DNS Belgium: Taking over complete or partial account

How to initiate a bulk transfer of .be domain names

Advantages of using the registry bulk transfer option:

• all domains are moved at once
• all handles are created automatically
• nameserver settings are copied
• expiration date stays unchanged
• transfer codes are not required
• can be used when you have an own registrar account or via a third party (partial transfer)

Requirements

• A completed and signed bulk transfer form (full or partial). Please fill in your registrar ID and registrar name and sign the form.

• A copy of the note that you sent or will send to your customers about this change, if this is different from the example text that is included on the second page of the bulk transfer form. See further down in this article for the requirements to such text.

• In case of a partial take-over, a list of domains to transfer, both as signed PDF and as plain text list.

• When sending those documents to Openprovider, please inform us that you are aware of and approve the costs of the bulk transfer (see below).

Process

After receipt of the required documents and information, Openprovider will schedule the transfer together with the registry. Normally this can be scheduled within a week. The transfer will be completed by Openprovider and the registry, no further action from your side is required.

After the transfer has finished, the domains, contacts and nameservers have been imported into your Openprovider account. From that moment on, you can manage your .be domains through Openprovider.

Depending on the number of domains of the take-over, the import into Openprovider may take up to a couple of hours. That means that any updates must wait until the domain is in Openprovider. In case of urgent updates, we are able to assist you of course!

Costs

The costs of this kind of transfer depend on the number of domains involved:

• 1 - 1.999 domains: € 500
• 2.000 - 4.999 domains: € 1.000
• 5.000+ domains: € 1.500

This is similar to the price that the registry charges to Openprovider.

Even for a small portfolio the minimum fee of € 500 might be considerable, as it will save you a lot of manual effort and time: creation of contacts, retrieving the one-time authorization codes, starting the transfers, loss of registration period, et cetera.

All prices mentioned are excluding VAT.

Domain renewals
Due to the billing processes of DNS Belgium, domains with their expiration date in the current month (between the 1st of the month and the date of import) will be renewed by Openprovider after the import. Be sure to enable auto-renewal in your account before initiating the bulk transfer, and ensure you have sufficient balance for the domains that will be renewed.

Example notification to domain holders

Often, the notification sent to domain holders is based upon the following example. This notification can be sent personally by e-mail, or included in a newsletter. The registry does not define the method of communication, they only require that domain holders are informed, and the notification should contain the following elements:

• information about the new situation
• confirmation that this operation is free of charge for them
• confirmation that the expiration date remains unchanged
• the notification that they may choose another registrar at any time (though such a transfer is not free)

Example notification text: To simplify our administration and optimise our service to our customers, we will change the registrar of your .be domain(s). You will not notice anything from this change: your domain name will continue to function as it always did, the expiration date remains unchanged and no costs apply to this change. If you want to transfer your domain(s) to another registrar, you can do so at any moment. However, the new registrar will charge for such a transfer.

Deleted and quarantined domains

Domains for which a deletion date in the future was set or domains that are in quarantine are handled in a special way:

• Quarantined domains are migrated to Openprovider's registry account, but we do not import them into your account. If you want to restore a domain from quarantine which was not imported, please contact our support department. The regular reactivation costs apply.
• If you have set a deletion date for a domain name, Openprovider will remove that deletion date. The domain will autorenew at its expiration date. If you want to cancel such domain registration, set auto-renew to off for this domain.