You'll have to get most of the specifics about this from the registrar you're transferring the domain to, as their system will coordinate most of the transfer and they will have the best information about how their system works.
However, here's some general information about the process that may help.
First, you should do some "preflight checks:"
- Make sure the domain is currently registered here. (If it is, it will have "Manage" in the "Registrar" column on the Domains tab.)
- Make sure you have not registered, renewed or transferred the domain recently. ICANN rules impose a 60-day waiting period after a previous registration or transfer. If you transfer a domain within 45 days of a previous renewal, it may succeed, but you risk losing the renewal years you paid for without a refund.
- Make sure the domain is not too expired. Domains can be transferred after expiration as long as they remain in the renewal grace period, but not once they enter any redemption status, including: queued for deletion, pending delete restorable, or pending delete.
- Make sure your domain's contact information is valid. The administrative contact will be emailed twice during the transfer process. Note that if you have RespectMyPrivacy, do not cancel it before transferring your domain. It will forward the messages to you, and it will drop off automatically when the transfer finalizes.
Once you've confirmed the domain is ready to transfer, the steps of the transfer will be more or less as follows:
- If your domain is locked (which it ordinarily should be), go to the Registration Info Panel and select "Unlock Domain" in the Actions box.
- Retrieve the transfer code. (The registrar you are transferring to may call this the EPP code or the auth info code. All three terms refer to the same thing.)
- Place the transfer order with your new registrar.
- Your new registrar will send the domain's registrant contact an approval message. This message will contain a link that must be clicked, or similar steps to confirm that it was received and that the administrative contact wants the domain transferred.
- Our registrar will send the registrant contact a message with a link you can use to cancel the transfer if you want. Don't click the link. (Unless you want to cancel the transfer.) Most of the time this email will also have an approval link you can use to expedite the transfer.
- If you don't have (or don't use) an approval link, wait about seven days. If your domain was less than seven days from expiring when you started the transfer, don't worry. It's not ideal to wait until the last minute, but it usually does not cause any disruption.
Once the transfer completes, the registration and RespectMyPrivacy (if applicable) will drop off, but if it has DNS, email forwarding, or is used for aliases, those will continue to exist. If you aren't using them anymore, you can remove those manually once you're sure doing so won't cause any interruptions.