If you’ve decided to transfer your domain name to Name.com, you may have some questions: How do you do it? How long does it take? And what will happen to your website and email in the meantime?

The answer to all of these questions depends on the type of name servers you have. So if you have host name servers or your own custom ones, then do a little happy dance because you’re in the clear! Your name servers will follow the transfer with no downtime or extra work on your part.

But if you’re using registrar DNS services, you’ll have to get a little more involved to successfully transfer your domain. But don’t worry—we’ll walk you through the process.

How to transfer your domain without interruption to your email or website

If you’re transferring a domain that uses registrar DNS services, follow these steps to complete the transfer without interruptions to your site or email.

Step 1: Purchase a transfer

Navigate to the Name.com domain transfer page and purchase a transfer by entering the domain you want to move into the search bar along with the authorization code. Complete checkout for the product like you normally would.

Here’s the important part: You must complete the next 4 steps BEFORE clicking the link on the approval email that we will send you once the transfer purchase is complete. This is because you cannot modify the name servers once we fully submit the transfer to the registry. By making the necessary changes before the request is sent, you can avoid unnecessary downtime on your site.

Step 2: Edit the DNS records

On the transfers page, click on the arrow next to the edit button and select “Edit DNS.” Input your DNS settings to match what you have at your old registrar.

Step 3: Make sure you can resolve DNS for your old name servers and your new ones

At this point, you should be able to resolve DNS both at your old name servers and at Name.com’s name servers. If you are unable to do so, go back through the process and recheck your steps until it resolves for both.

Step 4: Update the name servers at your old registrar

Because you’re moving away from your old registrar’s DNS services, it’s time to switch to the Name.com ones early. Go back to your old registrar and set the name servers to the following: ns1.name.com, ns2.name.com, ns3.name.com, ns4.name.com.

Step 5: Click the transfer approval link

Now that you’ve done your due diligence, go back to that transfer approval email and click the link, allowing us to approve the transfer.

Step 6: Wait 24 hours before acknowledging the transfer

Even if your registrar allows you to acknowledge the transfer, you should still wait 24 hours after you complete step 4 before you do so. Otherwise the old registrar could stop resolving your domains if anyone else has their name servers cached. If they don’t allow you to acknowledge the transfer, you’ll need to wait the whole 5 day transfer period before your domain is with Name.com.