Overview

Due to ICANN regulations, you cannot transfer a domain registration within 60 days of the original purchase or if it has been transferred to GreggHost during the last 60 days.

The following is an overview of the ICANN Transfer Policy and how it applies to your GreggHost account.

The most important thing to remember is that changing your WHOIS information will lock your domain for 60 days, preventing you from moving it. This post will show you how to get around the 60-day lock and complete your transfer.

What’s changing?

This ICANN regulation, formerly known as the “Inter-Registrar Transfer Policy,” solely governed transfers between separate registrars.

This policy is being replaced by ICANN’s new “Transfer Policy,” which covers the process of changing ownership from one registrant to another. Only inter-registrar transfers triggered the verification and notification process under the previous policy; under the new policy, updates containing only the registrant’s first name, last name, organization, and email address will now trigger the same verification and notification procedure.

Any changes you make to the WHOIS page are now required by ICANN to place the domain in a 60-day transfer freeze, as well as send notice emails to the existing and new registrants informing them of the change.

The policy is available at the following link:

Transfer Policy of ICANN

How will this affect my account at GreggHost?
GreggHost will use the designated agent policy option to make this process as painless as possible for you.

It allows an individual or company that the ‘Prior Registrant’ or ‘New Registrant’ explicitly authorizes to approve a Change of Registrant on its behalf, as indicated in the ICANN Transfer Policy (1.2, “Designated Agent”).

This translates to:

Any changes will be approved by GreggHost as your Designated Agent.
For this, GreggHost’s Domain Registrations Terms will be amended as follows:
You give GreggHost permission to act as your “Designated Agent” and approve each “Change of Registrant” on your behalf (both terms are defined in the ICANN Transfer Policy). In addition, in accordance with ICANN’s new Transfer Policy, we will automatically install a 60-day domain transfer lock following a “Change of Registrant.”
What happens if I make any WHOIS changes?
Any changes you make to your domain registration, including WHOIS, nameserver(s), and registrant information, take effect instantly.

If you make any changes to your account’s WHOIS information, you will be notified and your account will be locked for 60 days. This includes any modifications you make to your privacy settings.

In most circumstances, 3–4 emails are sent, with the following content:

Verification of RAA (links to RAA article)
Changes from [email protected] were successful.
One from [email protected] to new registrants
one from [email protected] to old registrant
You do not need to take any action because the new emails delivered for this new process are notice emails rather than actionable emails.

What if I’m transferring a domain away from GreggHost?
You MUST click the item labelled Opt out of 60-day transfer lock if you want to make any changes to the WHOIS information before transferring. This is required because if you make any WHOIS registrant changes, ICANN will lock the name for 60 days.

Please note that the 60-day lock is activated even if your privacy settings are changed. To opt out, make sure the checkbox is selected.

To opt out, follow the steps outlined below.

How can I opt out of the 60-day transfer lock?
By selecting the following options in the panel, you can opt out of the domain transfer lock:

Go to the Registrations section of the website.
whois edit
Click the Modify whois! button after checking the boxes for each domain you want to change. You can also change all of your domains by checking the box at the bottom if you have more than one (Select all domains).
The page Edit Whois Info appears:
whois edit
Select the following checkboxes to disable privacy and enable opt-out:
UNCHECK All of my contact information should be kept private.
CHECK Remove yourself from the 60-day transfer lock.
If you don’t opt out of the domain’s 60-day transfer lock, the warning notification that your domain will be locked once you save your changes shows. Check the box indicating that you understand the following terms if you agree to the lock:
When you’re done, scroll down to the bottom and click the Save Registrant Contact option.
For complete information on how to transfer your registration away from GreggHost, see the following article:

How to get your registration transferred away from GreggHost