Transfer rules by extension

Every registry runs its own transfer procedure. Agreeing a handover deadline without knowing which one applies is the most common way a clean deal turns into a dispute.

The comparison

Extension	Mechanism	Code needed	Usual timing
.com, .net, .org	Unlock, then a transfer request at the gaining registrar	Authorisation code from the losing registrar	Completed within about five days, sooner if the losing registrar approves at once
.nl	Gaining registrar submits a token issued by the losing registrar	Transfer token	The losing registrar must supply the token within five days of a request; the move itself is immediate
.de	Provider change request submitted to DENIC	AuthInfo code, eight to sixteen characters	Executed as soon as the code validates; the code expires automatically after thirty days
.be	Transfer request submitted to DNS Belgium	Transfer code issued to the registrant	Executed straight away once the code validates; the code is valid for seven days and can be resent
.eu	Transfer request submitted to EURid	Authorisation code from the registrar or the registrant account at the registry	Executed on validation; the code carries an expiry date, so check it before sending
.co.uk	The losing registrar changes the registrar tag, the gaining registrar then claims the name	No code exists for this extension	Normally effective within a day of the tag change

Generic extensions: the sixty day questions

For .com, .net and .org the mechanism is straightforward and the risk sits in the waiting periods. A registrar may refuse an outbound transfer within sixty days of registration, within sixty days of a previous transfer, and following a change of registrant unless the previous registrant opted out of that lock at the time.

Before agreeing a date, ask when the name was registered, when it last moved, and whether the contact details were edited in recent weeks. A name bought at auction a fortnight ago cannot be transferred to a new registrar yet, however willing the seller is. The detail behind each period is in registrar locks and waiting periods.

A completed transfer of a generic extension normally adds a year to the registration term. A push inside one registrar does not, which occasionally matters when the name is close to expiry.

The Dutch, German and Belgian registries

These three registries execute a valid request immediately, so the elapsed time in a deal is almost entirely the time it takes the seller to obtain the credential.

SIDN issues .nl transfers on a token, and the rules oblige the losing registrar to supply that token within five days of a request. Sellers who are still with a slow reseller should ask for the token before the deal is signed rather than after.

DENIC works on an AuthInfo that the current provider sets against the name. It expires after thirty days, so an old code found in an email thread will simply fail. A holder change can be carried out at the same time as the provider change, which makes .de one of the tidier extensions to hand over.

DNS Belgium sends the transfer code to the registrant. Seven days of validity is generous enough for a normal deal and short enough that a code requested during early negotiation will be dead by the time it is needed.

The .eu and .uk cases

EURid accepts an authorisation code that the registrant can obtain from the current registrar or generate in the registrant account at the registry. Codes carry an expiry date and more than one can exist at a time, with the first one used completing the transfer. A suspended name cannot be transferred at all, so check the status before scheduling handover.

Nominet does not use codes for .uk names. The losing registrar changes the registrar tag on the domain, and the gaining registrar then takes it into an account. Because there is no code to hand over, the seller has to act at the right moment rather than pass a credential to the buyer in advance. In practice this means the payment sequence has to be tied to the tag change itself, and a name whose tag was changed but never claimed sits in limbo until someone picks it up.

Choosing a mechanism when both sides can

Where the seller and the buyer both hold accounts at the same registrar, a push avoids every waiting period, every code and every registry response window. It is worth asking about before defaulting to a registrar transfer.

Where a push is not available, build the registry timing into the escrow instruction so the holding period covers the full window rather than the moment the code changed hands. The way that sequence is normally set up is described in how escrow works, and the denser side by side view of these registries is in the extension rules table.