PLEASE SEE THIS THREAD, SPRY IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING DOMAIN TRANSFERS TO SPRY FROM OTHER REGISTRARS.
There seems to be some common misconceptions regarding domain transfers. Transfers are not instantaneous, sometimes taking upwards of 7 or more days, depending on the response times of all parties involved.
Allow me to give you a general overview of the process and the steps:
For the first steps in starting the transfer process, please refer to the following post:
Domain Transfers made Easy!
After the transfer process has begun, a series of emails are sent to various parties involved. The first is an email to the current registrar to confirm that the domain is eligible for transfer. It will normally be answered by a representative of the registrar after the domain has been researched and verified as eligible. This can take a few minutes or a few days, depending on how many requests the registrar is currently dealing with and the position of the request in the queue.
After the registrar email has been addressed, an email is dispatched to the current owner of the domain. This one asks the owner if they authorized the transfer and will (usually) request a web link response to verify the transfer.
When the owner’s email has been completed, the system will process the transfer and the domain will be “pushed” to the new registrar. At this point, the transfer is considered complete and the DNS and nameservers can be edited. An email is dispatched to the transfer requester, informing them of the completion of the transfer.
Where the process fails:
If the registrar and/or owner do not reply, or simply deny the transfer request, the transfer will cancel and generate an email to the requesting party. From my experience, the breakdown occurs on the owner’s end because they are not aware that the verification email is coming or said email gets caught in a spam folder and missed. A transfer request will normally time-out after 15 days, give or take.
It is in the best interest of the person requesting the transfer to inform the registrar and the owner that the verification emails are coming and to be on the lookout. This will help ensure that the domains will transfer quickly and without incident, and simply save major headaches for all parties involved.
What to do if a transfer fails:
First off, contact the registrar to find out what went wrong. Usually, if a domain is not qualified to transfer, they will let you know what needs done to get the transfer completed (you may need to contact the owner to have them talk to the registrar).
In 90% of the cases I see, the failure is due to the owner not receiving the verification email. When you talk to the owner, be sure to let them know to watch for the email and to set his/her spam filters accordingly.
You may need to obtain a new EPP key or Authorization code from the owner/registrar. When you get this, provide it to your registrar so they can re-start the transfer for you.
Most importantly; please be patient! As stated earlier, domain transfers are not instant.
Domain Transfer Process - Misconceptions and Pitfalls
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