GoDaddy TDNAM (Domain Name Aftermarket) can be a good place to snap up a useful domain or two. 

However even if I snap up a domain at GoDaddy (and end up with the registration at GD as a result) I normally host with DreamHost.  However domain privacy has to be controlled via the registrar.  Anyway, GD’s privacy, hosting (well, OK, everything) is too expensive to my liking so as soon as the domain is unlockable I transfer the registration to DH.

I’ve done this whole process in the space of 30 minutes with privacy back on and the web site up and running again.  The process is only painful if you miss a step and end up with the transfer in Never-Never land!

1. Log in to GoDaddy & Unlock domain in web panel.  GoDaddy will send you an email to let you know.  You have to unlock the domain to allow it to be transferred out.
2. If you have GoDaddy’s privacy turned on, turn it OFF!  You should receive a “cancellation confirmation” for the cancelled domain privacy order.
   At this point you need to wait for DNS to propogate since DreamHost’s system will read the WhoIs to send a confirmation email to the domain owner.  If you leave privacy on or don’t wait long enough, good luck ever seeing that email.
   A good way to check whether the new Whois data has propogated is to run a whois on the domain you’re trying to transfer.  If the privacy details have been replaced by your actual contact details then you’re good.
3. Unlock the domain from the GD control panel
4. Request an authorization key from GD control panel.  (Some companies call this the “domain secret” code).  You should receive it by email within a minute or two.
5. Go to DH control panel and click “transfer domains”.
6. Enter the domain and the auth key
7. Click transfer and pay the annual domain fee
8. The email address shown in the WhoIs entry will receive a confirmation email from DH.  You will also see this email address in the DH web panel - “Approval email sent to xxxx”.  If it was sent to the privacy company then you didn’t wait long enough for the WhoIs to propogate.  Click re-submit and try again.
9. Click the link in the email from DH and accept the transfer.  You must click through and accept the transfer.
10. DH will send you a confirmation of the transfer.
11. GD will send you a confirmation of the transfer (no need to accept at this point - GD has
    already been given the auth key rememeber).  [Update - GD has changed the process slightly in that this notice gives a date by which you must respond if you *don't* want the domain transferred.  You can either wait for this date to pass (it's a few days) or log in to the GD domain panel and force the transfer by accepting it.]
12. You should receive another cancellation notice from GD for the cancelled domain.
13. You should also reveive a success notice from GD saying that the domain has transferred to another registrar.
14. You should now be able to log in to the DH web panel, make sure they also think the domain has transferred (if you look under “Reg Transfer” it’s no longer in the pending list but *is* in the list of available Auth codes at the bottom of this page.
15. Go ahead and check privacy is back on with DH (no extra charge for this from DH - thanks guys!!!), finish any other setup of hosting or the domain if necessary and check the domain is working.
16. You’re DONE!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 9:49 pm and is filed under GoDaddy, domain names, dreamhost, web hosting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.