Dear Bruce,

Thank you very much for all your information. Firstly, I must say that  
I am quite certain that no Transfer Confirmations were received by any  
of my clients throughout last year, yet RegistryWeb managed to move  
several domains from MelbourneIT to Namescout and then in this last  
instance again to PlanetDomain.

All the domains in question were initially registered with RegistryWeb,  
but I must admit at the time it didn't occur to me that it mattered  
that RegistryWeb was a Reseller, not a Registrar.

Am I correct in that it is the responsibility of the gaining Registrar  
to send out a Transfer Confirmation to the Registrant?  I am still a  
little confused ... how is it that RegistryWeb can initiate the  
transfer without approval of their customer, yet hold none of the  
responsibility?   I must be missing something.

My client would like to transfer and renew their domain name with the  
ISP that hosts their Web site. However, in order to do this, to start  
with, we need a Domain Password.  When RegistryWeb are asked for the  
Domain Password, they send us the Invoice Number of the account with  
them. I am now waiting for PlanetDomain to oblige and give us the  
Domain Password.

However, I'm afraid that when we finally manage somehow to get the  
Domain Password, and the Transfer Request is sent to the Registrant  
Contact Email (which will be that security handle instead) it will  
never reach the client - it will just disappear and then nothing will  
happen. I say this only because it has happened many times in the past  
when trying to transfer .com's from RegistryWeb. It is impossible.   
Very unfair to the client and has been a true waste of time.

Any further comments, suggestions or help would be most appreciated.

Thanking again, Sandra

On Friday, January 23, 2004, at 04:45 PM, Bruce Tonkin wrote:

> Hello Sandra,
>
> The transfer process is listed below
> (taken from: http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-2003-03.txt )
>
> Basically your client should have received a transfer confirmation
> message, and must reply to that message.
>
> With respect to resellers managing transfers:
> From: http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-2003-06.txt
>
> " 2.1 Where the gaining registrar has received a written request for
> transfer from a reseller and it is clear that the registrant contact
> email address is that of the same reseller, it is not sufficient to  
> send
> a standard transfer confirmation message to that email address.
>
> 2.2 In these circumstances, the gaining registrar must:
>
> a) send a standard transfer confirmation message to the registrant
> contact by letter or facsimile, and
> receive an affirmative response from the registrant contact by letter,
> facsimile or email; or
>
> b) arrange for the registrant contact email address to be updated with
> the registrant contact's own
> email address (and not the reseller), and then send the standard
> transfer confirmation message to that
> email address."
>
>
> Regards,
> Bruce
>
>
>
>
> 4. TRANSFER PROCEDURE
>
> 4.1	Prior to sending a transfer command to the registry, the gaining
> registrar must:
>
> a) receive a written request for transfer (see definition in paragraph
> 2.1) that includes a valid
> domain name password for the domain name;
>
> b) use the password to retrieve the full domain name record from the
> registry database;
>
> c) send a standard transfer confirmation message (see definition in
> paragraph 2.1) to the person who
> has requested the transfer and to the registrant contact listed in the
> database (if different);
>
> d) receive an affirmative response from the registrant contact by
> letter, facsimile or email; and
>
> e) enter into a new Registrant Agreement for the remaining term of the
> domain name licence period, or
> for a new 2 year licence period where the transfer is combined with
> renewal.
>
> 4.2	The gaining registrar must not provide the means for a
> registrant, or a reseller acting on
> behalf of a registrant, to automatically initiate a transfer command to
> the registry (for example, by
> submitting an online form that sends a transfer command to the
> registry). The gaining registrar must
> satisfy the requirements listed in paragraph 4.1 before initiating the
> transfer command to the registry.
>
> 4.3	The gaining registrar must keep full records of the transfer for
> inspection by auDA on demand,
> including copies of the written request for transfer, the standard
> transfer confirmation message and
> the affirmative response from the registrant contact.
>
> 4.4	Transfers that have been properly authorised and processed
> according to the requirements of
> this policy and any procedural requirements of the registry, will
> proceed 2 days after initiation by
> the gaining registrar (unless the transfer is accepted earlier by the
> losing registrar).
>
> *******************************************************************
>
> DOMAIN NAME TRANSFER - REQUEST FOR CONFIRMATION
>
> Attention: <insert registrant contact name>
>
> Re: Transfer of <insert domain name>
>
> The current registrar of record for this domain name is <insert name of
> losing registrar>
>
> We have received a request from <insert name of person requesting
> transfer> for us to become the new
> registrar of record.
>
> You have received this message because you are listed as the registrant
> contact for this domain name in
> the WHOIS database.
>
> Please read the following important information about transferring your
> domain name:
>
> * You must agree to enter into a new Registrant Agreement with us. You
> can review the full terms and
> conditions of the Agreement at <insert URL>
> * Once you have entered into the Agreement, the transfer will take  
> place
> within 2 calendar days.
> * The transfer will not change the expiry date of your domain name,
> which is <insert expiry date>.
>
> If you wish to proceed with the transfer, please contact us <insert
> gaining registrar contact details>
> with the following message:
>
> "I confirm that I have read the Domain Name Transfer - Request for
> Confirmation Message.
>
> I confirm that I wish to proceed with the transfer of <insert domain
> name> from <insert name of losing
> registrar> to <insert name of gaining registrar>."
>
> Please note that all registrars must comply with the .au Domain Name
> Suppliers' Code of Practice
> (http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-2002-26.txt) and auDA's transfers
> policy
> (http://www.auda.org.au/docs/auda-2003-03.txt).
>
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