How to transfer my domain away from Gandi 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, via e-mail, reminding you when the renewal date for your domain name is due, so you will not miss to renew it and risk your website becoming inaccessible.

Extra:

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

Domain name transfers may take anywhere between 3 and 10 days until completion. Before initiating a domain name transfer of a domain name registered with Gandi, 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 Gandi, specific rule, but rather a rule implemented by ICANN, the organization that governs domain registrations. 
• The domain has been unlocked for transfer from Gandi. 
• The domain is showing your current e-mail for the admin contact in the Whois database as that is where the authorization email will be sent. You can find the valid administrative e-mail for your domain name by using the WHOIS lookup tool available at: http://whois.domaintools.com/
• The domain must not be too close to its expiration date, as Gandi 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 Gandi you must engage in the following steps:

1. Log into your Gandi Control Panel
2. Unlock your domain name

• To successfully unlock your domain name for registration go to the My Account section and select Domains.
• Click on the domain name which you would like to unlock, find Transfer Lock and click on the Modify link right next to it.

3. Update the contact information if needed and disable the Domain Privacy/ ID Protect feature.

• To successfully update your contact information you need to click on the Account Management tab and select Update your contact information.
• Scroll down to Anti-spam system and select No, then go to Private Domain Registration and again select No.
• Make the necessary changes on the contact information and then click Submit. 

4. Obtain Auth/EPP code from Gandi

• Go to My Account section
• Choose Domains and click on the domain name you would like to get the Auth/EPP code for
• Click on the link that says Authorization key
• Auth/EPP code will appear in a separate window. Copy it for later.

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 (Gandi) has 7 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.