Over the years it has become a little easier to find certain domain information on various hosting provider control panels. However if you’re not in these areas often like a developer, it could be a bit confusing on how to find the information you’re looking for without clicking around and seeming to be going in circles. With the following screenshots and steps you’ll be able to find your domain authentication code (AUTH) in order to transfer your registered domain from GoDaddy to another hosting provider.
To start you’ll need to log into your account and get to My Products. From there you’ll see your list of domains. Click the MANAGE button to the right of the domain you’re looking to get the AUTH code for.
Once you click that you’ll be taken to the Domain Settings page. Scroll down from this view.
Next you’ll want to edit the domain contact information. If this shows a different name, address, or email address you’ll need to update this before you continue further. Otherwise the AUTH code that you want to retrieve will be sent to the person listed and email address listed here.
Next you’ll need to update the Domain Lock. By default you’ll usually find this set to “On”. But in order to transfer the domain away, you’ll need this to be toggled off. This is a security feature to help keep your registered domain from being illegally or illegitimately transferred to a new owner.
So click the “edit” button and flip the toggle to turn this option off. Then you’ll see the “Get authorization code” link below. Click that and this will prompt an automatic response to email the code to the email address that was listed above in the Contact Information area.
And that’s it. The code is usually emailed out in minutes, where you can then initiate the domain transfer with your new hosting provider by using the AUTH code. Transfers usually take 7-10 days, but we’ve been able to process some in one day if all the domain transfer acknowledgements happen as soon as they are received. What normally happens is when a transfer request is sent, the registered email from the current hosting provider is sent an email to acknowledge the transfer. In that email is a link to a secure page to either accept or deny the domain transfer. Once that is completed there may be another email to the new hosting account to also acknowledge the transfer. Once approved the release is usually done in hours, though internet propagation can take 24 hours.
We hope this was helpful for you! If you have any questions be sure to Contact Us.
I’ve been managing domains for over 9 years now. It’s not necessarily a hard job, even though hosting can be difficult. But for this article we’re going to stick to the business of domains. Acquiring a domain isn’t extremely challenging. There are apps from hosting providers you can use, or you can go the traditional route of creating an account with a hosting provider from your laptop 24/7 and buy domain names to your heart’s content.
Let’s Talk About Domain Registration
You can purchase a domain name anywhere from $5.99 to several thousand dollars. You scoff? Yes I typed that correct, several thousand. We’ll get to that in a just a few. The reason why you can purchase a domain for so cheap is usually because of the introductory prices offered when creating an account with a hosting provider. GoDaddy is probably the most well known, and at times infamous when it comes to domains.
Because the price of domains are so low for the most part, the recurring fee to renew your registration only happens on the anniversary of when your purchased it (or first registered it). Normally when it comes time to renew you’ll receive an email anywhere from 45 to the last few days leading up to your expiration. You may need to check your spam folder if you are missing these or if you previously opted out of receiving promotional emails from your provider.
Now on to the Good Part
When it’s time for your domain to renew, and you don’t renew it and it expires, it is released into the wild. Like the baby dolphin you helped raise from early childhood to an adult released back into the ocean. Because well, the internet is rather large like the ocean. I digress. So what happens when you want that domain back? Well if it is within the 30 days of expiration, your hosting provider still has it. They essentially “park” your domain hoping that you or your visitors will notice all the new banner ads that replaced your beautiful and well curated content and all your pages.
You can quickly contact your provider and pay the price for renewal (and possibly any lapse fees) and within moments your old website is back online and no more funky ads. But what do you do when it’s no longer in the hands of your provider? Well, you may be into some real trouble. There are people out there that scour the internet with apps and code waiting for domains to become newly available and buy them up for that same inexpensive low price like you did, but they place their own ads up along with a nice message on how if you’d like to purchase “this” domain you can have it for a price. In some cases the price is listed, and could be a couple hundred dollars. But if your website had high traffic, and continues to show a lot of visits from unsuspecting patrons, the resale value goes up. Oh and if you or other people submit that form to inquire about purchasing the domain, the price goes up. Almost like a catch-22 huh?
I’d like to say it’s not fair and there should be laws against this type of behavior in the market, but all of this could be avoided if hosting provider fees are taken care of on time.
This whole write up is to shed some light on a lesson for domain owners. It’s rather inexpensive to acquire and retain a domain name, or several of them at that. Think really hard if you no longer want to keep a domain. The headache of trying to get it back later could be way worse than just paying the $15 or $20 it is to renew it for the year.
Thoughts? Do you have a domain you’d like to get back from someone who bought it after it expired? Contact us and we’ll offer you some personal advice. Worse thing you can do is not to educate yourself on what options are available to you.
You can purchase a domain name anywhere from $5.99 to several thousand dollars. You scoff? Yes I typed that correct, several thousand. We’ll get to that in a just a few. The reason why you can purchase a domain for so cheap is usually because of the introductory prices offered when creating an account with a hosting provider. GoDaddy is probably the most well known, and at times infamous when it comes to domains.
