Frequently Asked Questions

The NearlyFreeSpeech.NET FAQ (*)

Domain Registration (*)

Q. Why is my domain transfer taking so long?

The reason for this depends on the domain transfer status.

First and foremost, if your domain transfer status is "Transfer waiting for Admin Contact Approval" then you need to take action. Check the domain's current administrative contact email address for a confirmation message with a link to a site where you must choose to approve or decline the transfer. If you haven't received this message, you can resend it from our UI, but please make sure you're checking the right email address. If we don't get confirmation within five days, the transfer will fail.

Once you confirm the transfer, any domain registrar is entitled to stall an outbound transfer for up to seven days. If your domain is in this state, it will show up in our system as "Transfer waiting for Losing Registrar Approval."

Some registrars simply make you wait the full period. Other registrars offer a way to expedite the transfer from their site, even if they send you an email saying you don't need to do anything. However, of these, a few registrars don't actually implement anything as a result of approving the transfer and still make you wait. Some registrars don't impose any additional delay at all; we have seen people place transfer orders that were fully completed within hours, while many others have to wait the full seven days every time.

Because this delay is imposed by the registrar you are transferring away from, we have no control over it and cannot help to expedite your transfer.

A much less common domain transfer status is "Could not Fetch Current Administrative Contact Email Address. Will attempt again every hour." This means there is a problem retrieving the admin contact email address from the domain's current registrar. This is an internal problem related to the registry protocol (EPP) and can occur even if the whois information appears correct. This status is typically auto-correcting within 12-24 hours and no action needs to be taken on your part and nothing you or we do can speed it up. In some very rare cases, it will take too long and the transfer will fail. If that happens, simply wait to be refunded and try again; generally the transfer will go right through on the second attempt. If this happens twice, try changing the administrative contact address if possible.

Should a transfer fail for any reason, we will notify you promptly via email.