Now that you have successfully bought a pre-owned domain, the next step would be to have that domain transferred to your name. If the domain is not an expired one but one that you have won in a bid, you will have to go through the proper channels to have it transferred, but since we are talking about expired domains here, GoDaddy will automatically transfer the domain to your name in a week’s time. There will be no charges involved.
Once the domain have been transferred you will receive an email congratulating you about your ownership. Now, to get it hosted. If you have an existing hosting account with GoDaddy, things can be real simple, but if, like me, you have a different hosting company, there will be another round of heartaches. I have a hosting account with Bluehost which allows me to host 5 domains in a single account. They have since improved their package to allow unlimited domains, which I thing is really fantastic for building a niche store empire. So if you are looking for a reliable hosting company, Bluehost will be a good choice. Their cpanel is excellent for newbies and even noobs can create a SQL database without any hassle.
Anyway, when you want to transfer to a different hosting account, you will first have to go to your Godaddy account and have them email you the authentication code and changed your “locked” status to “unlock” This can be done via “manage domains” in your Godaddy Account. Just look around and will find whatever you want there.
I don’t know how it is for other hosting companies, but for Bluehost, the first time you attempt to transfer, they will tell you that you might risk losing the one year renewal fee unless you are willing to wait for a week. Somehow, they are slow to pick up the info that you have renewed the domain when you bought it from Godaddy. Since I did not want to waste more than 360 days of domain fees, I decided to wait it out.
After the wait is over, the transfer is simple. Just provide them with you authentication code which you would have received from Godaddy by now and everything is automated. Then comes the crunch. Bluehost insist that you buy another year of hosting from them for $10. Else you can’t continue with the transfer. I had thought I could forgo this step, but no, i was forced to pay them for another year of hosting. Then we wait. If all goes well, the domain will be yours in one or two days. For me, however, it did not go through very smoothly.
For some undisclosed reasons, the transfer failed and I received an email with just 2 words. “Transfer Failed”. I was really getting quite frustrated at this point as I did not expect all these problems. Checked back with Bluehost. I was informed that the transfer had failed and I will have to check with GoDaddy or wait another week, where-after, the domain will be transferred whether Godaddy like it or not. Since I am already at the brink of breakdown, I decided to wait instead of another runaround. I’ll update the status as soon as the domain is safely hosted in Bluehost.
