Getting your domain name back in five steps.

Published on 12 September 2026 · 6 min read

A site can be rebuilt. A domain name with eight years of history, inbound links and your email addresses cannot. That is why we always buy the domain in the client's name and why our terms and conditions provide for it to be transferred on request and free of charge.

Not every supplier works this way. If yours holds your domain, here is the procedure.

Step 1 — Find out where it is and whose it is

Two things to distinguish: the registrant (the legal owner) and the registrar (the company the domain is registered with).

For a .ch, the public directory of the Swiss registry (SWITCH's whois, via nic.ch) gives you the registrar. For a .com, ICANN's whois search. The registrant's details are often hidden for data protection reasons, but the registrar is always visible — and that is what you need.

Note the expiry date as well. If it is less than fifteen days away, treat the matter as urgent: an expired domain can be bought by anyone.

Step 2 — Ask for the transfer, in writing

Write the supplier a short, factual message, explicitly asking for these three things:

• the transfer authorisation code (called the auth code, EPP code or authcode);
• the unlocking of the domain (the transfer lock);
• the change of registrant to your name, if the domain is not already in your name.

Set a reasonable deadline — ten working days — and keep a written record. In the vast majority of cases that is enough: most suppliers have no wish to hold hostage the domain of a client who is leaving.

Step 3 — Open an account with a registrar, in your name

Create the account with your email address and your card — that account is what will make you the owner for the next ten years. Do not use an address that depends on the domain you are transferring: if the transfer goes wrong, you lose access to your mailbox at the same time as the domain.

For a .ch, a Swiss registrar makes billing and support simpler. The going rate is around ten francs a year; the price difference between registrars is negligible, the quality of the support is not.

Step 4 — Start the transfer

From the new registrar: “transfer a domain”, then the name and the authorisation code. The registry sends a confirmation request to the registrant's address. Confirm it.

Count one to seven days depending on the extension. During that time, your site and your emails carry on working: a registrar transfer does not change the DNS. This is a frequent and unfounded worry.

Two details that cause trouble: a domain registered or transferred less than sixty days ago cannot be transferred again (an ICANN rule), and a domain left locked will make the request fail without any clear explanation.

Step 5 — Check the DNS, and above all the email

Once the transfer is complete, open the DNS zone at the new registrar and compare it with the old one, line by line. Most registrars copy the records across automatically, but not all.

Look in particular at:

• the A and CNAME records, which point the site;
• the MX records, which bring in your email — this is where the accidents happen;
• the TXT records of the SPF, DKIM and DMARC type, without which your emails end up in the junk folder.

Do the check on a weekday, in the morning, and send yourself a test email from an outside address within the hour.

If the supplier does not reply

1. Follow up in writing, by registered post if need be, citing your contract and setting a deadline.
2. Write to the registrar directly with your proof of ownership: renewal invoices, commercial register extract, registered trade mark. Registrars have a procedure for ownership disputes.
3. For a .ch, the Swiss registry has a dispute resolution procedure; for generic extensions, it is WIPO's UDRP procedure. They are designed for cases of bad faith and they have a cost.
4. As a last resort, buy a variant (.ch instead of .com, or a slightly different name) and redirect. You lose history, but you take back control — and it is often less costly than a six-month procedure.

So that it does not happen again

• The domain is registered in your name, on an account you hold the credentials for.
• The account's email address does not depend on the domain itself.
• Automatic renewal is switched on, against a valid card.
• The transfer lock is switched on in normal times: that is what prevents a hijacking.
• Your credentials are written down somewhere other than in one person's head.

We apply this by default: the domain is bought in your name, it remains your property at all times, and it is transferred to you on request free of charge, including if you go elsewhere. It is written in our terms, which is the only place where it counts. If you have a domain to recover before rebuilding your site, tell us: it is an operation we carry out regularly.