Possible Domain Transfer Issues and Troubleshooting

Posted: September 24th, 2017

 

There are plethora of reasons why a domain transfer may fail. This article explains several reasons why your transfer may be unsuccessful along with possible resolutions.

 

​Note: You're not required to transfer your domain’s registration to us in order to host your website here. Just assign the domain to your account and pointing your name servers to: Linus Servers: NS1.KEKTECH.NETNS2.KEKTECH.NETNS1.HOSTKEK.COMNS2.HOSTKEK.COMNS1.KEKHOST.COMNS2.KEKHOST.COM Windows Servers: NS1.KEKHOSTING.COMNS2.KEKHOSTING.COMNS2.KSST-WEB2.COMNS3.KSST-WEB2.COMNS1.KSST-WEB.COMNS2.KSST-WEB.COM

 

Check Your Settings

Improper settings can prevent your domain transfer from being initiated or approved. When transferring your domain to kekdomains.com, our system identifies nearly every potential cause of failure in the steps prior to processing the payment that initiates the transfer. However, every registrar handles domain transfers a bit differently, so it's possible for an outgoing transfer to another registrar to fail for these same reasons.

 

If the domain isn't registered with us yet, be sure to contact the current registrar for assistance. Otherwise, please follow these steps to access your domain settings:

 

Log into your Domain Name User Management Interface.

> Click on Domain Management on the left to select or search for the domain you want to transfer.

> Click on Edit to confirm that all these are accurate.

 

Renewal Options

Contacts

Privacy Options

Name Servers

Transfer EPP

Lock (this should be active status to transfer)

Others

 

If you aren’t the account owner and are unable to log into the hosting account, please contact the account owner for assistance.

 

Domain is Already with KEKdomains

Our system prevents you from initiating a registration transfer for domains assigned to another account hosted with us. You'll need to move the domain by assigning it to the account from which you're initiating the transfer request. This process is not the same as transferring the domain registration from one registrar to another.

 

Please reach out to our Support Team or email us at reachus@kekdomains.com for further assistance.

 

Haven’t Received the EPP Code

The EPP code, also called the authorization or auth code, is a password given to the gaining registrar to authorize the transfer of your domain. You can copy the EPP code from the Transfer EPP tab at any time, or our Domain Name Service Team can email it to either the administrative or registrant contact at your request.

 

Invalid EPP Authorization Code

The EPP code is case and character sensitive. If you see an error stating, “The EPP authorization code was invalid,” copy and paste the code again, making sure to remove any additional spaces added before or after the code. If that doesn’t work, it’s possible the code has expired. Contact your current domain registrar to confirm you're using the correct code and request a new one if necessary.

 

Invalid Contact Information

The EPP code email is nearly always sent to the domain’s administrative contact, which may not be the same as the registrant (owner), so it’s possible you’re checking the wrong email address. Check the WHOIS data to confirm the associated contact email address. If it is no longer vaild or incorrect, login to your account for modification.

 

Privacy is Enabled

Once you've confirmed the EPP code and other domain transfer emails are being sent to the correct address and aren't being directed to your spam or junk mail folders, the next step is to confirm privacy is disabled. If privacy is still enabled, your contact information is being blocked from the gaining registrar, so the domain transfer emails they're sending are going to a Privacy Protection inbox instead, which cannot be accessed.

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Domain is Locked

Among other reasons, domains are locked by default to prevent unauthorized domain transfers. If you haven't already, go to the Lock tab to unlock the domain.

 

If you’re unable to unlock your domain, the registrar may have locked it for one of the following reasons:

 

> The domain name was registered or transferred within the last 60 days.

> The domain is under investigation as the result of a dispute or other legal issue

 

Expiring in Less than Seven Days

Domain transfers fail whenever there's a status change, such as when the registration expires. So you can initiate a domain transfer if it's close to expiring or has already expired, but it'll fail if the domain expires during the process. For this and other reasons, our system rejects incoming transfer requests for domains scheduled to expire within seven days. However, you don't have to wait until the domain expires to initiate the transfer as long as you understand and agree to assume the risks. Read through the error message entirely; then if you still want to proceed, check the box agreeing to the terms and click continue.

 

ICANN Policies

According to ICANN policy, there are nine specific reasons why a registrar is permitted to deny a domain transfer, some of which we've discussed in previous paragraphs, the rest of which we'll explain below.

 

60-Day Waiting Period

Per ICANN, a domain transfer cannot be initiated for domains registered within the last 60 days, or within 60 days of a previous transfer. We're unable to bypass this regulation, so you'll need to wait to initiate the transfer until the 60-days have passed.

 

60-Day Transfer Lock Period

Unless the prior registrant checked the box to opt-out before they saved their changes, the domain will enter a 60-day transfer lock period following a successful Change of Registrant. We're unable to bypass this regulation, so you'll need to wait to initiate the transfer until the 60-days have passed.

 

Before saving updated registrant contact information for a domain please consider the following:

 

> Domains cannot be transferred within 60-days of being registered, renewed, or transferred.

> Domains cannot be transferred within 60 days of a new registration, renewal, or prior transfer, as required by ICANN.

 

Redemption

You can transfer an expired domain; but once a domain enters the redemption period, the status changes and transfers are prohibited. The domain registration needs to be renewed and restored out of redemption before the transfer is approved.

 

Important: Avoid transferring your domain within 45 days of renewal, or you could lose that renewal year.

 

Once a domain is renewed it enters the Auto-Renew Grace Period set by ICANN, during which the renewal is tentative. What does this mean for you? If you initiate a transfer during this time, you’ll lose the renewal year you paid for and a refund cannot be issued.

 

Notice of Fraudulent Activities

When we receive notification of a fraudulent charge made on an account hosted with us, the hosting account, including any registered domains, is immediately deactivated until the issue is resolved to prevent further abuse. The registrar changes the status of any domain registrations on that account to “Registrar Hold”, causing any and all transfer requests to fail.

 

If your account is deactivated due to a fraudulent activity, please contact our Abuse team by submitting a ticket at Support Center Portal. You’ll be able to transfer the domain once you resolve the chargeback.

 

Other

The other reasons ICANN policy says a registrar can deny a transfer include:

 

> Evidence of fraud.

> UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution) action.

> Court order by a court of competent jurisdiction.

> Reasonable dispute over the identity of the Registered Name Holder or Administrative Contact.

> Express written objection to the transfer from the Transfer Contact (e.g. – email, fax, paper document or other processes by which the Transfer Contact has expressly and voluntarily objected through opt-in means).

 

For additional information, visit ICANN website at ICANN Policy on Transfer of Registrations between Registrars