Earn A Living Online

About: This posts discusses my experience, and finally the "right" way... to transfer a domain to NameCheap from GoDaddy, but keep your web site/blog hosted with GoDaddy...

My Domain Hosting History

Aside from using DirectNic briefly for domain hosting, I have hosted my domains with GoDaddy for the entire time I have been in the business.

GoDaddy To NameCheap To Save $$$

Besides the 1001 up sells during the checkout process I have been happy with GoDaddy for my domain hosting, as well as my GoDaddy web hosting package which lets me host multiple sites under one account, so I haven't ventured out to see what other options were available. Recently, and with the growing need for domain privacy, a friend suggested NameCheap. I'll do a price comparison at the end of this post for registration transfers and renewals, but I do find that you save a few bucks with NameCheap and plus you get free domain privacy for the first year (and for very cheap after that in comparison to GoDaddy). So.. I'm the process of transferring my domains from GoDaddy to NameCheap as they come up for renewal.

Transferring From GoDaddy To NameCheap Can Get Crazy

The process for transferring domains to NameCheap from GoDaddy can get a bit complicated but this post gives an overview of the steps to make it a lot easier, and also to move the process along a lot more swiftly (completion usually within hours instead of days).

Website Down Time From Domain Transfer?

In general, when transferring a domain and NOT your web hosting, domain propagation doesn't have to take place because the DNS servers will remain the same... what this means? NO DOWN TIME for your sites when doing a simple domain transfer. As I have found.. this is not the case when transferring from GoDaddy, as 2 of my sites were down for close to 15 hours... well, I now I have the process down to make sure there is very little down time if any for future transfers, so I thought I'd share it here.

First GoDaddy Support Call

After I got my "domain transfer successful" emails I thought everything was good but it turned out my sites were down! I thought it was safe to assume that the DNS servers would be carried over to the new registrar (NameCheap) so I didn't anticipate downtime.. sure enough... they were.. so what was the problem? I called GoDaddy and the guy told me that propagation has to take place so "wait it out". After I kindly told him he was completely and entirely and utterly mistaken he gave me some new DNS entries to try... (turns out they were completely random). Anyway.. I tried them and waited 1/2 hour and still nothing.. So.. being that I am at a cottage with a non-standard internet connection I figured this ISP needed some time to catch up with new DNS entries.. as they say, worse case scenario it could take up to 24 hours. Anyways, after a restless sleep (losing money from sites prevents me from sleeping like a baby), I woke to see the sites were still down! I know it hadn't been 24 hours.. but still! I haven't seen it take longer than a couple hours in the last couple years.

First NameCheap Red Flag

I contacted NameCheap (who doesn't have appear to have telephone support) using their ticket system. They got back to me basically washing their hands of the whole thing because I don't host my sites with them (just my domains). I realize they couldn't do much but they must have come across this scenario before so I was expecting a little insight. I'm not going to judge NameCheap from one support ticket from one agent but I still did expect a little more help than I got.

The KEY Issue When Transferring Domains From GoDaddy.. New Name Servers?!?!?

Ok, I called GoDaddy back and the agent suggested that I contact my new domain registrar to assist me in updating my name servers. I (not so politely this time) told him that that wasn't the issue so he looked into it. Here's the deal... which is what he (and the previous tech) SHOULD have told me in the first place to save a lot of grief...

Apparently... when a domain is registered with GoDaddy it is automatically assigned name servers (when you host your website with GoDaddy as well). These assigned name servers can be pretty much anything.. there is a huge pool it picks from.. kind of in the same fashion it assigns a DB server when creating a MySQL database. Anyway... these name servers are used "internally" he tells me.. so what that means is when a domain is transferred elsewhere the name servers are no longer valid. And to make it more annoying, you have to phone tech support to find out what the name servers have to be changed to, as they don't display them publicly. GoDaddy does have a public help page that tells you what name servers should be set to and it is based on the date you purchased your hosting (as if you remember that) but it turns out this page is inaccurate anyways! So.. bottom line.. you have to call them to get the proper name servers for your domain when transferring elsewhere.

Important note: If you are running a GoDaddy hosting account that hosts multiple sites then make sure the agent gives you the name servers for the additional domains in your account, not the name servers for the domain that is "attached" to your hosting account (the root domain).

Finally, The Steps For Doing The Domain Transfer From GoDaddy

1. Be sure the domain is eligible for transfer. For the most part: Regulations prohibit transferring domains that are less than 60 days old, and regulations also prohibit transferring domains that will expire within 7 days.
2. Call GoDaddy (24/7) at: (480) 505-8877 to find out what the name servers should be set to after transferring the domain (see above for explanation)
3. Turn off "private registration" if you have it set on your domain. You'll need to cancel it at the domainsbyproxy.com site.
4. Login to your GoDaddy Domain Manager and be sure to "unlock" the domain and make sure the Admin contact email is correct because you will need to click a link that gets sent to that email address.
5. Go to NameCheap and initiate the transfer process.

You will get several emails during this process. Most are informational but peek through them anyways. One of them requires you to click a link to verify that you indeed want to transfer the domain.

On NameCheap you'll be asked for an authorization code (EPP). You can get it sent to your email from GoDaddy. Here's what to do for that:

1. Click your domain name in this list in the GoDaddy Domain Manager.
2. The page will display "Authorization Code: Send by Email". Click Send by Email.
3. Click OK on the verification pop up.

Now you can use the code and enter it in the appropriate box at NameCheap (under My Account, Manage Transfers).

It could take a few days for GoDaddy to finally release the domain but you can speed it up by "approving" it yourself...

1. In the GoDaddy Domain Manager, under "Domains", click "Pending Transfers". It might take several minutes for your domain to appear in the list... keep checking back.
2. Click your domain.
3. Click "Accept/Decline", click "Accept", click "OK".

IMPORTANT: Update your name servers at NameCheap ASAP. Click "Manage Domains", click your domain and in the left menu click "Domain Name Server Setup".

FINAL NOTE: I will update this post when I am absolutely sure but there MAY be one extra step that needs to be followed.. my timing was off so I can't verify the necessity of it but it SEEMS to be necessary... I think in order to FINALLY get things up and running I had to remove, then re-add, the domain from the GoDaddy Domain Management panel. To do that...

1. Go to the Hosting Control Center at GoDaddy.
2. Click "Settings" then click "Domain Management".
3. Click the "X" next to the domain (far right) to remove it. In my testing it doesn't touch the files on the server so I wouldn't worry, but it's your call.
4. Wait it out and after a few minutes and a few Refreshes it will go from "Pending Removal" to being removed.
5. Re-add the domain and wait for it go from "Pending Setup" to "Setup".

Now, depending on when you changed the name servers, the site should be up in no time.

I hope this post helps the process of transferring your domains from GoDaddy to NameCheap, whilst keeping your GoDaddy hosting, go a lot smoother and with little to no down time. If you have any questions go ahead and post below.

Below is a price comparison table for GoDaddy (GD) and NameCheap (NC) domains. Domain prices fluctuate all the time and are set to go up across the board in July of this year I believe.

The prices below should be accurate as of June 2, 2010. They include any specials that are going on. The prices are all in USD. I believe they are all subject to an extra ICANN fee of around $0.20. NameCheap doesn't have the best price in all circumstances but their privacy is cheaper and I think it's important (and really should be free) to have privacy enabled on all domains, especially domains used for affiliate/Internet marketing or personal use.

Related posts:

1. Buy Domain Names From GoDaddy
2. Host Unlimited Web Sites With GoDaddy Deluxe Plan, Plus Get $125 In Ad Credits
3. Guest Post: Buying Domains And Getting Free Extras
4. Blog Series – From Setup To ? – Part 2a – Quick-Installing WordPress with GoDaddy
5. Hosting Multiple Sites Or Blogs With One GoDaddy Account

© Earn a living online in your pj's