question Domain transfer

[rubencouto]

Hello!

When you transfer a domain from one registrar to another and the gaining registrar offers one year registration, when do most registrars start counting that registration year?

1 - From the date you initiate the transfer.
2 - From the date you pay for the transfer.
3 - From the date the transfer is complete.
4 - From the date the domain would expire in the loosing registrar?

Thanks for your inputs!
Ruben

 

[DNGear]

4

 

[Kuffy]

4 unless it will take it over a 10 year life. In which case the 10 year limit applies.

 

[TLDNIC]

scenario 4 with some exceptions:
for .DE domains scenario 3 applies (They always lose the remaining registration time when transferred. This comes from the registry and is not in the registrar's hands).

 

[TLDNIC]

Two more things to be aware of:
- if a domain has been renewed a short time ago (<30 days) some registrars may not grant the additional year (has not happened to me, but I have read about this)
- some registrars renew at the time of expiration, not at the time of order/payment for the renewal. So you might end up paying for ten years in advance and the expiration date in whois does not change. You might lose the paid period when transferring out to another registrar (or if the current registrar goes out of business). So find that out before you pay!

 

[Kuffy]

some registrars renew at the time of expiration, not at the time of order/payment for the renewal. So you might end up paying for ten years in advance and the expiration date in whois does not change. You might lose the paid period when transferring out to another registrar (or if the current registrar goes out of business). So find that out before you pay!

It would be nice to know which ones, as this can affect SEO I believe.

 

[TLDNIC]

@Kuffy,
I just had a look at some stats on registrars and I can't seem to find any registrar taking multiyear money in advance without placing the full order with the registry. So please ignore the concern I raised above.

Only exception would be registrars not accepting multiyear orders at all, but offering autorenewal only (charging on actual due dates.). This is quite common with German registrars (note that most of them also charge registrants per month rather than annually).

 

[usernamex]

There are a couple of "lifetime" type offers, I think it was NetSol who offered 100 years prepaid and Epik has forever rates but in each I am pretty certain they clearly explain that the max allowed for dot COM is 10 years and they will maintain the future renewals manually.

@rubencouto - did you have a particular situation where you experienced something else? or was this just a general question?

It is true that there are some ccTLDs that have strange rules about expirations upon transfer, and even limits of how soon you can renew or how many years, yet I am guessing rubencouto was only referring to COM

 

[rubencouto]

There are a couple of "lifetime" type offers, I think it was NetSol who offered 100 years prepaid and Epik has forever rates but in each I am pretty certain they clearly explain that the max allowed for dot COM is 10 years and they will maintain the future renewals manually.

@rubencouto - did you have a particular situation where you experienced something else? or was this just a general question?

It is true that there are some ccTLDs that have strange rules about expirations upon transfer, and even limits of how soon you can renew or how many years, yet I am guessing rubencouto was only referring to COM

Hello @usernamex !

Up until very recently I used to wait until the last days of renewal in order to initiate a transfer (should I find better prices for transfer than for renewal). So I never paid much attention to the date the year in the gaining registrar would actually start, because the dates I mentioned in points 1-3 (my first post) where all very close together and also very close to the actual start of the gaining registrar's year of registration.
A few days ago I used an ApNames promotion to transfer a few of my domains away from MyDomain and I included some domains that where a few more days away form their expiry dates. When the transfer was complete I realized the start dates for the new year of resgistration were all at the day after expiration.
For me, this is very usefull, because I try to use promos whenever I find them and it will make my renewal/transfer strategy a bit simpler.
This is what motivated me to post this question, because I wanted to know if this was only AlpNames' policy for transfers or if all/most other registrars would apply the same criteria.

I thank all you guys for your inputs!

 

[Kuffy]

I wonder how they work the accounting on that. The losing registrar will have paid for a full year, so I guess the gaining registrar negotiates a lower rate for a partial renewal. It seems a petty way to scratch a few extra pence from registrants, and it isn't a good indication of their business policy. What else do they do to disadvantage registrants?