Register, transfer and renew

This guide covers registering a new domain, transferring a domain in from another registrar, renewing, and managing contact templates and nameservers.

#Before you start: create a contact template

You must choose a contact template when registering or transferring a domain, so create one first.

1. Go to Domains → Contact templates and click Create template.
2. Enter a Template name. It is only for your reference, for example "Personal" or "Company A".
3. Fill in the contact details: First name, Last name, Email, Phone, Address, City, State/Province (optional), Postal code and Country code.
   • Enter the phone number in international format, +CountryCode.Number, for example +1.1234567890 or +86.13800138000.
   • The country code is two letters, for example US or CN.
4. To make this your default template, turn on Set as default.
5. Save.

Some extensions (for example .cn, .uk, .it and .br) require extra registration data. You can fill this in ahead of time under the template's Manage extension fields (by TLD) panel, and it is filled in automatically when you register that extension.

#Register a new domain

#Step 1: Search

1. Go to Domains → Register a domain.
2. On the Search tab, enter a full domain (such as example.com) or just the name. To check many names or extensions at once, use the Bulk search, IDN search or Advanced search tabs.
3. Find an available domain in the results and click register.

#Step 2: Enter registration details

In the Register a domain dialog:

1. Registration period: 1 to 10 years.
2. Contact template: the template to use for the registrant. The administrative, technical and billing contacts use the registrant's details by default. You can change them separately on the domain detail page after registration.
3. Additional fields: if the extension needs extra data, the fields appear once you pick a template. Tick Save these details as a contact template to store it in the template for next time.
4. Nameservers (optional): separate multiple nameservers with commas. Fill this in if you already have a DNS provider you want to use.
   • If you leave it empty, once registration succeeds the platform creates a free Yeap DNS zone for the domain and points the domain's nameservers at Yeap DNS. If a Yeap DNS zone with the same name already exists in your account, its nameservers are used instead.
5. Auto-renewal: off by default. Turn it on now or later in My Domains.
6. WHOIS privacy: on by default. If the extension doesn't support privacy, you'll get an error when you submit. Turn it off and submit again.
7. Click Submit registration.

#Step 3: Pay

After you submit, the console shows Order created with the amount and invoice number.

1. Click Pay now to open the invoice, or Pay later and find the invoice under Billing → Invoices later.
2. Pay the invoice. Registration invoices are due within 7 days.
3. After payment, the platform submits the registration to the registry automatically and retries on temporary errors. When registration completes, the domain shows as active in My Domains.

#Transfer a domain in

#Do this at your current registrar first

• Unlock the domain: turn off the transfer lock (Transfer Lock / Registrar Lock).
• Get the authorization code: the EPP code / Auth Code.
• Make sure the registrant email works: some registries and losing registrars confirm transfers by email.
• Check time restrictions: under common industry rules, most generic extensions cannot be transferred within 60 days of registration or of a previous transfer. The extension's own rules apply.

#Transfer steps

1. On the Domain Search page, click Domain transfer in the top-right corner.
2. Enter a domain: type the domain to transfer and continue. The console checks that the extension accepts transfers and shows the transfer price.
3. Enter information:
   • Transfer code: paste the code from your current registrar.
   • Transfer period: 1 to 10 years, billed at the per-year transfer price.
   • Contact template: used for the registrant.
   • Nameservers: separate multiple entries with commas.
   • Auto-renew and WHOIS privacy: set as needed.
4. After you submit, the console shows Transfer request submitted. Click View invoice and pay. Transfer invoices are due within 7 days.
5. After payment, the transfer request goes to the registrar and is retried automatically if it fails.

How long a transfer takes depends on the registry and the losing registrar. For generic extensions it is usually 5–7 days, though the losing registrar may approve it sooner. Your existing DNS provider keeps serving the domain during the transfer.

#Renewals

#Manual renewal

• One domain: click Renew in the My Domains list, or Renew domain on the detail page. Confirming creates a one-year renewal invoice.
• Bulk renewal: select several domains in My Domains, choose Bulk renewal, set 1 to 10 years, and the platform creates renewal invoices for them.

Pay renewal invoices under Billing → Invoices. Once an invoice is paid, the renewal goes to the registrar automatically. If the domain already has an unpaid renewal invoice, you get that existing invoice back rather than a second one.

#Auto-renew

When you turn on Auto-renewal in My Domains, the platform creates a renewal invoice before the domain expires (30 days ahead by default; some extensions use a different lead time). If you have a saved default card, the platform tries to charge it. Otherwise, pay the invoice yourself before the expiry date.

#Manage contacts

On the domain detail page, the Contacts tab lets you edit the Registrant, Manage contacts, Technical contact and Billing contact contacts individually. You can apply a template to all contacts at once, or click Sync to other contacts to copy the registrant's details to the other roles. Changes are submitted to the registrar.

#Change nameservers

Nameservers (NS) decide who answers DNS queries for your domain.

1. Open My Domains and click the domain to open its detail page.

2. On the Overview tab, in the Nameservers card, enter one nameserver per line, for example:

   textCopy

   ns1.example.net
   ns2.example.net

3. Click Update NS. The change is sent to the registrar right away.

You can also click the domain's DNS button in the My Domains list and edit nameservers in the Update DNS servers dialog. Nameservers can only be changed while the domain is active.

Once the registry applies the change, recursive DNS caches around the world still need time to refresh. This usually takes anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours. To connect your domain to Yeap DNS, see Connect to Yeap DNS and CDN.

#Transfer a domain out

To move a domain to another registrar:

1. On the domain detail page, click Unlock domain.
2. Click Get next to Auth Code, or choose Get transfer-out code from the More menu in My Domains, and copy the code.
3. Start the transfer at the new registrar and enter the code.