Recently, I shared my frustration on the prolonged time it takes to confirm outgoing domain transfers away from NameCheap.
While some blame the delays on the fact that NameCheap utilizes the back-end of eNom, from my understanding NameCheap is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar and no longer an eNom reseller.
Either way, the process of transferring out domains took a consistent 5 1/2 days for me, and up to 7 days for some.
I also use NameBright for domains that are caught using their Dropcatch.com service. As I seek to keep my domains with more known registrars, I was pleasantly surprised by the swiftness of the outgoing transfers.
Let me first say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with NameBright: its pricing is great, the managing interface is superb, and the domain management is a breeze.
That being said, it’s simply a matter of choice where one keeps their domains, and I tend to transfer these away from NameBright once the 60 day window passes.
In this particular case, once I unlocked the domain I was presented with the authentication code on that same screen: no hidden menus to chase that code from or have it emailed to me.
Once I initiated the transfer out to the gaining registrar, I had an email within minutes from NameBright seeking confirmation of my actions. One more click and the domain was out of my account, en route to the gaining registrar.
Simple as that. No waiting, no complex exchanges with support, no drama.
In fact, I found the process so easy that I’d recommend NameBright to anyone willing to test its benefits and make an educated decision.
I am glad to hear of your good experience with NameBright and bummed about your experience with NameCheap.
I have experienced 5 day transfer periods personally at all the large registrars and the only instances where I have seen immediate transfers is when they aren’t actually transfers but pushes from one account in a backend to another account at the same backend.
Is it possible this is how the fast transfer happened?
Thanks for the great blog!
Sean
@RghtsideSean
Hi Sean – Thanks for dropping by.
I’m always comparing inter-registrar transfers, e.g. from NameCheap to Uniregistry or GoDaddy, and in this case the domain went from NameBright to GoDaddy.
Similar delays have occurred from eNom to Fabulous.com.
While the 5-7 day window exists as a maximum timeframe, in cases where the losing registrar provides a mechanism to expedite the transfers, that can speed up the process, completing it once the agreement is made.
This, however, is not the case with both eNom and NameCheap; once I agree to the transfer out email, I still have to wait for 5 days at a minimum. There is no way to speed it up, at all. At Name.com, I can contact support, at least, to expedite the transfers out.
NameCheap still uses eNom, not its own creds.
When you say there’s a 5 day wait, is this the normal inter-registrar transfer delay? If so, I kind of like this. It reduces the chances of a theft as it gives the account owner longer to respond.
Another eNom reseller that had a lot of domains stolen had a way to put a transfer through right away, and at least one person who had a domain stolen told me they by the time they got the transfer email the domain was already gone.
Andrew – With modern measures in place, such as two-factor authentication and strong passwords, there is no excuse to inconvenience legitimate owners from transferring domains out. That’s the sole purpose of the email that the losing registrar sends out: one can accept or decline that part also.
However, accepting that part – at eNom and NameCheap – makes no difference, and one has to wait 5 more days. This is the exception among registrars, not the rule.
Inter-registrar transfers can be processed instantly if the losing registrar sends an ACK command to the registry. Most registrars wait for the registry to auto-approve the transfer (which takes 5-7 days depending on when the transfer was ordered relative to the timing of the registry’s batch processes).
If your registrar doesn’t expose this function, sometimes labelled “approve transfer,” then try contacting their support to get the outgoing transfer ACK’d.
Russ, namecheap will not do it, they will blame enom, and enom will not help and will send you back to namecheap.
While the registrar is obliged to send you notification for the outgoing transfer as per the ICANN IRTP rules, they are not obliged to provide you with an option to approve an outbound transfer.
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/foa-conf-2004-07-12-en
I think it would be great if all registrars offered that functionality.
Also the method that registrar use to obtain the information about outbound transfers differs – some use the email from the registry (in the case of Verisign) or the FTP reports, why others obtain the information via EPP polling.
Frank – I understand that. The problem is, both eNom and NameCheap do send out a notice to approve or reject the notice, and while the rejection would terminate the transfer instantly, approving it does not process it accordingly.
NameBright provides the ability to ‘expedite’ domain name transfers. This was not a fluke, it is how our system is designed. NameBright is not a company stuck in the dark ages of 1999 or even 2009.
Let’s be honest — the domain transfer process is horrendous and most registrars make the process of transferring domains to another registrar a nightmare. This reflects poorly on the entire industry.
It is time registrars embrace openness and allow registrants to move their domains where they want when they want without having to jump through multiple hoops to do it, and then to wait 5 days for the transfer to complete. Our belief is when we make your transfer out as easy as we do — the next time you need to choose a new registrar you will remember us and how we are better than every other registrar out there. From pricing to tools we offer, to the management interface. Everything was built to make managing domain names (1 or 5,000 of them) as easy as possible. Even when it comes to transferring domain names away from us to one of our competitors!
Thanks for sharing, I really was not aware of NameBright as most of my domains are in Godaddy. I remember I used to buy domains and keep them with NameCheap because they provided a free privacy option.
How much are your names spread out?
It is so much easier to keep them all in one registrar this way you don’t lose track of them. A great benefit I see from keeping it in Godaddy i most end users are familiar with Godaddy and when selling a domain you can simply push it to their account.
– Will