Domain transfer
Moving your domain from GoDaddy
Plenty of New Zealand businesses hold their domain at GoDaddy and would rather deal with someone in their own time zone. The move is straightforward, it does not take your website or email offline, and it takes about ten minutes of your attention.
How to transfer away from GoDaddy
These are the registry rules rather than one company’s workflow, so they hold wherever your domain is today. For the exact buttons inside your current account, your provider’s own help centre is the reliable source: GoDaddy help centre.
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1
Check you are the registrant
Look up your domain on the Domain Name Commission WhoIs and check the registrant name is you or your company — not your old web designer, not an ex-staff member and not GoDaddy. If it is not you, sort that out first: a change of registrant is a separate job from a transfer, and doing it in the wrong order can stall both.
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2
Unlock the domain
Domains are usually locked against transfer by default, which is a good thing — it is what stops someone else moving your name. Turn the lock off in your current account before you start. If the domain was registered or transferred in the last 60 days, or the registrant details changed recently, there may be a hold you have to wait out.
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3
Get the authorisation code
This is the one step people get wrong, because .nz and .com work differently. For .co.nz, .nz, .org.nz and the rest of .nz you need an authorisation code — still widely called a UDAI. For .com, .net and .org you need an EPP code, sometimes labelled an auth code or transfer key. Either way your current provider must give it to you on request; it is your domain.
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4
Turn off domain privacy
If privacy or ID protection is switched on, the confirmation email goes to a masked address and you never see it. Turn it off for the duration, and check the registrant email on the record is one you can actually open today — an old @xtra or a departed employee is the single most common reason a transfer dies quietly.
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5
Start the transfer at this end
Enter the domain and the authorisation code with your new provider. For .nz the change usually completes within minutes once the code is accepted. For .com and the other gTLDs ICANN allows the losing registrar up to five days, and the domain moves sooner if you approve the confirmation email rather than waiting it out.
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6
Check your DNS afterwards
A transfer moves the registration, not the hosting. In most cases your existing DNS records come across and nothing changes. Check your website still loads and send yourself a test email anyway — five minutes now beats finding out from a customer next week.
GoDaddy bills in NZD on its New Zealand site, so a transfer does not change your currency.
The .nz difference most guides miss
Almost every transfer guide online is written for .com and tells you to find an EPP code. There is no EPP code on a .nz domain. You need an authorisation code — the thing the Domain Name Commission still calls a UDAI — and it is generated in a different place in most control panels. If you have been hunting for an EPP code on a .co.nz and finding nothing, that is why.
The Domain Name Commission is the regulator for .nz and publishes the rules every New Zealand provider has to follow: DNC domain name guides.
Questions people ask before they move
Will my website or email go down while I transfer from GoDaddy?＋
No. A domain transfer moves the registration between providers; it does not move your website files or your mailboxes, and it does not change your DNS records. Your site keeps loading and your mail keeps arriving throughout. The exception is if you also change hosting at the same time — that is a separate job, and worth doing as a separate step.
How long does a domain transfer take in New Zealand?＋
A .nz domain usually completes within minutes of the authorisation code being accepted, because both providers sit on the same registry. A .com, .net or .org can take up to five days, because ICANN gives the losing registrar that long to respond — approving the confirmation email makes it happen sooner.
Do I lose the time left on my registration?＋
No. Your remaining term carries over. On most extensions a transfer also adds a further year to the registration, so you are not paying twice for the same period.
Can GoDaddy refuse to release my domain?＋
Not without a proper reason. A provider may hold a transfer where there is an unpaid invoice, where the domain is inside a 60-day lock after registration, transfer or a change of registrant, or where it cannot verify that you are the registrant. Outside those cases the domain is yours and the authorisation code must be provided on request. If you believe a .nz domain is being held unreasonably, the Domain Name Commission takes complaints.
What is a UDAI, and is it the same as an EPP code?＋
They do the same job for different domains. A UDAI — now usually called an authorisation code — is what .nz domains use. An EPP code is the equivalent for .com, .net, .org and other international extensions. Both are single-use keys that prove you are entitled to move the name, and neither should ever be emailed around or shared with anyone but your new provider.