GoDaddy.com has already experienced massive blowback from anti-SOPA customers over the past week, with upwards of 120,000 domains being transferred away from GoDaddy.com’s hosting services to those of other competitors. There’s no denying the company has been floored by the negative response it’s received for its initial support of the piracy legislation currently worming its way through Congress (a response perhaps exacerbated by fact that GoDaddy helped craft the legislation and would be exempt from takedown notices and liability for failure to takedown as the legislation is currently written.
If you’re thinking of dumping GoDaddy and want to be sure that the company you switch to is not one that is owned by GoDaddy, you can check ByeDaddy.org
What You Need to Know Prior to Transferring a Domain Name:
Domain transfers can take time; Anywhere from a few hours to 1 week to complete. You need to assure that the following apply to the domain at the current registrar of the domain:
- The domain must be more than 60 days old
- The domain has been “Unlocked” for transfer at the current registrar
- The domain is showing your current e-mail for the admin contact in the whois as that is where the authorization email will be sent to
- The domain is not within 7 days of its expiration date
You will also need to unlock your domain name in your GoDaddy account.
How to unlock your domain with GoDaddy:
- Login to your GoDaddy account
- Click Domain Manager in My Products section
- Select the domain(s) to unlock and click Locking
- Deselect Lock Domains to have the domain(s) unlocked
- Click OK
You will also want to write down your EPP code; Some companies will require that info when you transfer.
To obtain EPP code from GoDaddy:
- Click Domain Manager in My Products section
- Click on the domain you need EPP code for
- Click Send By Email in the Authorization Code field
- Click OK
In most cases you would also need to disable privacy protection service for the domain. GoDaddy is now requiring a photo ID in order to transfer. Anything to slow down the massive numbers of transfers taking place, I suppose.
Not surprising, there are hosting companies trying to capitalize on this mass exodus from GoDaddy. As an example, one of GoDaddy’s main competitors, Namecheap, is offering transfers below cost ($6.99 – plus $0.18 ICANN fee for .com and .net domains – per transfer) using the coupon code SOPASucks. Additionally, for every domain transfer initiated on the 29th, Namecheap will donate $1 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to help them continue the legal fight against SOPA, PROTECT-IP, and other overbroad and ill-considered legislation.
I’ve never used Namecheap, so cannot vouch for the quality of service. For those of you who know me, you already know how I feel about GoDaddy.
