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Get an authorization code to transfer my domain away from GoDaddy
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An authorization code, also called an auth code or EPP code, is the password for a domain rather than for an account. Whoever holds it can move the domain to a different registrar, so getting one is the first step of a transfer and the code needs treating carefully. You get it from GoDaddy, then give it to the registrar you are moving to.
Tell us before you request one. A domain transfer is the single change most likely to take a website and all its email offline at once if it is done at the wrong moment. It is a routine job when planned and a bad week when it is not. There is no rush on this step.
Before you start: two waiting periods
GoDaddy will not let a domain transfer out if any of these apply:
- It was registered less than 60 days ago.
- It was transferred less than 60 days ago.
- The domain contact information was changed within the last 60 days and a lock was applied.
You can still get the code in those cases, and you can get codes for several domains at once, by creating an exportable list instead. The transfer itself just has to wait out the lock.
Steps
- Log in to your GoDaddy Domain Control Center. Stuck at the login? Find your username or password.
- Select the domain you are transferring to open its Domain Settings page.
- Under Additional Settings, choose Transfer domain away from GoDaddy. If that option is greyed out, one of the 60 day locks above applies; use the exportable list instead.
- Read the transfer checklist, then choose Continue with transfer.
- Choose Click here to see Authorization Code, then Copy to Clipboard. GoDaddy also emails the code to the administrative contact on the domain.
- Choose Return to Domains List. Nothing has been transferred; you have only requested the code.
Do not paste the code into an email or a chat message you did not start. The auth code is all somebody needs to move your domain. Domain transfer phishing is common and convincing, and it usually arrives as an urgent renewal notice. If you did not initiate the transfer, nobody should be asking you for this code. Send it to us in the Google Drive folder we share with you, or read it to us over the phone.
Two things to check while you are in there
- Who is the administrative contact? That is where the code is emailed. If it is a former employee’s address, fix that before requesting the code.
- Is the domain unlocked? Transfers also require the registrar lock to be off. GoDaddy prompts you during the steps above; do not turn it off any earlier than you need to.
If it does not go to plan
- The option is disabled. Almost always a 60 day lock. The exportable list is the workaround.
- The code does not work at the new registrar. Copy it again rather than retyping it. These codes contain characters that are easy to misread, and some are single use once a transfer has been attempted.
- You cannot find the domain. It may be in a second GoDaddy account, or held by a previous agency. Tell us the domain name and we can find out who holds it.
What we need if something fails
The domain name, which step you reached, and where the domain is going. Do not include the code itself in that email.
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