How a Website Transfer Works: Domain, Hosting, Content and Escrow

A website transfer works best in this order: sign a written agreement, prepare and back up everything, open escrow or confirm the agreed payment schedule, move the domain, move the hosting and content, then hand over the supporting accounts. Most problems come from doing these steps out of order, such as moving the domain before money is secured, or discovering a 60-day lock the week the buyer expects the site.

The domain is the part with the most rules, because registrars follow policies set by ICANN. Hosting and content are mostly a matter of good backups. The money is a matter of trust, which is what escrow exists to solve.

What actually moves in a website transfer?

A website is not one thing. It is a bundle of separate assets, and each one has its own handover method.

Keeping these apart on a checklist makes it obvious what has moved and what has not. It also helps when only some parts are included in a deal, for example when the domain and content are sold but an old email setup is not.

Steps 1 and 2: Agree everything in writing, then prepare

Nothing should move until both sides have signed a written agreement. It should name the domain, describe what is included (content, social accounts, any trademark), state the price or monthly payment, set the order of each step and say what happens if either side stops. For a cash sale this is often an asset purchase agreement. For a lease-to-own deal it also sets out the payment period and when title passes.

This is general information, not legal advice. Contract terms depend on your country and the structure of the deal, so have a lawyer review anything you are unsure about. Our guide to red flags in website buyers covers what a fair agreement should and should not contain.

Once the agreement is signed, and ideally before, do the housekeeping while you still control everything:

• Renew the domain if it expires within the next few months, so a renewal date cannot interrupt the process. Our guide on what happens when a domain expires explains why that date matters so much.
• Take a full backup of files and database and store a copy offline.
• Export your Search Console performance data. Search Console keeps 16 months of performance data, and older history is lost unless you export it.
• Write down every account linked to the site: registrar, host, CDN, analytics, email, social profiles.
• Remove or separate customer personal data, such as old orders, contact form entries and mailing lists. It is not part of a website deal, and how long you must keep or how you must delete it depends on data protection rules in your country, so check with a lawyer.

The full list lives in our guide on how to prepare a website for sale or lease.

Step 3: Check the locks on your domain

Two locks catch owners by surprise. First, under the ICANN Transfer Policy, a registrar may deny a transfer to another registrar within 60 days of the domain’s creation date, or within 60 days after a previous inter-registrar transfer. If you moved registrars last month to save on renewals, you may have to wait.

Second, a change of registrant triggers its own lock. The same policy says the registrar must impose a 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock following a change of registrant, unless the registrant opted out before the change. If the buyer wants to move the domain to their own registrar straight after taking ownership, ask your registrar about the opt-out before you change the owner details.

There is also the ordinary transfer lock that most registrars switch on by default. You switch that off yourself in the domain settings when it is time to move.

Step 4: Get the auth code and move the domain

To move a domain to another registrar you need its auth code, also called the EPP or AuthInfo code. Most registrars show it in the domain settings. If yours has no self-service tool, the ICANN Transfer Policy requires it to provide the code and remove the transfer lock within 5 calendar days of your request.

The usual sequence looks like this:

1. Confirm escrow is funded, or that the agreed lease terms are signed.
2. Switch off the registrar transfer lock and request the auth code.
3. Send the code to the buyer privately, or start a change of registrant at your registrar if the domain is staying put.
4. Approve the transfer email from your registrar when it arrives.
5. Check the public WHOIS or registrar record shows the buyer as registrant.

Make sure the contact email on the domain is one you can still read. A transfer approval sent to a closed company mailbox is one of the most common reasons transfers stall.

Steps 5 and 6: Move hosting, content and accounts without a gap

The goal is that visitors and search engines see no gap. The cleanest method is to copy the files and database to the buyer’s hosting, test it there on a temporary address, and only then point the domain’s DNS at the new server. The old hosting stays live until the new copy is confirmed, so nothing goes dark in between.

If the site runs on a hosted platform rather than your own server, check whether the platform lets you transfer the account to another person. Some do, some only allow an export. Either way, keep your offline backup until the deal is fully complete.

Search Console, analytics and social profiles are added rather than transferred. In Search Console, a property owner can go to Settings, Users and permissions, Add user, and choose Owner, Full or Restricted, as described in Google’s help page. During checks, Restricted access lets a buyer verify real traffic. At handover, you add the buyer as Owner and then remove yourself.

How escrow keeps both sides safe

For cash sales, escrow is the standard way to close. As Escrow.com describes the process, the buyer pays the escrow service, which holds the funds in trust; the seller transfers the domain; the service checks WHOIS to confirm the buyer is the registrant, then releases payment. Neither side has to trust the other with money or assets first.

Agree in writing what the buyer must check before confirming receipt. Escrow services typically give the buyer a short inspection window, so the agreement should say whether that covers only the domain or also the hosting, content and accounts. Moving those parts during the escrow period, not after funds are released, protects both sides.

Escrow.com’s standard fees, according to its fee calculator, run from 2.6% on deals up to $5,000 (with a $50 minimum) down to 1.9% between $50,000 and $200,000, and lower on larger deals. Buyer and seller agree who pays.

On a lease-to-own deal with us, there is no single closing payment to hold. Instead, the written agreement sets the order of handover and the monthly payment, roughly $300 to $500 per month per site, paid until the agreed price is paid in full. We take over hosting, renewals and upkeep from day one. Our month-by-month lease-to-own guide shows how that runs in practice.

What to do next

• Log in to your registrar today and note the domain’s creation date, last transfer date and renewal date.
• Back up the site and export your Search Console data before talking to any buyer.
• If the site belonged to a business that has closed, send us your site for a free valuation and we will explain how a transfer would work in your case. What we check first is outlined in how we evaluate a website.