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Let me show you the steps involved if you need to transfer a domain name out of GoDaddy. Admit this, GoDaddy is one of the largest domain name registrars in the world, but it isn’t the cheapest when you come to pricing. For example, it doesn’t offer private whois information feature for free, you will need to pay up to about US$9 for this feature. So, there are situations when you might want to just transfer your domain name out of GoDaddy.
First, of course login to GoDaddy’s account and go to the Domain Manager.

Select on the domain name which you wish to transfer out. Then, click on the “Locked (Change)” link to unlock the domain name, if it’s locked. Locking prevents unauthorized changes to a domain. It also prevents the domain from being transfered to another registrar.

Once the unlock request is submitted, it will usually take 1 or 2 minutes to process. After this is done, you will need to turn off the private whois feature. Click on the link “Privacy : On (Manage)” link to do this. On GoDaddy, the private whois feature is managed by DomainsByProxy.com and so you will be redirected to this website.

Simply follow the on screen instructions to turn off this feature for the domain which you wish to transfer out of GoDaddy. This should only take a few minutes, after it’s done… don’t expect the system to return you to GoDaddy. Weird, it just didn’t redirect back, perhaps the two systems’ integration has still got some holes to patch up.
Go back to GoDaddy and login again. You should see that the domain is now unlocked and not private whois protected. Good, now click on the link “Authorization Code: Send by Email” to request GoDaddy to email you the authorization code (aka Transfer Secret).

Wait for a few moments for you authorization code to arrive, but in the meantime, you can go to the incoming registrar (aka gaining registrar) to initiate a transfer request. In this case I will use DirectI.
Login to DirectI, and navigate to Products > Domain Registration > Transfer.

A new screen comes up. Enter the domain name you wish to transfer. Of course, enter also the authorization code which you should have received in your email now. Transfer secret is a domain transfer code (password) granted by all the domain name registrars and is used as a protection mechanism, to ensure that only the rightful domain owner can control the transfer of the domain registration.
Shortly after this step is executed, you will get an email from DirectI, requesting you as the rightful owner of the domain name to approve the transfer request. If you wish to proceed, click on the approve transfer link.

Think twice before you click on the approve link. Once you have clicked on that… the transfer will be carried out and it will take up to 5 days to complete. Once the domain is transfered to DirectI, its expiry period will be extended by one year.
Hope today everyone learned something new.
Ah Yuen
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
GoDaddy sucks. There was once they block all malaysia IP from entering it due to heavy fraud.
I almost got to fly out of malaysia to do the domain admin thing. Later I found out I can change proxy to pretend I am Australian. Problem solved. But I got problem renewing domains using my credit card..
(
Kena one time, scared already. Now all domains transferred to Directi and pay using PayPal, renewed all to 10 years.
Kitkat
March 24th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Ah Yuen,
Thank for sharing your experience. DirectI is better in certain ways, one of them is their price is so much lower and includes private whois info for free.
But can’t really blame GoDaddy for blocking all Malaysia IP from entering their site for Malaysians are too famous for fraud and hacking I suppose. This is also one of the reasons why Paypal does not allow Malaysians to transfer funds to Malaysian bank accounts.
nocrid
May 12th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I went to the directI web and it seems that I couldn’t find the way to purchase/register my domain name there. Most of them is for reseller and I am not one of them. I just wanna buy my own, that all…Any help ? Heehhehe. Thank alot
Praveen Kharb
September 30th, 2008 at 1:53 am
I second that – GoDaddy.com SUCKS!! Big time. I have never come across such a frustrating process of transferring a domain name out as godaddy.com offers. Pathetic! Cheapsters!
nfcarlson
November 29th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Great article. I can’t seem to find the “Authorization Code: Send by Email” link on the godaddy site. What a great business model, by the way: make it easy to sign up and impossible to leave. Trap your customers — nice.
Alice
April 18th, 2009 at 5:57 am
Try transferring away from GoDaddy… if you have a “privacy domain”.
You’ll never do it.
GoDaddy has refused to release us from them… for weeks.
messygirl
May 5th, 2009 at 10:38 am
someone-anyone, please help. I am time limited and need to get rid of Go-daddy. i registered like 70 names and they are completely unhelpful at the sales office, let alone being horrible on line as well. Everytime you want to do anything they make you go back to “sales” and they nickel and dime everyone. I am really needing someone to just fix this all for me. I will pay a small fee depending…
please help
messygirl
Alice
May 15th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Why would I want to make my private home address and phone number available PUBLICLY for everyone online to see?
Even if I make it public for 1 minute… it will be logged forever.
Nancy
May 15th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I couldn’t even find a way to registar any domain-name at Directi.com
Am I missing something?
Steve
October 5th, 2009 at 7:27 am
I tried on several occasions to transfer all of my domains to namecheap.com, but it never worked. Now I never buy domains through Godaddy. I also tell all my friends to steer clear of Godaddy.com.
pays to live green
March 8th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I switched from using godaddy some time ago and will never go back. I would rather go to a domain name provider that does offer to make my whois information private for free and still provider a cheaper price to buy the domain.
ibrahim saraçoğlu
April 18th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Why would I want to make my private home address and phone number available PUBLICLY for everyone online to see?..
seo4ski
July 24th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Well… that’s not so easy as I thought.
Thanks u man!