IE Domain Registrant Transfer Process

With the introduction of the .ie domain Secondary Market and Registrant Transfer Process on November 19th 2016, the process to update the registrant of a .ie domain has changed.  

If the domain is the subject of a sale, Blacknight recommends that all parties familiarise themselves with the IE Domain Registry’s  policies and procedures:

• https://www.iedr.ie/secondary-market/
• https://www.iedr.ie/register-a-domain/registration-requirements/
• https://www.iedr.ie/faqs/

While not all domain holder updates will be part of a domain sale, this process must still be followed to perform a domain holder update. Exceptions to this process are listed at the end of this article. 

If you have a .ie domain name registered with Blacknight and wish to transfer ownership of your domain to another party, the below process can be followed:

In Brief:

1. The Existing Domain Holder and the New Domain Holder Initiates the Registrant Transfer Process by Contacting Blacknight
2. The Pre-Validation Process is carried out to verify the eligibility of the new domain holder.* 
3. If Eligible the Registrant Transfer Process is commenced locking the domain for 3 days**
4. 3 days after the submission, the transfer of the domain registration

* a non refundable fee of €24.99 ex vat applies

** a non refundable fee of €44.99 ex vat applies

In Detail:

There are 2 parts to the process: Pre-validation and Registrant Transfer

Pre-validation:

It is necessary that the prospective domain holder’s eligibility is validated by the IE Domain Registry before a registrant transfer can proceed. For more information on eligibility please see the registry’s requirements here: https://www.iedr.ie/register-a-domain/registration-requirements/

Steps:

1. The Blacknight Account holder/Current Domain Holder along with Prospective Domain Holder, contacts sales@blacknight.com requesting the Registrant Transfer. The request should include the folowing:
   • A signed request from the current domain holder, stating their intention to transfer ownership of the domain to the new party.
   • Relevant information or documentation from the prospective domain holder based on their Applicant Class. For business applicants this will usually include proof of trade in Ireland such as an RBN, CRO or VAT number along with a bried explanation as to why they with to hold the domain.  For further  help on this see our article here
   • In all cases the new party must provide the name, email address, contact number and postal address of the new admin contact for the domain
2. There is a non-refundable admin fee of €24.99 ex vat payable for pre-validation, this can be paid by either the Existing Account holder or the prospective domain holder.
3. Once submitted the IEDR reviews the application and may request further supporting documentation to demonstrate that they meet the IEDR registration criteria (similar to a new registration request).
4. If the new domain holder provides sufficient supporting information / documentation, IEDR provides them with a transfer Authcode.

Note:

• Blacknight cannot guarantee the successful validation of the New Domain Holder, we strongly advise that the IE Domain Registry’s policy is reviewed in full before undertaking the pre-validation phase: https://www.iedr.ie/register-a-domain/registration-requirements/
• It is the obligation of the Existing registrar to advise prospective buyer(s) that they are required to provide an Acknowledgement & Disclaimer to IEDR in order to participate in the sales process. This is available on the IEDR website under Legal Requirements and Terms and Conditions: https://www.iedr.ie/secondary-market/

Registrant Transfer:

1. The Auth Code is submitted to Blacknight to initiate the Registrant Transfer Proper.
2. There is a non-refundable admin fee of €44.99 ex vat payable for the Registrant Transfer, this can be paid by either the Existing Account holder or the prospective domain holder.
3. The transfer is then initiated. The domain “locks” and cannot be edited during the 3-day countdown.
4. At 3pm, 3 days after the submission of the seller’s request, the transfer of the domain registration to the buyer will be “unlocked” to complete the sale, and the WHOIS will update.

Exemptions:

It should be noted that registrant changes being carried out based on the following scenarios are exempt from the Registrant Transfer process, and can be re-assigned outside of the above process:

• Death of a registrant
• Commercial Asset Restructuring (typically seen in larger group companies)
• Commercial Merger
• Commercial Asset Acquisition (of which the domain is just part of the overall purchase, rather than the sole purchase)

The above process will update the domain holder for the domain only. If you wish to transfer the domain to another or a new Blacknight account please see our help article here: https://help.blacknight.com/hc/en-us/articles/212515569-How-Do-I-Transfer-a-Domain-Between-Blacknight-Accounts-