts.
3. Check the waiting periods. For generic extensions, a recent registration, a recent transfer or a recent registrant change can block an outbound transfer for sixty days.
4. Check the expiry date. A name expiring during the deal window should be renewed first so the handover is not competing with a renewal.
5. Confirm the registrar account is accessible. The password works, two factor authentication is available and the contact email receives mail.

Before terms are agreed

1. Identify the buyer in full. Legal name, company number where applicable, address. This is what the payment will be matched against.
2. State the mechanism honestly. If a waiting period applies, say so and set the date after it ends rather than promising a transfer that will be refused.
3. Agree what is included. The domain only, or also the site content, the logo, social accounts or an email history. Anything not listed is not included.
4. Agree the payment route and the cost split before the price is fixed, so no one reopens it later.
5. Put it in writing. A short agreement covering parties, name, price mechanism, deadline, warranties and failure to transfer is enough.
6. Issue an invoice that matches the agreement, with the correct tax treatment for the buyer type and country.

Before releasing the code or pushing the name

1. Confirm the funds are real. Cleared in the seller account, or confirmed as held by the escrow provider. A payment in progress, a screenshot of a transfer or a pending notification is not a received payment.
2. Check the paying account matches the buyer. An unexplained third party payer is a reason to pause, especially where the funds could later be reversed.
3. Understand the reversal window of the method used. Some routes can be pulled back weeks after the name is gone, as covered in chargebacks and reversals.
4. Remove the registrar lock before generating the code, so the transfer does not fail on the first attempt.
5. Generate the code fresh. Codes expire: a DENIC AuthInfo lapses after thirty days, a DNS Belgium transfer code after seven. An old string in an email thread will not work.
6. Send it through the agreed channel only. Where an escrow service is involved, the code goes to the escrow, never directly to the buyer.
7. Confirm receipt in writing and record the date and time it was sent.

While the transfer runs

1. Do not approve anything unexpected. A transfer request for a different name, or from a registrar nobody mentioned, is not part of the deal.
2. Answer the losing registrar confirmation promptly where one is sent, so the request does not sit until the response window closes.
3. Leave the nameservers alone until the buyer confirms the name has landed.
4. Keep the transaction thread in one place, including the code delivery and the buyer confirmation.

After the handover

1. Confirm the transfer completed with an independent lookup rather than assuming.
2. Remove the name from every listing, including marketplaces, parking pages and sales pages.
3. Delete stored authorisation codes and any note of them in a password manager.
4. Give up recovery access to anything tied to the name, including DNS accounts and certificates issued for it.
5. Archive the record. Agreement, invoice, proof of payment and the transfer confirmation, as listed in documents to keep.
6. Cancel any auto renew on the name so a payment is not taken for a domain that has been sold.