How to transfer my domain away from Tucows 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.

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 Tucows, 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 Tucows, specific rule, but rather a rule implemented by ICANN, the organization that governs domain registrations. 
• The domain has been unlocked for transfer from Tucows. 
• 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 Tucows 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 Tucows you must engage in the following steps:

1. Log in https://manage.opensrs.net with Tucows using your domain name, username and password.
2. Unlock your domain 

• In most cases, you can remove Domain Locking yourself from the Domain Management Interface under Domain Extras.
• To unlock your domain and make it available for a transfer click on Manage Domain, find the Domain Locking section.
• Select Disable and click on Submit

Alternatively, if Domain Locking is enabled for your domain, you can contact your Tucows reseller to have the lock removed. The lock must be removed and the registry status verified as “Active” before you can request a domain transfer.

3. Disable Whois Private Registration

To do that you must contact your registrar’s technical support team and request for the Whois Private Registration feature for the domain which you are trying to transfer to be deactivated.

4. Obtain the EPP/Authorization code

• Log on to your domain name at https://manage.opensrs.net with Tucows using your domain name, username and password..
• Click Manage Domain.
• You'll find the authorization code is in the Domain Extras section.

5. Confirm Administrative Contact Information

Since transfer confirmation is done via email, the Admin Contact email address listed on your domain name must be valid. If you are unsure of what you have listed please perform a WHOIS lookup to see what it currently is. If the address is invalid and you have your login information, you can update it through a Domain Management Interface.   

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 (Yola) 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.