Domain registrar · Bluehost
Transfer a domain to Bluehost
Every registrar transfer follows the same ICANN process, so the part worth knowing is what the receiving registrar does differently. This page is about Bluehost as the destination — its requirements, its flow, and the ways it refuses a transfer.
Nothing here depends on where the domain is now. Getting the authorization code is your current registrar's business; everything below is Bluehost's.
Checked against Bluehost's documentation on August 9, 2026.
What is different about Bluehost
The process is standardised. These are the parts that are not — the things that are true of Bluehost and not of everyone else.
It takes payment before it will accept your code
Bluehost adds the domain to a cart and takes payment first, asking for the authorization code afterwards. If you are used to registrars that validate up front this feels backwards, and it means a bad code is discovered after the charge. Have the code in hand before you start checkout.
The fee includes a year's renewal
On most gTLDs the transfer charge is not purely a fee — it extends the registration by a year on top of the time already remaining, which carries across. You are buying a year, not paying a toll.
It will not accept .uk
Check your extension before doing anything else. For these, no amount of preparation helps — you need a different receiving registrar.
Bluehost at a glance
- Documented duration
- up to 7 days
- Adds a year
- Yes, on most gTLDs
- Where to start
- Bluehost → Domain Transfer, then Domains → Transfer Status → the plus icon next to Pending Auth Code
- Eligibility check
- After payment
- Keeps your nameservers
- Preserved by default
- Not accepted
- .uk
Step-by-step
- 1On your computer
Confirm the domain is eligible
The waiting periods are enforced at the registry, so they cannot be waived by either company. Check before you spend anything.
- More than 60 days since registration and since any previous transfer
- No registrant contact change in the last 60 days
Check status and dateswhois example.com | grep -i -E 'creation|expiry|transfer|status' - 2At your current provider
Unlock the domain and get the authorization code
This happens at your current registrar, not here. Every registrar has both controls somewhere; what varies is whether the code appears on screen or arrives by email.
- Turn off the transfer lock, then request the code
- Codes are case- and character-sensitive — a trailing space from copy-paste is enough to have one rejected
- If the code is emailed, it goes to the registrant address on the domain, so make sure that is one you can read
- 3At Bluehost
Start the transfer at Bluehost
Bluehost → Domain Transfer, then Domains → Transfer Status → the plus icon next to Pending Auth Code.
- Payment comes first here, so have the authorization code ready before you begin
- 4Either side
Approve the transfer rather than waiting it out
Left alone, a transfer completes on ICANN's timetable after about five days. Approving the confirmation email at the losing registrar is what actually accelerates it.
- Watch the registrant email for messages from both registrars
- Bluehost documents up to 7 days
- 5At Bluehost
Check what arrived
Once the domain appears in your Bluehost account, confirm the things that quietly do not carry over.
- Auto-renew is off by default after most transfers — turn it on
- Nameservers unchanged, so the site never went down
- Expiry extended by the year the fee covered
- Contact details correct, and privacy re-enabled if you want it
Best practice
The habits that make this go smoothly, independent of which providers are involved.
- Renew before transferring if the domain expires soon; the remaining time carries across, so nothing is wasted
- Leave nameservers alone during the transfer, and move DNS as a separate step afterwards
- Do not change registrant contact details in the 60 days before a planned transfer
- Have the authorization code in hand before starting checkout at Bluehost, because payment comes first
- Turn auto-renew on immediately after the transfer completes
- Keep the old registrar account open until the domain has definitely landed at Bluehost
What goes wrong
The failures that actually happen when Bluehost is the destination.
Changing contact details can lock the domain for 60 days
Can cause downtimeThe most avoidable failure in any registrar transfer. Someone updates the registrant email so they can receive the auth code, and that change starts a fresh 60-day transfer lock — turning a one-week job into a two-month wait. If the address on file is readable, leave it alone. Do contact tidying after the transfer, not before.
You pay before the code is validated
Can cause delaysBluehost charges first and takes the authorization code second, so a wrong or expired code is discovered after the transaction. Get the code, confirm it looks complete, and only then check out.
.uk are not accepted
Can cause downtimeConfirm your extension first. This is a hard limit rather than something a support ticket resolves.
A transfer does not move your website
Can cause downtimeAfter this completes, Bluehost bills you for the domain and your website is still wherever it was. If you then cancel the old hosting, the site goes offline — the transfer did nothing to prevent that.
Where are you coming from?
Most of this job depends on the destination. These are the bits that depend on where you are coming from.
Getting a code out of Bluehost later
Worth knowing on the way in, because the ability to leave is a fair thing to check. Bluehost exposes it at Bluehost portal → Domains → the Move & Access tab → Request Auth Code, emailed to the registrant address.
If your current registrar emails the code
Expect a delay of up to 24 hours before you can even begin at Bluehost — and since payment comes first here, do not check out until it has arrived.
If the code is refused
Check for whitespace at either end before assuming it is wrong. At Bluehost this is discovered after payment, so a fresh code request means waiting again on an order already placed.
Know exactly where you are moving from?
Common questions
How long does a transfer to Bluehost take?
Bluehost documents up to 7 days. Approving the confirmation email at your current registrar shortens it considerably; ignoring it means waiting out the automatic release.
Will my website or email go down?
No, provided the nameservers stay as they are. A registrar transfer preserves the existing DNS delegation, so resolution is unaffected and visitors notice nothing.
Why is my transfer being refused?
In order of likelihood: fewer than 60 days since registration or a previous transfer; a registrant contact change inside that window; the domain still locked; a wrong or expired authorization code; or too close to expiry.
Do I lose the time left on my registration?
No. The remaining period carries across and the transfer adds a further year on most gTLDs.
Reference documentation
Provider interfaces change. When these steps and the official documentation disagree, the documentation wins.
The same job at other providers
Transfer a domain to GoDaddy
It checks eligibility before taking your money
Transfer a domain to SiteGround
It checks eligibility before taking your money
Transfer a domain to Hostinger
It takes payment before it will accept your code
Transfer a domain to Cloudflare
It checks eligibility before taking your money
Want this done for you?
I move sites onto Bluehost regularly — files, database, DNS and the registrar — with the old provider kept as a rollback until it has settled.