Domain Philosophy

Cannot Update Nameservers When Transfer is Pending

If you are planning on transferring your domain name to a new registrar, be aware that you cannot make any modifications while the domain name is in process of transfer.

For example, let's say you made a request to transfer a domain name yesterday and the Admin Contact confirmed/approved the transfer. The domain name is then placed in a "Transfer Pending" state while waiting for registry approval. Then, let's say today you need to update the nameservers so the domain name points to a new server. You will find the updates and changes you make will not be saved or applied to the domain. Initially, it may look like the changes are saved but if you log out and back into the registrar the domain settings will be back to the original settings.

So, my recommendation is to make any updates, changes, and modifications to domain names before you submit a transfer request to move to a new registrar. Just be careful not to modify the Primary Account Owner information before making a transfer request... as this will then require a 60 day wait (before a transfer can occur) if you change this.

More domain philosophy soon! Ron

Domain Name "Who Is" Email Addresses

Recently, I have worked with several new clients to transfer their domain names to a new registrar so that we can manage their domain renewals and updates. The current owners did not have any login information for their current registrar and in the process of trying to retrieve the information we discovered that each of these domains did not have any email address assocated with the domain name other than the Admin Contact. Unfortunately, the Admin Contact was no longer at that email address so this didn't help us with gaining access to the account.

So, instead of the Primary Account or Technical Account email address being present a "placeholder" email was automatically put in its place by the registrar. The usual one was no.email@email.com or something similar.

The problem with this placeholder email is that domain renewals as well as username and password retrievals are sent to the primary account email address and if this is not a valid email they will never be received.

So, my advice for any domain name owner is to:

• Login to your registrar often and verify (at a minimum once per year) that your Primary, Admin, and Technical Contact email information is updated and correct.

Lastly, if you aren't comfortable monitoring/maintaining your own domain names consider having a company like mine take over the management of your domains to ensure the domain name remains valid into the future. Until next time, keep searching for that next domain name! Ron

http://www.roat.com/