“Time is money,” as the saying goes.
And if you make money online, you won’t want your website to be online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.
Because any amount of time that your website is offline basically means money lost—and that’s no way to run a business—when the aim is to make as much revenue as possible.
Sometimes, though, things happen.
Things like your registrar increasing the renewal fees for your domain name (and WHOIS protection) to an amount you no longer agree with. Or being taken over by a larger company and their support team no longer being reachable by phone or live chat.
And when such things happen, you usually respond by exercising your God-given right (okay, it’s actually given by ICANN) to transfer your domain name to another registrar.
But time is money… remember?
So should you worry about your site being down while your domain name’s getting transferred?
Can You Transfer a Domain Without Downtime?
Why, yes, you can transfer a domain name from one registrar to another without downtime!
In fact, you don’t have to worry about your site being down at all. Domain transfers are done in such a way that the uptime of your site isn’t affected at all.
To understand why that is, you need to understand the difference between your domain name and your hosting account.
Your domain name is the unique address that anyone can type into their web browser’s address bar to visit your website. Your hosting account is where the software that powers your website is installed and running.
When you transfer a domain name from one registrar to another, you’re simply switching out the service provider that you renew your domain name with. Your hosting account, email addresses, and FTP/SFTP accounts are unaffected.
It’s kind of like switching utility service providers. Your house is still there—and so is the electricity and water. You’re merely changing the company that provides these services to you without any downtime.
Why Transfer a Domain Name?
Well, you’re here, so you—like others who revert to this procedure—probably have your reasons.
The most common reason people transfer their domain name to another registrar is a change in renewal fees. If you paid $15/year last year and have to pay $25/year this year, and this is not including the additional fees for features like domain privacy and email inboxes, you may not agree with the new fees.
When some people change their hosting provider, they also like to transfer their domain name to that provider because it helps to keep the setup and the accounting simpler.
Then there are those who switch because, for one reason or another, they’re dissatisfied with the service or support they receive from their current registrar.
But, hey, whatever your reasons, at least now you know that you don’t have to be worried about your site experiencing downtime!
Reasons Not to Transfer a Domain Name
It takes time and it costs money.
To be exact, the typical domain name transfer costs between $15 and $20, depending on the extension of the domain and the prices of the new registrar, and can take up to 5-7 days.
You probably have other things to do with your time. So if you’re about to pay twenty dollars to renew your domain name with your current registrar, and another registrar offers to transfer it for eighteen dollars, the two dollars saved may just not be worth it.
How to Transfer a Domain Name With No Downtime
Remember, domain name transfers always take place without downtime for your website. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the time to learn how to do them properly.
So here’s your easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to transferring your domain:
- Step 1: Unlock your domain name;
- Step 2: Disable WHOIS privacy (if applicable);
- Step 3: Request your EPP code from the current registrar;
- Step 4: Initiate the transfer through your future registrar’s online portal;
- Step 5: Your current registrar may allow you to approve the request manually. If they don’t, you will have to wait for 5 days for the transfer to take place.
(The specifics of where to click and find the right menu options will differ according to which registrars you are using, but these guidelines should point you in the right direction.)
Wrapping It Up
If and when you need to transfer your domain name from one registrar to another, the good news is that you don’t have to worry about downtime.
Transferring a domain name to a new registrar is exactly what it sounds like. You’re swapping one service provider for another, and the switch doesn’t affect your hosting, email, or any other aspect of your site.