In December 2016, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) changed the Inter-registrar transfer policy (IRTP), which states that updating the name, organization, or email address of a domain's owner contact constitutes a trade of that domain from one person or organization to another. This applies to all registrars.
This change only applied to Generic top-level domains (gTLD) and did not affect Country-code domains (ccTLD).
Inter-registrar trades
Performing an inter-registrar trade does not move the domain to a different Hover account or transfer the domain to another registrar. It is simply the process of changing the owner's contact name, organization, or email address of a domain.
Performing this trade changes the ownership of a domain at the registry level. Keeping this information up to date is critical to maintaining your domain, so there is no charge for an inter-registrar trade.
Determining a trade
If only the spelling of the domain owner's name or contact email is to be updated, This is seen as a trade between two people by ICANN even though both are the same person. This is referred to as a non-trade.
It is considered a real trade if the domain ownership is changed from one party to another.
Updates to the phone number or address will not trigger a trade.
Submitting an inter-registrar trade
Once the inter-registrar trade is complete, the prior and new contacts will receive an email notifying them of the change. No further action is required by either party. If the name and/or organization fields were updated but not the email address, the domain owner would receive both emails.
Note: The new domain owner may be required to verify the new registrant information for ICANN.
- Sign in to your Hover control panel using your chosen method of 2FA.
- Select the domain to process the inter-registrar transfer on. If only one domain is registered, you will automatically be brought to the domain overview page.
- From the Overview tab, scroll to the bottom of the page to the registration records section. Choose the Owner tab, followed by Edit.
- Update the name, organization, and/or contact details to reflect the new owner, followed by Save changes. The Trade is now complete.
Note: The option to opt-out of the 60-day transfer lock is disabled by default. If this lock is enabled, it prevents your domain from being transferred to another registrar for 60 days.
60-day transfer lock
The option to opt-out of the 60-day transfer lock is disabled by default. If this lock is enabled, it prevents the domain from being transferred to another registrar for 60 days.
If the domain's 60-day transfer lock was erroneously applied, simply submitting another change to the owner contact will allow you to opt-out. Changing the name, organization, or email address listed and checking the box for the option to not apply the transfer lock will update your domain status and allow you to submit the transfer.
If a domain transfer to another registrar is desired, be sure the option to bypass the lock is selected when updating the registrant's contact information.
If a domain transfer to another Hover account is desired, you can enable the 60-day transfer lock, which will not impact the move.
Trade frequency allotment
Domain trades can be made at any time. There is no charge for updating a domain's contact information.
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