Pointing a Namecheap domain at your new site

Two settings change, both in your Namecheap account. Everything else about the domain stays exactly as it is.

This is the guide we send our own clients when we move a site for them, published here in case it is useful to anyone else. The steps are the same whoever does the work — if you are doing this yourself, ignore the parts about replying to our email. The warning below applies either way.

Please wait until we tell you we are ready. Before you change anything we copy your existing settings — your email, your calendars, anything else already using this domain — onto our side. If the change is made before that is done, your email stops arriving. We will email you when it is safe to go ahead.

Changing your nameservers

  1. Sign in and select Domain List in the left sidebar.
  2. Click Manage beside the domain.
  3. In the Nameservers section choose Custom DNS.
  4. Enter the two nameserver addresses you were given, then click the green tick to save.

Namecheap notes that switching between their nameservers and custom ones does not carry your host records across, which is why we copy everything to our side first.

If you would like us to look after the domain entirely

This part is optional, and it can only happen after the step above — the domain has to be pointing at us before its registration can move. It is two jobs at Namecheap: unlocking the domain, and getting us the code that authorizes the move.

Unlock the domain

  1. Still in Domain List, click Manage beside the domain.
  2. Choose Sharing & Transfer from the top menu.
  3. Scroll to Transfer Out and click Unlock beside Domain Lock.

Leave it unlocked only until the move is done — the lock exists to stop somebody else moving your domain.

Get the authorization code and send it to us

  1. In the same Transfer Out section, ask for the Auth Code.
  2. Namecheap will ask why you are transferring out; any honest answer is fine.
  3. The code is emailed to the registrant address on the domain.
  4. Send the code to whoever is handling the transfer — if that is us, reply to our email and paste it in.

It may be called an auth code, an EPP code or a transfer code — they all mean the same thing. It is usually only valid for a few days, so send it to us when you have it rather than saving it for later.

A domain cannot be transferred in the first 60 days after it was registered, or within 60 days of a previous transfer. That is an ICANN rule and nobody can waive it. Namecheap also note that once a transfer has started you cannot change nameservers, so step one is genuinely first.

Last checked against Namecheap's own documentation on 14 August 2026 (sources: 1 · 2). If anything on your screen does not match what is written here, tell us and we will fix this page.