Support Start > Billing and Account Management > Signing Up > Transferring Domain Names Expiring Soon

If you’re transferring a domain name from one company to another, remember that domain name transfers can take up to seven days. If your domain name expires before the transfer completes, you may have problems.

For example, if you start the transfer two days before it expires and the current company drags their feet about releasing it, it could be in an "expired" state for five days. During that period, the old company might disable it or replace the contents with advertising. We’ve even heard of companies rejecting the transfer because it’s expired, although they aren’t supposed to.

How can I avoid problems?

We strongly recommend that you start any domain name transfer at least seven days before it expires. Doing it fourteen days before it expires is even better, because it gives you a chance to try it twice if there’s any problem.

If your domain name expires in less than a week, and you care about whether it works properly during the transfer, you should renew it for a year at the old company before you try to transfer it.

Does this apply to transfers both to and from Tiger Technologies?

When you transfer a domain name to our company, we can’t control how long it takes (it’s up to the old company). So it definitely applies in that case.

When you transfer a domain name from our company to another, we try not to drag our feet — we make sure that most transfers complete quickly, so there isn’t as much risk of problems. But in rare cases, transfers can occasionally take the full seven days (if we suspect fraud, for example). Although we don’t show advertising on expired domain names, we do disable them as required by ICANN, so it’s still worth being careful.

Can I try the transfer anyway?

Certainly! Although we recommend starting seven days before a domain name expires to avoid problems, you can use the signup form on our home page to try a transfer regardless of the expiration date.