Domain transfer checklist for South African businesses

To move a domain to Noiz without your website or email going down, do four things in order: make sure the domain is registered in your business's name with an email address you control, copy your website, mail and DNS records, request the transfer, and confirm everything once the name has arrived. This checklist covers .co.za and the other .za names, which move by a registry vote by email (with a domain password as well for .org.za, .net.za and .web.za), and generic names such as .com, which move with an authorisation code. It is written for business owners who want the name, and the decisions about it, to stay with them.

Who controls a domain

Three parties are involved in every domain, and a transfer only changes one of them.

A transfer moves the name from one registrar to another. The registrant stays the same, and the registrant decides, which is why the registrant details matter more than anything else on this list.

Above the registry, the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) regulates the whole .za space under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. Generic names such as .com and .org follow the rules of ICANN, the body that accredits their registrars.

1. Check that the domain is registered to you

Look up the domain with the ICANN Lookup tool for a generic name, or ask your current provider to show you the record for a .za name. Check two things:

• The registrant is your business, not the web designer who built the site, the old host or a staff member who has left.
• The registrant email is an address you read, on your own domain or a mailbox the business controls.

On a .za name the registry sends its transfer vote to the registrant email, and on a generic name the transfer notices go there. If the address belongs to someone else, that person is in practice holding your domain.

If the details are wrong, the order of events matters, and it differs by extension:

• .za names: correct the registrant details first. The change puts the name in a "pending update" status for five days, a period the registry sets. Wait for it to finish before you request the transfer, because a transfer started during a pending update cancels the change.
• Generic names: a change to the registrant's name, organisation or email locks the name against transfer for 60 days, unless the registrar offers an opt-out and you take it before the change. ICANN's advice is to transfer first and change the registrant afterwards, as long as the registrant email still reaches you.

Also check the expiry date. A name that is about to lapse, or has lapsed, may not be transferable until it is renewed.

2. Copy your website, mail and DNS before you move

A transfer does not move a website or a mailbox. The name keeps pointing wherever its nameservers point, so the site and mail stay up while it moves. What needs protecting is everything on the old provider's servers. Make a list and a copy of:

• Website files and databases. A full backup from the old control panel, or the files and a database export.
• Mailboxes. Every address, its forwarders and aliases, and a copy of the mail you want to keep.
• The DNS zone. Every record: A and AAAA records for the website, MX records for mail, TXT records for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and verification codes (Google, Microsoft and similar services), CNAME records and any SRV records. Note whether the domain uses DNSSEC, because its records must be handled with care when the DNS moves.

The DNS zone is the part people forget. If the old provider runs your DNS, the records live on its nameservers, and when the old account is closed they disappear, taking the website and mail with them.

3. Set up the DNS at Noiz first

The registry's own advice is to keep the transfer and the DNS change apart. If the nameservers stay the same, the transfer carries them over and nothing changes for your visitors. If the DNS is moving to Noiz too, build the new zone before you switch anything. On a Noiz hosting plan, the DNS for your domain sits in the Plesk panel next to the website and mail. A name without hosting can use DNS Only, a zone on our servers that you run from your account.

Then, in this order:

1. Recreate every record from the old zone in the new one, and check them against your list.
2. A day or two before the move, lower the time to live (TTL) on the old records, for example to 300 seconds, so changes reach visitors quickly.
3. Point the nameservers at the new zone only once it is complete, and keep the old zone untouched until the change has settled.

If the website or mail is moving to Noiz as well, finish those moves before the nameservers change. Our guides on how to point your domain to Noiz hosting and how to migrate a WordPress site to Noiz hosting cover those steps.

4. Request the transfer

You request a transfer from the registrar the name is moving to. At Noiz, use Transfer a domain on our site, or choose the transfer option when you order hosting. The Transfer column of our domain price table shows the transfer price for every extension.

What happens next depends on the extension.

.co.za and the other .za names: the registry vote

A .co.za transfer does not use a secret authorisation code. A .org.za, .net.za or .web.za transfer does: ask your current registrar for the domain password before you start, as with a generic name. For all four, only the registrar the name is moving to can start the transfer, and only on the registrant's request. The registry then puts the name in a pending transfer status for five days and emails both the registrant and the losing registrar, asking each to vote: approve, decline or do nothing.

The registry's rules decide the outcome:

Two things follow. When the registrant approves, the losing registrar cannot hold the name back. And a registrant who ignores the email usually ends up with no transfer at all, which is why the vote must reach an inbox you read. The registry's policies also forbid a registrar from operating in a way that locks a registrant in.

A new .za registration cannot be transferred during its seven-day grace period, and a name in closed redemption after expiry cannot be transferred either. Names still on the registry's older system follow a separate procedure, in which the voting email goes to every contact on the name; your current provider can tell you which applies.

.com, .org and other generic names: the authorisation code

A generic name moves with an authorisation code, often called an EPP code or auth code, which is unique to the domain. Before you request the transfer:

1. Ask the current registrar to unlock the domain.
2. Ask for the authorisation code. Under ICANN's Transfer Policy the registrar must give it to you, and remove the lock, within five calendar days of your request, unless you can do both yourself in its control panel.
3. Enter the code when you order the transfer.

A generic name cannot be transferred within 60 days of being registered or of its last transfer. Once you have requested the transfer, the losing registrar has five calendar days to respond. If it does not, the transfer goes ahead.

5. When the old provider will not let go

Most transfers go through without trouble. When one does not, it is usually because the old provider registered the name in its own name, kept the registrant email on its own mailbox, or refuses to release the name until a disputed invoice is paid. Both sets of rules protect the registrant here.

On a .za name, the registrant's vote decides, so a registrant whose details are correct can approve the vote and move the name. If a registrar does not follow the transfer procedure, you can complain in writing to the registry, which handles complaints about unlawful transfers and about how a registrar manages a name, and can report a registrar to ZADNA. The registry does not handle disputes about web hosting, email services or unpaid accounts. A dispute about who is entitled to the name itself goes to ZADNA's alternative dispute resolution process, or to court.

On a generic name, ICANN's Transfer Policy lists the only reasons a registrar may deny a transfer, such as fraud, an unpaid registration period or a transfer within the 60-day windows. A registrar may not refuse to unlock a name or release its code solely because of a payment dispute, and may not use the transfer to collect payment for other services. If a transfer is wrongly denied, you can file a transfer complaint with ICANN Contractual Compliance.

Whatever the extension, keep every email with the old provider, the lookup showing the registrant, and your invoices. The best protection is never to be in this position: a domain registered to the business that uses it, with the business's own email as the registrant contact, from the first day.

6. After the transfer

Once the name has arrived, check in your account that:

• the contacts are correct and the registrant email is yours
• the nameservers are the ones you expect, about a day after the transfer completes
• the website loads and mail arrives and sends
• automatic renewal is on: names are registered one year at a time, with an email reminder before each renewal

Only then close the DNS and hosting at the old provider.

The checklist

How Noiz handles your domain

Noiz is an accredited registrar for .co.za and the other .za names, listed on the registry's own register of accredited registrars, and registers generic and other country extensions through an international registrar. Every name is registered with you as the registrant. The registrant email is always your own, as you set it in the console, our client area, where you also manage the contacts, nameservers and renewal. Our guide to the registrant contact explains how to check and update it.

If you would like to move a domain to Noiz, start with Transfer a domain, or open a ticket and we will check the registrant details with you before anything moves.

Sources

Checked 19 October 2026.

Registry and regulator (.za)

• ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC)
• ZARC Published Policies and Procedures, version 12.0 (2025): sections 5.2.5, 7, 9 and Schedule B
• ZARC Registrant Voting Procedure
• ZARC Domain Operations
• ZARC namespace comparison
• ZARC Legacy Transfer Procedure
• ZARC: How to transfer a .co.za domain without disruption
• ZARC Complaints, Domain Name Abuse and Takedown Charter, version 002
• ZARC Accredited Registrars
• ZADNA: our core mandate
• ZADNA: rights protection and ADR

Generic names (ICANN)

• ICANN Transfer Policy: sections I.A.3.5, 3.7 to 3.10, 5.2 to 5.5 and II.C.2
• ICANN: 5 things every registrant should know about the Transfer Policy
• ICANN Contractual Compliance complaints
• ICANN Lookup

DNS

• RFC 1035, Domain names: implementation and specification, section 3.2.1

Noiz

• Domains at Noiz
• Specific Terms and Conditions, section 5: Domain Name Terms
• How to Set Up a Domain for Your Website
• What Is the Domain Guardian (Registrant Contact) and How to Update It

Note: while some of this content was produced with the help of AI, the final editing has been done by a real human being.