Get a free build
Ownership guide

Moving a domain out of somebody else’s account

Your business should own its web address. If a former agency, employee, partner, or family member still controls it, move the domain into an account you own before launch. The safe order is ownership first, email check second, website change last.

Takes about 10 minutes to start.

Before anybody moves anything

A domain is the registration for your web address. Your website and business email are separate services that happen to use it. Moving the domain does not move those products with it, and canceling the old account too early is how mailboxes disappear.

If both accounts use GoDaddy

Use Transfer to another GoDaddy account. It is an account change, keeps the existing DNS records, and is usually the shortest path.

If the receiving company is different

Use a registrar transfer. The current owner unlocks the domain and obtains an authorization code; the new owner starts the transfer at the receiving registrar.

The fast path: GoDaddy to GoDaddy

The person who currently owns the domain starts this from their own GoDaddy account. You receive and accept it from yours. Nobody shares a password, support PIN, or security code.

  1. The current owner opens the domain’s Transfer section

    Sign in, open Domain Portfolio, select the domain, and find Transfer on the Domain Settings page. Choose Transfer to another GoDaddy account.

    Domain Portfolio

    yourdomain.comDomain SettingsTransfer

    Transfer to another GoDaddy account
    Transfer to another registrar
    Choose the first row when the receiving owner also has a GoDaddy account. It avoids an unnecessary registrar move.

  2. They enter the new owner’s GoDaddy email

    The email has to match the receiving account. GoDaddy also accepts the customer number, but it is optional. The current owner chooses whether eligible registrant contact details should copy to the new account.

  3. They send the request and complete their own security check

    Select Send Transfer Request. If GoDaddy asks for identity verification, the current owner completes it inside their own account. They should never forward a one-time password or two-step verification code to you or to LocalCraft.

  4. You accept the domain within ten days

    Watch the inbox connected to your GoDaddy account and accept the incoming domain. GoDaddy says the request expires if it is not accepted within ten days.

If the domain is moving to a different registrar

This is a true registrar transfer. The current owner prepares the domain at GoDaddy, and you finish the move in the account where the domain will live next.

  1. The current owner checks that the domain is eligible

    From Domain Portfolio, select the domain and choose Transfer to Another Registrar. GoDaddy will show the reason if it cannot move yet. New registrations, recent transfers, and some registrant changes can carry a 60-day transfer lock.

  2. They unlock the domain and obtain the authorization code

    Continue through GoDaddy's transfer checklist, complete the owner's identity check, and reveal the authorization code. GoDaddy may also send it to the registrant email on the domain.

    Transfer checklist
    Domain unlocked
    Continue with transfer
    Click here to see Authorization Code
    The authorization code is also called an auth code, EPP code, transfer code, or transfer key. They all mean the same thing.

  3. You start the incoming transfer at the new registrar

    Sign in to the receiving registrar, purchase or start a domain transfer, and enter the authorization code. Share that code only with the receiving owner or registrar—it authorizes the move.

  4. Wait for the registrar move to finish

    GoDaddy says most registrar transfers take five to seven days. Keep the old services active and do not change website records in the middle unless Jake has confirmed the exact launch sequence.

Once the domain arrives

  1. Protect the account

    Turn on two-step verification, confirm auto-renew is on, and make sure the domain renews to a payment method the business controls.

  2. Test the domain and every mailbox

    Confirm the domain appears in the new account. Send an email into and out of every business mailbox. Open the current website from a phone that is not on your office Wi-Fi.

  3. Give LocalCraft delegate access

    If the domain now lives at GoDaddy, use the GoDaddy Delegate Access guide. You keep the owner login; Jake gets Management Access to the domain and nothing more.

  4. Schedule the website change and redirect

    Only after ownership and email are stable do we point the domain at the new site. If a legacy domain will redirect to a new vanity domain, keep renewing both—the old one continues catching bookmarks, links, and email addresses people already know.

These steps were checked against GoDaddy's own current transfer and delegate documentation on September 3, 2026. If GoDaddy labels a button differently in your account, send me a screenshot and I will update the guide.

GoDaddy's official instructions:

Stuck anywhere in this?

Text or call me at (314) 246-9224, or email hello@localcraftdigital.com. A screenshot of the page you are on is enough. Leave passwords and verification codes out of it.