I’ve had my domains registered with GoDaddy for years. With the exception of their unceasing self-promotion, I haven’t have any problems with GoDaddy. I contacted Customer Service twice, and both times the customer service representative was courteous and helpful.
However, after hearing too many horror stories about GoDaddy losing their customers’ domains, I decided that my domains were too valuable for me to even take a chance, no matter how remote, of losing due to domain registrar incompetence. I had to find a new registrar, one where I could be 100% certain that I wouldn’t get screwed.
After a bit of research, I decided to go with NearlyFreeSpeech.NET.
Unfortunately, the process of transferring the domains from one registrar to another is not the most straightforward or intuitive process. So here’s the notes I made to myself as I was going through the process of transferring my domains:
- Switch DNS service from GoDaddy to NFSN. This is done ahead of time in order to minimize the chance of downtime during the transfer.
- Remove DomainsByProxy service (if currently enabled on your domain) using the GoDaddy DomainsByProxy control panel, and enter in your contact information (including your email address) for the whois record. You need to be able to receive emails from GoDaddy during the transfer process, and if the emails are being sent to the DomainsByProxy email address, you probably won’t be receiving them.
- Unlock the domain using the GoDaddy Domain Control Center (DCC).
- Request authorization code by clicking on “Authorization Code: Send by Email”.
- Go to “Domains >> Transfer an Existing Domain” in the NFSN members control panel, and enter in the authorization code you received from GoDaddy. Enter in your contact info (or choose the RespectMyPrivacy option), agree to the Terms and Conditions, and confirm.
- You will receive an email (sent to the email address you entered in step #2) from do_not_order@myorderbox.com that reads: NearlyFreeSpeech.NET [Under Registrar: Public Domain Registry] has received a request from (your name) [(your email)] on (date) for Public Domain Registry to become the new registrar of record, for (your domain).
- Click on the “Approve Transfer Link” in that email.
- Go back to GoDaddy DCC and go to “Domains >> Pending Transfers”.
- Select your domain and click Accept/Decline.
- Confirm your acceptance.
- You will receive an email from support@godaddy.com that reads: This is to confirm that the following domain name(s) has been successfully transferred away from GoDaddy.com, Inc. to Direct Information Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a DirectI.com: (your domain). “Direct Information Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a DirectI.com” is the company that NFSN purchases their domains from.
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