Transfers & renewals

Here's the question we get most: "Can you just take the whole domain over, so everything's with you?" The answer is no. We don't transfer domains in — and it's a deliberate no, not a grudging one. Your domain stays registered exactly where it is, and this page explains why that's the right call.

What this means for you

Your domain stays with your current provider — GoDaddy, Fasthosts, 123 Reg, wherever it lives now. We take over the signposting (DNS), the website and everything day-to-day. After the switch, the only reason you'll ever log in to your old provider is the one job that stays with you:

Keep the renewals going. You'll carry on paying your provider the small yearly renewal, same as you always have. If it lapses, your address expires and your website and email go with it — so keep a working card on file with them and don't ignore the reminder emails. Renewing takes a couple of minutes a year, and it's the only bit we can't do for you.

Why we don't do transfers

A transfer means changing which company holds the paperwork for your address. It sounds tidy — one company, one bill. In practice it's the worst part of the domain world:

• It's slow. The old provider has to release the domain on their own schedule, and while it's mid-move, nothing about it can be changed.
• It's where the horror stories live. Domains stuck in limbo, email cut off halfway through — nearly every "we lost our domain" story starts with a transfer.
• It gains you nothing. Once your DNS points at us, a transfer wouldn't change a single thing about how your website or email works.

Connecting gets you everything a transfer would — your domain showing your new website — without touching the paperwork. So that's what we do, every time.

"But my old provider built my website"

This is the situation that worries people most: the company holding your domain is the one you're leaving. It's still fine. Your domain being registered there doesn't tie your website to them. The moment the signposts point at us, their hosting stops mattering — you keep the domain account with them, pay the yearly renewal, and ignore everything else they offer.

One thing worth checking: make sure the domain is registered in your name (or your business's name), and that you have the login for the account it lives in. If the old provider registered it under their own name, tell us in the form — that's worth putting right, and we'll help you push for it.

The exception: domains we register for you

If we register a brand-new domain as part of your website setup, that one lives with us and we handle the renewals ourselves — see I need a domain name. The keep-your-current-provider rule is for domains you already own.

Not sure what your setup is?

Fill in the form and tell us what you know — the domain name and who you pay for it is plenty. We'll look at how it's set up and come back with exactly what happens next.