Domain Transfers - How do they work?

Aside from the fact that I'm planning on transferring a domain of mine to Xisto at some point, I'm curious as to how the actual process works. $9.99/year for a new domain or a transferred domain implies to me that regardless of which I do, I get a year from scratch with the domain I choose. What's the actual process in transferring a domain, and what sort of information would Xisto need? Currently I'm lacking the earnings to do it, and I haven't got my hosting plan for it sorted yet, but assuming that I intend to get around to it at some point soonish (likely in the next month or so) is there anything I need to do to prepare for it?

As my domain's currently with NameCheap (who I have no problems with, by the way, I just quite like the idea of having all my domains and hosting in one place and not actually having to "pay" for it as such), yet hosted as an addon domain to my current hosting plan, what's the order of events that I'd have to go through to get a new hosting plan with this domain (both for a year, naturally)?

 

 

 

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Perform the domain transfer way before the expiration date. I am planning to write my experience with Yahoo domain transfers. It was a nightmare and they charged me for renewal just because I didn't transfer in time. But the fact is that they delayed on transferring and charge me anyway.

Anyway, the basic transfer procedure is like this: 1) you sign up domain transfer process with your new registrar 2) unlock your domain from your old registrar 3) the new registrar will ask for domain transfer authorization code (this might be named differently but it's a specific code needed to transfer. This prevents any unauthorized transfer other than the domain owner.) 4) provide domain transfer authorization code to new registrar 5) wait for old domain registrar to accept the transfer initiation 6) the new domain registrar will now "bill" your domain name on behalf of you.

Getting the authorization code to transfer is hard for Yahoo. It's under your DNS control but it's not easy to find. Once you have this code, you simply enter to your new registrar--or follow the direction provided by your new registrar.

Do it in plenty of time to spare. Yahoo took over 7 days in which time my domain was renewed by Yahoo for $35 a year (sons of b**ches!) and I had to go through my credit card company to dispute--which is still pending. You might say no big deal but when 10 domains were renewed like that even after I transferred them to GoDaddy, $35 a pop times 10 isn't pretty

 

 

 

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Hmmm...sounds about right, but I'm curious as to the billing process. With Xisto you effectively build up credit which is deducted whenever you buy any of their products or have to renew one. At what time in this process would you be billed for the domain, and if you order a domain transfer along with a hosting plan are they both approved at the same time?

For instance, say I have a domain currently registered with a registrar other than Xisto. I want to do two things: 1) transfer the domain to Xisto and 2) have it hosted here, under a new hosting plan. Clearly I need a domain name to have hosting at Xisto, but I'd imagine that I'd be billed for the transfer ($9.99 at the last check) and the hosting simultaneously and before the domain transfer took place. I say that, as I can't imagine Xisto waiting for it's regular customers to arrange the domain transfer, and then charge them for it (am I right?).

My question is only really relevant because I'm curious as to whether I would be able to access the hosting plan during the time between ordering the domain transfer with Xisto and its completion, and when I'd be billed for the whole lot. Similarly, would the days between the transfer starting and it being finally "sorted" count towards the hosting time? Say I do all of this on the 1st of December (registering a domain for a year and starting up a hosting plan for a year). Let's assume it gets sorted by the 4th of December (i.e. domain transferred, everything approved etc.). Would I next be billed on the 1st of December 2009 (a year later), 4th of December 2009 (a year after everything was sorted), or some other date? If it's a new domain would the same "time-frame" apply? When would the domain be registered until?

I figure I'd might as well ask all of my questions about billing and domain transfers in one place, so I might as well carry on and ask one more that's been niggling at me:

Would it be possible to actually have the date when your account will be deducted the amount for whatever hosting plan/domain you have shown as well as the date that it's due by? I could still be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's 2 weeks between the two (give or take a day?), but it'd be useful to know for future reference, as I've found myself wondering about it a couple of times.

Sorry for all of the questions, but I guess it'll be useful for anyone else who's interested to have a lot of answers in one place. Thanks in advance!

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I'm quite a new in that field, but I think you can do the whole things step-by-step, validating each step.
1) Order an astahost logic plan, inside an astahost subdomain (myfavouritename.astahost.com)
When everything works, when you verified that your astahost subodmain works, go to step 2.
2) Park your current domain at astahost. This is done via your astahost control pannel.
Here again, check that everything works smoothly and correctly before going to the next step.
3) Transfer your domain to Xisto. Your old domain will remain active until you receive confirmation that your new DNS are at Xisto. At this moment, you put the Xisto nameservers instead of the previous ones in your astahost parked domain tag in your cpanel.
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P.S.
I guess that you should have at least the $3 in your account credit balance in order to be able to feed the first invoice.
P.S.2
I also guess that Xisto will invoice the price of the domain, only when they will receive the acknowledgement that they are now the domain name providers. This question you should simply have confirmation when asking the question via "Submit a Ticket" in your Xisto account Client Area.

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