Website migrations move files, databases, and DNS so a site keeps answering. Domain transfers move registration from one registrar account to another. ICANN’s transfer policy is about auth codes, locks, and who controls the name — not about WordPress. Mixing the two is how deals stall.
This URL still reads like a zero-downtime site move. It stays. I’m Mostapha; I buy and sell names from Morocco. Most of my buyers wanted a push, not my hosting. Score the letters in the Domain Value Checker before you quote a “migration package.” FAQ.
If you are selling the name
Use a domain escrow, not a freelance “I’ll copy the server.” Escrow.com (and equivalent domain-aware escrow at marketplaces) holds funds until the name is in the buyer’s account. Confirm who owns it today with ICANN Lookup. Unlock, provide the auth code, leave nameservers still unless the contract says otherwise. Panic-changing hosts during escrow looks like theft. Lock and 2FA: domain security.
You usually do not owe them your WordPress. A clean lander can stay up until the push, then they point DNS. What to put on the name instead of a stack: parking, a lander, or a VPS. Price the string, not the migrate checklist: before you sell.
If you are buying the name
Registrar first, server second. Get the name into an account you control, verify Lookup shows you, then decide where it points. Do not rebuild a site on the seller’s VPS “to keep traffic.” You may be paying for their malware. After the push, park or lander, then a copy if you must build, not on the hostname you just paid for.
ICANN describes the auth info code as the key to the transfer. If the seller cannot produce it, there is no deal. If they want to “just change nameservers and keep billing the domain,” you do not own it yet. Checker before you buy still comes before escrow.
When a site move is a separate contract
Sometimes the buyer wants the running shop. That is a second asset: files, customers, email. Write it down. Domain escrow does not automatically include a database. Hosting invoices and theme licenses do not travel with the name unless you say so. Nameserver stillness during that double move: treat DNS as part of the asset.
Decision
- Checker: is the name even worth a transfer fee?
- Sell/buy the registration via escrow and ICANN transfer rules — not via cPanel export.
- Move a website only if both sides asked for it, after the name has a clear owner.
This page used to be a traffic-preserving migration checklist. Keep the Google row. The investor checklist is shorter: own the name, then optionally own a site. Never confuse the invoices.