In December 2016, ICANN implemented a few amendments to its Transfer Policy. In addition to regulating inter-registrar transfers for general top-level domains (gTLDs), the updated policy sets new requirements for domain transfers between registrants. This article explains what you need to do to transfer your domain ownership to another person within the guidelines of this new policy.

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• Change Contact Information
• Change of Registrant
• Steps to Change the Contact Information
• Prepare the Domain for Transfer
• Disable Privacy
• Unlock the Domain
• Obtain the EPP Code

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Change the Domain's Contact Information

Your first step is to change the domain's contact information to reflect the new owner's.

The contact information for the domain is included on its record in the public WHOIS database, as required by ICANN. Since you're transferring the ownership of the domain to another person, you'll want to update the record to reflect their contact information. This will allow them to transfer the domain to a registrar of their choice.

There are three contacts listed for each domain:

• Registrant - The person or company who owns or holds the domain.
• Admin - The person authorized by the registrant to interact with and answer questions from the registrar. They will receive authorization emails from the registrar during a domain transfer.
• Billing - The person authorized to receive the invoice and renewal fees for the domain registration.

The contact data can be the same for all three, or it can be different if you have multiple people who manage your domain. The important thing is to make sure it's accurate. Also, it's best to avoid using an email address that's associated with the domain. Use a public email service, like Gmail, instead.

The process to update the domain's contact information is slightly different for general top-level domains (gTLDs) than it is for other TLDs because they're required to follow a Change of Registrant process. Read more about that below.

Change of Registrant

The Change of Registrant process only applies to general top-level domains (gTLDs). It does not apply to other TLDs, including but not limited to country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), like .uk, .ca., and so on.

In an effort to prevent fraudulent domain transfers and other criminal activity, ICANN considers any material change to the registrant's name, organization, or email address to be a Change of Registrant—or ownership transfer between two parties—even if it's not truly changing ownership. Both the old and new registrants (even if they're technically the same person) must confirm the change by clicking a link in a verification email before the updated record can be submitted to the registry.

Once you save the new registrant's contact information by following the next section's steps, we'll send an email to the prior registrant with links to either approve or cancel the request. When the changes are approved, we'll send a similar email to the new registrant for approval. If the email address does not change, then both emails will be sent to the same address. Both the old and new registrants (even if they're technically the same person) must confirm the change by clicking a link in their respective verification emails. Then we'll submit the updated record to the registry to complete the process.

Both parties must complete the Change of Registrant process within 14 days. If either party fails to respond, clicks the link to cancel the request, or fails to respond in time, the domain's contact information will not be changed, and you'll have to start over again.

Steps to Change the Contact Information

Whether you're updating a gTLD or not, the process of updating the contact information is basically the same. However, you will only see the option to opt-out of the 60-day transfer lock. If saving your changes will trigger a Change of Registrant request. If the option isn't there, the Change of Registrant for Legacy account process (steps 7, 9, and 10) will not apply.

To begin, you will need to access the Bluehost control panel.

Bluerock

1. Click the Domains tab from the side navigation menu to the left. 
2. Next to the domain name you wish to update, click the ▼ icon next to Manage. 
3. Select the Contact info from the drop-down menu that appears.
   

And that's it! For this part, anyway. Now you need to prepare the domain so the new owner can transfer it to their registrar.

Prepare the Domain for Transfer

Most new domain owners will want to transfer their domain to a new registrar so they can manage it themselves. Now that you've updated the contact information, it's time to prepare the domain so the new registrant can transfer it to a new registrar and manage it themselves.

Disable Privacy

If you have, it must be paused (disabled) for the transfer to be successful. Pausing privacy unblocks the domain's contact information in the public WHOIS database so the gaining registrar can contact the new owner regarding the transfer.

Bluerock

1. Click the Domains tab from the side navigation menu to the left. 
2. Next to the domain name you wish to update, click the ▼ icon next to Manage. 
3. Select the Security from the drop-down menu that appears.
   
4. Scroll down, and look for the Domain Privacy section.
5. Click the toggle button to turn off the domain privacy.
   

Unlock the Domain

Domains are locked by default to prevent unauthorized transfers. You must unlock the domain so the new owner can transfer it to their registrar.

Bluerock

1. Log in to your Bluehost control panel.
2. Click the Domains tab from the side navigation menu to the left.
3. Select the domain within the domain list, and click on the Manage button.
4. Click the Security sub-tab.
5. Toggle the switch from the left side to disable the Transfer lock.
   

Obtain the EPP Code

Now you need the EPP code, which other registrars may refer to as the Authorization or Auth code. It's essentially a unique password for the domain, made up of letters, numbers, and special characters, which the new owner will give to the gaining registrar to authorize the transfer.

1. Click the Transfer EPP tab.
2. Copy the code and give it to the new owner.

That's it! Let the new registrant know they can now initiate a domain transfer through the registrar of their choice whenever they're ready.