Panasonic Youth rob sanheim writes about software, business, ruby, music, stuff and things

How to move your domains off GoDaddy

Its common internet knowledge that GoDaddy is one of the worst, most unfriendly registrars out there. Go to NoDaddy for all sorts of nasty things that GoDaddy that make them completely disreputable, or google “godaddy sucks” for a thousand other reasons.

What’s less common is knowing how to actually get your domains off GoDaddy once you’ve had enough and have smartened up about finding a good registrar. Its simple once you know the process and can ignore the five thousand gratuitous options that godaddy has on their control panel.

First, you must make sure your domain is unlocked.

• go to your domain control panel
• click the checkbox(s) next to the domains you want to unlock
• click the “Locking” button
• choose “unlock” and click ok

That will take a few minutes to process…in the interim go sign up for a NameCheap account (referral link) so you can have a nice, usable control panel and a reputable registrar. I’ve also heard good things about dotster, but have not used them personally.

Now, once your domain has been unlocked at godaddy, go back to the control panel there and get an authorization code:

• Click on the domain name itself that you want to transfer
• You are now on the “show details” page from hell — the link you want is Authorization Code: Send by Email - click on that “send by email” link, then click OK in the confirmation page that comes up.
• Check your email in a few minutes, and you’ll have the auth code (aka EPP Code) you need! Use that code at the new registar you want to transfer to, and you’ll be off godaddy soon enough

There is a helpful page here showing this process with screenshots, but it loads very slow. Here’s a cached copy that may work better.

I’m happy to say the last of my domains will be off godaddy by tomorrow, and I’ll be 100% godaddy free.

I hear all these horror stories about GoDaddy but I’ve never really had any problems with them. I’ve used them for years and have nearly 50 domains with them. I especially like their TotalDNS service which allows me to offload the DNS headaches to them.

I guess if I found a comparable registrar with the same sort of setup, I’d think about moving away. Gotta do some more research though.

Thanks for the post though … very good information to have.

I’ve never had a specific horrific incident with them, like having a domain turned off. Still, I have to say that using their control panel and being assaulted by constant up-sells when you try to renew a domain is a constant low level of horror. Plus, I’d rather support a registrar that is at least not evil instead of a horrible member of the net community.

Thanks for this, I have been wanting to move mine and now I have no excuses.

I use GoDaddy and I haven’t had a ton of problems with them and I trust that they’ll be here tomorrow. When I started using them I was tired of $35 / year to Network Solutions. Dotster is rampant with horror stories and I’ve had clients that it was nearly impossible to transfer away.

Jeff: Then switch to namecheap, enom, or one of the countless other registrars out there who have a better reputation then godaddy. Its not like there aren’t a lot of options.

I think it’s fine if someone wants to know how to move from GoDaddy, but if someone is not having an issue why are you pushing it? Let the user decide what works well for them. There are just as many ‘bad’ registrars and hosts out there as there are good ones and if not careful moving could only make things worse.

We have a dedicated box with GoDaddy, and I am not 100% satisfied but not dissatisfied. The price is right, but I am frustrated with my inability to install AD on the fresh image. For some reason they are telling me that they cannot help me unless I pay for their assistance, even though the image on the box is a modified image.

Grrr…
Chris
http://www.propertystampede.com

Thanks Rob, you helped me cut through the godaddy sales assault and get the info I needed. Funny, after talking with the “help” desk for 20 minutes the other day, they didn’t mention needing this code. Personally, I despise having to navigate the godaddy site for anything. I understand their need to generate revenue but the after signing in you see the same crap. I get it GoDaddy…you’ve got everything I need (except a clear path). I’ll be happy to get my sites off of there and be rid of their “noise” for good.

Thanks ROB!

Robert: because this is what blogs are for, or at least my blog :).

Chris: I can’t even begin to imagine trying to do _hosting_ on godaddy.

VP: glad it was helpful!

The main reason I want to migrate from godaddy is the site is extremely slow and uses Javascript for all the wrong reasons. It’s very unRESTful - you can’t just open up a domain in a new site.

The migration process you describe is extremely tedious on godaddy, which serves as a brilliant lock-in for them. I tried moving about 50 domains to namecheap, spent hours, and had to give up in the end.