# Transferring a domain to ESTAGE

> Move a domain you already own to ESTAGE — registration, DNS and renewal in one place, connected to your project the moment the move completes.

Source: https://knowledge.estage.com/domains/transfer/
Part of the ESTAGE knowledge base (https://knowledge.estage.com). Full corpus: https://knowledge.estage.com/llms-full.txt

---
If you already own a domain somewhere else, you can move its registration to ESTAGE instead of
just pointing it here. After the transfer, DNS, SSL, renewal and the project it serves are all
managed in one place — and the domain is connected to your project as soon as the move completes.

## Before you start

At your **current registrar**:

1. **Unlock** the domain — turn off the transfer lock (sometimes called "registrar lock" or
   "domain lock").
2. Get the **authorization code** — also called the EPP code, auth code or transfer code.
   Registrars show it in the domain's settings or email it to you.
3. Check the timing: a domain can't be transferred within **60 days** of being registered or
   last transferred. That's a registry rule, not ours.
4. Make sure you can read the **registrant email** on the domain — the registry may ask you to
   confirm the transfer there.

## The transfer

Open **Domains** (or **Settings → General → Domain** in any project) and choose **Transfer
Domain**. Enter the domain and its authorization code; ESTAGE checks with the registry that the
move is possible and shows the price. A transfer **adds one year** to the domain's registration
at the ending's yearly rate, so nothing already paid for is lost.

Confirm the registrant — the domain stays in your name — and pay. The transfer is then submitted
to the registry.

## What happens to DNS

The transfer moves the domain onto ESTAGE's nameservers, which is what lets it be connected
automatically afterwards. So that nothing breaks in the move, ESTAGE copies the records a
business depends on **before** submitting the transfer:

- **Mail** — the MX records, so email keeps arriving
- **SPF, DKIM and DMARC** — so email keeps being trusted
- **Verification records** — the TXT records tools like Google, Microsoft or Facebook use to
  prove you own the domain
- **Mail subdomains** — `mail.`, `smtp.`, `autodiscover.` and the like

The web records (`yourdomain.com` and `www`) are *not* copied — the point of the move is that
ESTAGE serves the site. If you have other subdomains, add them on the domain's **DNS Records**
tab after the transfer. The transfer page shows how many records were carried over.

## While it's in progress

A transfer takes the registries **a few days** — usually two to five; the current registrar has
to release the domain, and some require you to approve the transfer by email first. The domain
appears on your Domains page as *Transferring*; you can close the window, and ESTAGE emails you
when it's done.

If the current registrar rejects the transfer — the domain was still locked, the code was wrong,
the 60 days weren't up — you're **refunded in full**, automatically. Fix the cause at the
registrar and try again.

## After the move

The setup runs itself: the SSL certificate is issued, the domain is activated and the setup page
asks which project it should serve. If you started from a project's settings, that project is
already selected. From there the domain behaves exactly like one bought here — automatic yearly
renewal with a switch on the domain's page, transfer lock, WHOIS privacy. See
[Buying a domain](/domains/buy/) for the renewal details.