Your domain name is yours, and you can take it to another company whenever you like. This article explains how, and what to expect while it moves.
Ask us for the transfer code
Contact us, say which domain name you want to move, and tell us who you are moving it to if you know. We unlock the name and give you the transfer code, sometimes called an authorization code or EPP code. You give that code to the company you are moving to, and they start the transfer from their side.
Do this before your membership ends if you can. A domain name we stop renewing is released, and anyone can then register it. See Closing Your Website.
What stays online until the move is done
Your website stays online and your domain name keeps pointing at it while the transfer is under way. A transfer can take up to a week. Your website does not go down because you asked for the code.
Do not change your domain name's settings at the new company until the transfer has finished. Changing them early can take your website offline before you meant to.
What ends when your hosting does
Your domain name and your hosting are separate. Once the domain name has moved, it belongs to its new company, and it no longer leads to your ArtSites website unless you set that up. When your hosting ends, the website is no longer published. For what happens to the website and your content, see Closing Your Website.
If you have email at your domain name
Those email addresses and any forwarding on them stop when your hosting ends. Move anything you want to keep out of the mailboxes first, and set up email again wherever you are moving.
If you want to stay
If the worry is the cost or the effort of managing a domain name, you do not have to move it. We urge you to let us manage it while you are with us, and Your Domain Name explains why.