Transferring a domain moves its registration to Fast Hive so you manage renewals, contacts and DNS in one place alongside your hosting. The process is standardised across registrars and usually completes within five to seven days. This guide covers the preparation that prevents a rejected transfer, the steps themselves, and what to do when a transfer stalls.
- Does: move who the domain is registered through, and add a year to the registration term for most extensions.
- Does not: move your website, your email or your DNS records. Those are separate and stay exactly where they are.
- Does not: take your site offline, provided your nameservers stay unchanged during the transfer.
Step 1 - Check the domain is eligible
Transfers are refused for predictable reasons. Confirm all of these first:
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| At least 60 days old | ICANN blocks transfers within 60 days of registration, and within 60 days of a previous transfer. |
| Not recently changed owner | A registrant change can trigger the same 60-day lock. |
| Unlocked | Registrar lock (also called Transfer Lock or clientTransferProhibited) must be off. |
| Not expired or in redemption | Renew it at the current registrar first, then transfer. |
| Reachable admin email | The approval email goes to the administrative contact on the WHOIS record. If that address is dead, the transfer cannot be approved. |
| Privacy disabled | WHOIS privacy can hide the contact address. Turn it off for the duration of the transfer. |
Step 2 - Prepare at your current registrar
- Unlock the domain. Find the security or lock setting and disable it.
- Disable WHOIS privacy temporarily.
- Verify the admin email address on the domain, and make sure you can read that inbox.
- Request the authorisation code. It may be called an EPP code, auth code or transfer key. It is usually emailed to the admin contact rather than shown on screen.
- Record your current DNS settings. Take a screenshot of the full DNS zone - A, CNAME, MX and TXT records - before you begin. This is your safety net.
Step 3 - Start the transfer at Fast Hive
- Go to Transfer Domains to Us.
- Enter the domain name and click Transfer.
- Paste the authorisation code when prompted.
- Choose whether to keep your existing nameservers (recommended for now) or use Fast Hive's.
- Add to cart and complete checkout. Most extensions include a year's renewal in the transfer fee.
Step 4 - Approve the transfer
- Within a few minutes, an approval email arrives at the domain's administrative contact address. Click the confirmation link.
- Your losing registrar may also email you asking to approve or reject the release. Approving it here is what makes the transfer complete quickly instead of waiting out the automatic five-day window.
- Track progress under My Domains, where the status shows as Pending Transfer until it completes.
Step 5 - After the transfer completes
- Confirm the domain now shows as Active in My Domains.
- Check the DNS records carried across correctly and the website and email still work.
- Now - and only now - switch the nameservers to
ns1.fasthive.comandns2.fasthive.comif you want us to manage DNS. - Re-enable WHOIS privacy.
- Confirm auto-renew is on so the domain cannot lapse.
- Check the registrant contact details are current.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| "Invalid authorisation code" | Codes are case sensitive and often contain characters that look alike. Copy and paste rather than retyping, and check for a trailing space. Codes can also expire - request a fresh one. |
| "Domain is locked" | The unlock has not propagated to the registry yet. Wait an hour and retry. |
| No approval email arrived | Check spam, then check what address is actually on the WHOIS record - it is often an old one. Update it at the current registrar and restart. |
| Transfer rejected without explanation | Most often the 60-day rule, an unpaid balance at the losing registrar, or a dispute flag. Contact them for the reason, then reapply. |
| Stuck on "Pending Transfer" for days | Normal. If nobody explicitly approves the release, registries wait out a five-day window before completing automatically. |
| Website went down mid-transfer | The nameservers were changed at the same time, or the old registrar's DNS was withdrawn. Point the nameservers at Fast Hive and recreate the records from the screenshot you took. |
| Email stopped after transfer | MX records were lost with the old DNS zone. Recreate them in cPanel → Zone Editor. |
Frequently asked questions
Will my website or email go down during the transfer?
No, as long as the nameservers stay unchanged. A registration transfer does not touch DNS.
Do I lose the time remaining on my registration?
No. Existing time is preserved, and for most extensions the transfer adds a further year on top.
How long does it take?
Typically five to seven days. If you approve the release at your old registrar rather than waiting, it can finish in a few hours.
Can I transfer a domain that expires next week?
You can start it, but it is risky - a transfer in flight when a domain expires can fail badly. Renew at the current registrar first, then transfer.
Which extensions can be transferred?
Most gTLDs such as .com, .net and .org follow the standard process. Some country-code extensions use their own mechanism, occasionally without an auth code. Ask Sales & Solutions if you are unsure about a specific TLD.
Can I transfer several domains at once?
Yes. Add each one to the cart in the same order. You will need a separate authorisation code for every domain.
