Step by step
- Check the contact email. The transfer approval goes to the registrant email on file. If that is an old developer's address, update it first (and wait; some registrars lock transfers for 60 days after a contact change).
- Turn off privacy if asked, and unlock the domain in the current registrar's settings ('registrar lock' or 'transfer lock').
- Get the authorization code from the current registrar and copy it exactly.
- Start the transfer at the new registrar. You pay for a year's renewal; that year is added to what you already have.
- Approve the emails. The new registrar, and sometimes the old one, send a confirmation. Approving the old registrar's email speeds things up; ignoring it means waiting for the automatic completion after about five days.
- Check DNS afterwards. The records may or may not come across. Note them before you start, and recreate them at the new registrar if the site or email stops working.
If the domain is in someone else's account
If a developer or a former employee registered it, they must do the unlock and send you the code, or push the domain to your account within the same registrar (often instant and free). Ask in writing. If they refuse and you can show the domain is your business's (invoices, trademarks, the name on the site), the registrar or, for .ca, CIRA's dispute process can help, but prevention is far easier: register domains in your own account. The guide on owning and managing your domain covers that.
Transfer or just change nameservers?
You do not need to transfer the domain to use a new host or a new DNS provider. Pointing the nameservers or the A record at the new host does that in minutes. Transfer the registration when you want the domain in your own name, want a cheaper or better registrar, or want everything in one place. See what DNS is.