You don't need to transfer your domain to use it with GUDHOST. It can stay with any registrar: just add the DNS records shown under Websites in your GUDHOST account. A transfer only changes which company you renew the domain with.
If you do want to move a domain from one registrar to another, you'll need two things from your current registrar.
1. Unlock the domain
Registrars lock domains to prevent unauthorised transfers. A WHOIS lookup (for example with ICANN Lookup) shows the lock as clientTransferProhibited.
Turn off the lock (often called transfer lock or domain lock) in your registrar account. If there's no option for it, ask your registrar to remove it. Some registrars also ask you to turn off ownership protection or privacy and confirm your identity first. At GoDaddy, for example, this is in the domain's settings under Transfer domain away from GoDaddy.
2. Get the EPP code
The authorisation code, also called the EPP or auth code, is a password for the transfer. Your registrar shows it in your account or emails it to the domain's admin contact. You give it to the new registrar when you start the transfer.
The 60-day rule
For generic domains such as .com, .net and .org, ICANN rules block transfers for 60 days after a domain is registered or last transferred, and often after the owner's contact details change. This lock can't be lifted early. If you also want to update your contact details, transfer first and change them afterwards.
Country domains follow their own registry's rules. For example, .uk domains don't use an EPP code: instead, your current registrar changes the domain's tag to the one the new registrar gives you.
Before you start
- Make sure the admin contact email on the domain works, because transfer approval emails go there.
- For most generic domains, a transfer includes a year's renewal.
- Your website keeps working during the transfer as long as its DNS records stay in place. If your DNS moves with the domain, re-create the A records for @ and www, and any email records, at the new registrar.