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Moving a name

Transferring a domain name

What a transfer actually needs, how long it really takes, and the one rule that stops most of them: the registry's 60-day lock. Including the parts we cannot do for you yet.

Open your domain settings Bring a domain to Maple Jump to the FAQ
First question

Do you need a transfer, or just a DNS change?

These get mixed up constantly, and the wrong one costs you a week.

You want a different website or email host

No transfer needed. None at all.

Changing where your site or your mail lives is a DNS change, and DNS is the one part of this you can already do yourself, today, with no waiting period and no transfer code. Open the name in your domain settings and edit the records. Your registration stays exactly where it is.

You want the name held somewhere else

This is the one that needs a transfer.

A transfer moves which registrar the name is registered through — whose account it sits in, who bills you for it, who you renew with. That is the right move when you are leaving us, consolidating names into one account, or want the registration in your own name.

Worth saying plainly: a transfer does not move your website, your inbox, or your DNS records. People expect it to, and then wonder why nothing changed. The records keep answering exactly as they did before — which is good news during a transfer, and a surprise afterwards if you were hoping the transfer would do the moving for you.

Requirements

What a transfer needs

Four things. Miss any one and the transfer is refused rather than delayed.

1. The name unlocked at its current registrar

Registrars apply a transfer lock by default, as anti-hijacking protection. It has to be lifted before anything else can happen.

2. An authorization code

Also called an EPP code, auth code or transfer key. The current registrar issues it; the receiving registrar needs it to prove the request is genuine. Codes expire, so get one when you are ready to use it.

3. A registrant email somebody reads

The approval request goes to the email on the registration. If that address is dead, forwards nowhere, or belongs to a contractor you parted with, the transfer stalls and nobody tells you why.

4. No active transfer lock

The 60-day rule below. This is the one that catches people, because it has nothing to do with you, us, or the receiving registrar — it is the registry, and it does not negotiate.

For a .ca where the transfer also changes the owner, the new owner must also meet CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements.

The rule that blocks most transfers

The 60-day lock

Registry-level, not registrar-level. It cannot be lifted early, bought out, or appealed.

.ca names — CIRA's rule

  • A newly registered .ca cannot be transferred to another registrar for 60 days.
  • The lock cannot be lifted early. Not by us, not by the registry, not for a fee.
  • It restarts: changing the owner, the registrant contact, or the CPR legal type on a .ca begins a fresh 60 days.
  • So if you change the owner and then try to move the name, you are back to day one — a sequence worth planning around.

Source: CIRA, How to transfer domains

.com, .net, .org — ICANN's rule

  • The equivalent 60-day hold comes from ICANN's Transfer Policy and applies to every gTLD registrar.
  • It applies after the initial registration, after a transfer, and after a change of registrant contact.
  • Some registrars let you opt out of the lock that follows a registrant-contact change. The first two are not optional.

Source: ICANN Transfer Policy

If you are locked, you are locked. The useful thing we can do is tell you the exact date it ends, so you can book the work instead of retrying and getting refused. Open the name in your domain settings and start a transfer request — it works out that date for you from the registration date.

The process

What happens, in order

The waiting is mostly at the front, not at the registry.

1

You tell us where the name is going

Start a transfer request in your domain settings. You find out immediately whether the name is eligible, and if not, the exact date it becomes eligible.

2

We unlock it and issue the authorization code

By hand, by a person, usually within a business day. We send the code to you; we do not send it to the other registrar, because it is yours to give.

3

You start the transfer at the receiving registrar

You give them the domain and the code. This is their form, on their site — the receiving registrar always drives a transfer, never the losing one.

4

The registry opens a response window of up to five days

Approving it explicitly ends the window early. Doing nothing lets it run out, and the transfer completes anyway. Either way it completes; approving just makes it faster.

5

The name lands in the new account

Your DNS records carry on answering. Check them anyway, and check that the new registrar's renewal notices reach an address you read.

Realistically: a few hours to about five days once it is submitted. Add a business day at the front for the unlock and the code, and add 60 days if the name is inside a lock.

The other direction

Bringing a name to us

You own it somewhere else and you want us to hold it. Same registry rules, pointed the other way.

1

We check the name against the public registry record

Who holds it today, when it was registered or last transferred, when it expires, and whether it is still transfer-locked. You get the real dates, and if we cannot read the registry we say so rather than guessing. That check runs before you type anything else.

2

You unlock it and get its authorization code

From the registrar that holds it now — only they can do either. Codes expire, so get one when you are ready to use it.

3

You send us the code and the registrant details

The code is a bearer token for your domain, so it is sent once, stored encrypted, and deliberately kept out of your support ticket. For a .ca we also ask you to confirm the registrant meets CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements, because CIRA will refuse the transfer otherwise.

4

A person submits it, and the registry takes up to five business days

By hand, in the registrar console, usually within a business day of your request. Your current registrar can approve the transfer to end the registry's window early; if nobody does anything, it runs out and the transfer completes anyway.

5

The name lands with us, with a year added

A transfer buys one year, which the registry adds on top of the time the name already had, so nothing you paid your old registrar for is lost. The year is charged at the published price for that ending — see MapleDomains pricing, plus HST. If we have no published price for your ending, a person confirms it with you before anything is charged rather than quoting a number we made up.

While we hold a name for you, the registrant on the registry record is Joel & Nanz Inc., not you. Per-customer registrant records are not built yet. The name is still yours and we release it whenever you ask — but you should know that before you move a name here, not after.

Bring a domain to Maple

What we cannot do for you yet

  • There is no self-serve transfer button. You cannot pull your own authorization code out of this product. The unlock and the code are issued by a person at our end, and we would rather say that than put a button on the page that quietly does nothing.
  • We cannot shorten a 60-day lock. Nobody can. If a request arrives during one, the useful answer is the date it ends, and that is what you will get.
  • A transfer in is submitted by a person, not by software. You can start one yourself — bring a domain to Maple checks the registry record, tells you what is in the way, and takes your authorization code securely. What it does not do is submit the transfer: a person does that by hand in the registrar console, usually within a business day, and the registry then takes up to five business days. The unlock and the authorization code have to come from the registrar that holds the name today, because only they can issue them.
  • Per-customer registrant records are not built. Names we register for you currently show Joel & Nanz Inc. as the registrant of record. The name is still yours and we hand it over on request — but that is the state of it, and pretending otherwise would be worse.

The part that does work today, end to end, in both directions: starting a transfer request on a name we hold, or bringing one in, getting an honest eligibility date read off the registry record, and having it land in our queue with the details attached.

Questions

Domain transfer FAQ

The things people actually ask when they are trying to move a name.

Do I even need a transfer?
Often not. A transfer moves who the name is registered through. It does not move your website, your email, or your DNS. If what you actually want is a different website host or a different mail provider, you only need to repoint DNS, and you can do that yourself right now in your domain settings — no transfer, no waiting period, no transfer code. Transfer when you want the name held in an account you control somewhere else, or when you are leaving us.
What does a transfer actually need?
Four things, every time. One: the domain has to be unlocked at the registrar it is with today. Two: an authorization code (also called an EPP code, auth code or transfer key) has to be issued for it. Three: the registrant email on the name has to be an address somebody can actually read, because the approval request goes there. Four: the name must not be inside a transfer lock. For a .ca, if the transfer also changes who owns the name, the new owner has to satisfy CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements.
How long does it take?
Once the receiving registrar actually submits the request, the registry gives the losing registrar a window to respond — up to five days. Approving it explicitly ends that window early; doing nothing lets it run out and the transfer completes anyway. So the honest answer is: anywhere from a few hours to about five days after submission. The part that usually takes longer is everything before submission — unlocking, getting the code, confirming the email.
What is the 60-day lock?
A registry-level hold that blocks any registrar-to-registrar transfer. For .ca names it comes from CIRA and runs for 60 days after the name is first registered. It cannot be lifted early — not by us, not by a phone call, not by paying for it. It also restarts: changing the owner, the registrant contact, or the CPR legal type on a .ca begins a fresh 60 days. For .com, .net, .org and other gTLDs the equivalent rule is ICANN's, and it applies after the initial registration, after a transfer, and after a change of registrant contact. Some registrars let you opt out of that last one; the first two are not optional.
Can I just click a button and get my transfer code?
Not today, and we would rather say so than put a dead button on the page. The registrar side of this is not automated for us yet: unlocking the name and issuing the authorization code is done by hand. What you can do today is open the domain in your settings and start a transfer request. That tells you straight away whether the name is even eligible yet, explains what happens next, and lands in our queue with the details attached so nobody has to chase you for them.
Will you drag your feet or charge me to leave?
No. We unlock the name, issue the code, and get out of the way, at no charge. Holding a client's domain hostage is a standard industry trick and we think it is a rotten one. The only delays you should ever hit are the registry's own, and if one applies we will tell you the exact date it ends.
Will my website and email go down during the transfer?
They should not, as long as nothing else changes at the same time. A transfer moves the registration, not the DNS zone, so the records that point your site and mail keep answering. What breaks people is doing both at once — transferring and switching DNS or mail hosts in the same week. Do them one at a time, in that order, and keep the old records live until the new ones have been answering for a day.
Can I move a domain I already own at another registrar to you?
Yes. Start it in bring a domain to Maple. We look the name up in the public registry record first and tell you what we find — who holds it today, when it was registered, whether it is inside the 60-day lock, and whether it is still transfer-locked at your current registrar. Then you give us its authorization code and the registrant details, and a person at our end submits the transfer by hand. There is no automated transfer-in, so we are not going to pretend there is a button that does it. Two things to know before you start: you have to unlock the name and get its authorization code from your current registrar, because only they can issue it; and once we submit, the registry side can take up to five business days. A transfer buys a year, which the registry adds on top of the time the name already has left, so nothing you have paid for is lost. If all you actually want is for us to host your website or your email, you do not need a transfer at all — that is a DNS change at your current registrar.
What do you need from me to transfer a domain in?
Four things. The name itself, unlocked at the registrar that holds it now. Its authorization code — the EPP code or transfer key — which only your current registrar can issue, and which expires, so get it when you are ready to use it. The registrant name and an email address you can actually read, because the registry sends the approval request there. And, for a .ca, a registrant who meets CIRA's Canadian Presence Requirements. The authorization code is a bearer token for your domain, so we treat it like one: it is sent once, stored encrypted, kept out of your support ticket, and used only at the moment the transfer is submitted.
How long does a transfer in to Maple take?
The front of it depends on you and your current registrar: unlocking the name and getting the code is usually minutes to a day, and the 60-day lock, if one applies, is 60 days with no way around it. Once we submit, the registry opens a response window of up to five business days. Your current registrar can approve it to end that window early; if nobody does anything, it runs out and the transfer completes anyway. Add a business day at our end, because a person checks the registry record and submits it rather than a script.
My domain is registered under your company name. Is it still mine?
The name is yours, and we will hand it over whenever you ask. Being straight about the mechanics though: we register names inside our own registrar account, and the registry's registrant record currently shows Joel & Nanz Inc. Per-customer registrant records are not built yet. What protects you is the exit: ask any time and we unlock the name and give you the code so you can move it into your own account.
What happens to the time left on my registration?
It comes with you. A transfer does not throw away the years you have already paid for; at most registrars it adds a year on top of the remaining term, which the receiving registrar charges you for. Nothing you have paid us is lost, and nothing is refunded either, because registry fees are not refundable to us.
The transfer failed. What now?
Almost always one of four things: the name was still locked, the authorization code was wrong or expired, the approval email went to an address nobody reads, or the name was inside a 60-day hold. Start a request in your domain settings and we will tell you which one it is. Codes do expire, so if yours has been sitting for weeks, ask for a fresh one rather than retrying the old one.
Should I transfer before or after my renewal date?
Comfortably before, if you have the choice. Transfers that are submitted in the last few days of a term are the ones that go wrong, because a name that expires mid-transfer can fall out of the process entirely. Give yourself a couple of weeks of runway. If you are close to the wire, renew first and transfer afterwards — the paid time is not lost.
Check it yourself

Where these rules come from

The lock rules are not ours. They belong to the registries, and they publish them.

Ready to move a name?

Open it in your domain settings to check eligibility and start a request. If you are not sure a transfer is what you need, ask us first — it is often a DNS change instead.

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