How to transfer a domain away from Bluehost to ETNHost?

Here at ETNHost, we recommend that you keep your domain name where you host your website. It is easier to manage, fewer passwords to worry about, better security, and last but not least this way you get a piece of mind. You will receive regular notifications from us through e-mail when the renewal date for your domain name is due and you will not miss to renew the domain name and risk your website to become inaccessible. 

Extra:

Once the domain name is transferred to us, you will get one year of a free domain name renewal as a bonus.

Transfer of domain names may take anywhere between 3 and 10 days until completion. Before initiating a domain name transfer of a domain name registered with Bluehost, you will need to make sure that the following conditions apply:

  • The domain must be more than 60 days old. This is not an ETNHost, nor Bluehost, specific rule, but rather a rule implemented by ICANN, the organization that governs domain registrations. 
  • The domain has been Unlocked for transfer from Bluehost.
  • The domain is showing your current e-mail for the admin contact in the whois as that is where the authorization email will be sent.
  • The domain must not be too close to its expiration date, as Bluehost will normally auto renew domains 15 days prior to expiration.

Notes:

The 60-day holding period only applies to domain transfers between registrar providers when a domain is either newly registered or recently transferred. If you just ended site services with another provider (without transferring the domain to another registrar), then the 60-day hold shouldn't apply at all. If the hold did apply, it still shouldn't prevent you from pointing it to another host service to start up a new site.

To prepare your domain name to be transferred away from Bluehost you must engage in the following steps:

  1. Log into your Bluehost Control Panel account; Bluehost Login
  2. Find the Domain Manager tab and click on it;
  3. Click on the domain name so it is highlighted, by doing so the right side will unveil many tabs.
  4. Find the Lock tab to unlock your domain and click on it. Unlock the domain; 
  5. Find the Privacy Options tab to turn off the privacy of your domain;
  6. To get the EPP code find the Transfer EPP tab
  7. Find the Contacts tab and check if your contact information is up-to-date.
  8. You will receive an e-mail with an Authentication code and a link which you have to click on;
  9. Approve the transfer from Domain Manager -> Transfer EPP, there you will find two links (if everything was initiated properly), one of the links is to approve the transfer, the other one is to deny it. 

After completing the preparation, let some time pass (a day or so) before you initiate the transfer. You can also check the Whois info for your domain. You can do this at http://www.whois.net or http://whois.domaintools.com or similar sites, to make sure everything shows up and is correct.

Once ready, you can now submit a transfer request for the domain:

  • Start within your ETNHost account .
  • Proceed with posting an order for the domain name transfer by clicking on the Domains tab.
  • Upon the request of the domain name transfer, you will need to enter the Authorization/EPP code. Once the code is entered then the process will begin.

Note that you will also receive a transfer approval email to the listed administrative contact for the domain. After the transfer is confirmed the losing registrar (Bluehost) has 5 days to release the domain. If everything is ok, the domain will be released and added to the Domains Section in your ETNHost account.

 

Notes:

Once you start a domain name transfer you must remember that you can't change your DNS, Whois info, contact info and so on.

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