Hey Everyone,
I was just replying to a different thread and noticed this discussion so thought I'd interject and hopefully add some clarification since there are a few issues at play when transferring...
First, there is the new (as of December 2016) ICANN rule permitting registrars to reject transfer of domains if the Registrant has been updated within the past 60 days and in which the Registrant did not opt-out of this 60-day lock. As
@stub mentioned, this rule is implemented differently by registrars. Some default to an implicit opt-out in their terms, some permit opting out in various methods and others do not permit opting out at all.
Next, there is the issue of what is commonly-referred to as "expediting" outgoing transfers. This is technically referred to in EPP/registry land as "ACK" (short for "Acknowledge"). This is the process whereby losing registrars in a transfer can expedite outgoing transfers without the transfer needing to wait for 5-6 days to be completed automatically by the registry. Some registrars allow this, some do not. It is not mandated by ICANN that registrars permit Registrants to expedite/ACK outgoing transfers, but many registrars do.
As a registrar that transfers many domains, I can tell you that there is a lot of misinformation out there about these and other transfer rules. Also, several ccTLDs have their own rules.
A resource and list that may be worth creating as a reference would be one that includes things like whether registrars allow:
- Opting out of the 60-day Registrant change lock
- Permit expediting outgoing transfers
- Allow outgoing transfers for domains using WHOIS privacy (not all do which forces people to remove privacy in order to transfer)
Anyway, hope I was able to shed a little light on this topic