## Preparing for your domain transfer
There are a few things that need to be done before initiating...
Preparing for your domain transfer
There are a few things that need to be done before initiating a domain transfer, first you will need to login to your current domain registrar and make sure that your domain is unlocked else the domain name transfer will fail, also, the domain name must be registered for more than 60 days. Once the domain name is unlocked, you should make sure that all of your WHOIS information is valid information because they will be needed for the verification when sending your transfer request. After checking all of the above, you may now request your authorization key or EPP transfer code, instructions on how to get this should be provided by your domain registrar.
Initiating the domain transfer
Once you have your authorization key or EPP transfer code in hand, you may now go to your new domain name registrar or web hosting company and find the "Transfer a domain name" function, once there, you will be asked for the domain name and afterwards the authorization key or EPP transfer code, make sure you copy-paste both to avoid any writing mistakes. You will also have to pay the fees involved after giving your authorization key or EPP transfer code, all domain name transfers include one year so that means you will get an extra year by transferring your domain name, usually, the price for the domain name transfer is the same price as a registration.
Verifying the domain transfer
You should now check the email account placed in the WHOIS information for the coming 24-48 hours, there will be two emails that will be coming, first, it will be your new registrar confirming that you the owner of the domain name would like to transfer that domain name, afterwards, you will receive an email from your old registrar confirming that you would indeed like to release the domain name from their registry. These are the two most crucial steps to do, if you do not agree to transfer the domain in a short time frame, the transfer will automatically be cancelled.
Completing & checking the transfer
Once you have agreed to both emails, you should await an email from your new registrar confirming the acquisition of your domain name, make sure that it is indeed in your account at your new registrar and for an extra verification step, make a WHOIS check on the domain name using any of the WHOIS sites on the internet, you can search Google for "WHOIS" and you will find them in the first few results. Put your domain in the field to WHOIS and you should see the name of your new registrar. You have completed transferring your domain name from your old registrar to the new registrar.
