Handling domain transfers for newly registered domain names that may be within ICANN's FOA

[Jade D]

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle transfers for domain names that may be subject to transfer restrictions, such as a newly registered domain name that can only be transferred 60 days after the date of registration?

Not too sure if there is a config setting that can be applied to mark a domain as illegible for transfer based on the registration date of the domain?

[WHMCS ChrisD]

Hey Jade,

At this stage, there are abilities to set the Domain Name Length Restrictions & Domain Renewal Restrictions as outlined at  https://docs.whmcs.com/Domains_Configuration#Customising_Domain_Name_Length_Restrictions however as far as I am aware its not possible to add transfer restrictions, there may be a third party solution that achieves this would you like this moved to the developers board to see if a Third Party has some code to assist you?

[Jade D]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for your response and for the offer.

My understanding is that whmcs's code / logic would need to cater for these changes which were introduced by ICANN towards the end of 2016.

If whmcs had provision for this then we could ask Hexonet to update their registrar module to accommodate these changes and update our own registrar module.

One could argue that cctld's and gtld's may be subject to other transfer restriction policies but these could be catered for within whmcs' configuration file such as the example below

$DomainRenewalGracePeriods[".co.za"] = "10";

So based on the above it is probably better to raise this query internally with your dev team considering that it affects 90% of your clients.

[brian!]

22 hours ago, Jade D said:

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle transfers for domain names that may be subject to transfer restrictions, such as a newly registered domain name that can only be transferred 60 days after the date of registration?

I suspect WHMCS just relies on the transfer failing (e.g the registrar will reject the application if within 60 days of registration), so WHMCS doesn't have to do anything itself... though from an order process point of view, I could see the benefit of what you're suggesting.

the same as it could be useful for some TLDs if additional domain fields were available to transfers too and not just registrations - but that's a different, yet semi-related, matter.

22 hours ago, Jade D said:

Not too sure if there is a config setting that can be applied to mark a domain as illegible for transfer based on the registration date of the domain?

AFAIK, all WHMCS does when a user initiates a transfer is to check whether the domain is registered - if it isn't, then it rejects the submission; if it is, then subject to an optional EPP code being entered, the transfer continues.

whether it could actually get the registration date for all transfer TLDs would be questionable, e.g I don't think .au domains return registration dates via whois...

generally speaking, when a feature can get complicated to develop (with no simple quick solution that can be applied universally), WHMCS tend to avoid dealing with it like the plague - so redemption fees took years before they were (awkwardly) introduced in v7.5 and I could give other similar examples.

6 hours ago, Jade D said:

So based on the above it is probably better to raise this query internally with your dev team considering that it affects 90% of your clients.

with the best will in the world, I doubt you would see something like this before v8 - even if the developers went into Turbo mode.. so that's next year at the earliest.

this has the whiff of a feature request, and WHMCS are not the fasting when it comes to completing them.

I suppose if you wanted to do it yourself, then the ShoppingCartValidateDomain hook could be used for your own custom checks, but possibly you may need to do it for specific TLDs only.

[Jade D]

Thanks for the response Brian - I'm hoping that one of the dev's at whmcs will notice this thread and consider it for addition within one of the next available updates, even if it is version 8.

Understandably there are many variations to registration and transfer policies between registries so its not the simplest and uniform "domain" to develop within how ever it is one that needs some attention after-all. Try explaining to a non technical user who has paid for a transfer that they cant transfer their domain and have to leave it with their previous host for X amount of days.

Im sure opensrs would be willing to assist whmcs with the basics considering that there is already a relationship between both parties and opensrs and other major registrars have this information readily available.

[brian!]

22 hours ago, Jade D said:

Thanks for the response Brian - I'm hoping that one of the dev's at whmcs will notice this thread and consider it for addition within one of the next available updates, even if it is version 8.

it's a tortuous affair to get the devs to do anything suggested by the users... to get it done quickly is nigh on impossible... just think of the recent exchange rates hotfix, where it took them three weeks to publicly release it for v7.3/4/5 - and that's basically just a one-line URL change.

22 hours ago, Jade D said:

Try explaining to a non technical user who has paid for a transfer that they cant transfer their domain and have to leave it with their previous host for X amount of days. 

then WHMCS would probably suggest that you modify the template and mention there that for gTLD, they need to wait x days after registration before they can transfer.... now I know that you want WHMCS to detect this itself in the background upon transfer submission, and I wouldn't have a problem with it if it did, i'm merely suggesting that don't expect it to happen quickly.

22 hours ago, Jade D said:

Im sure opensrs would be willing to assist whmcs with the basics considering that there is already a relationship between both parties and opensrs and other major registrars have this information readily available.

i'm sure that it's not a case of the devs not knowing the basics on this - they surely must - it's going to be them judging the need for this, combined with the development time required to implement it.

as an example, there's a feature request for this from three years ago.... it's received a total of 2 votes in those 3 years (and I assume one was from the OP themselves!)... so whatever criteria they apply for deciding what features to add, there's seemingly no great groundswell of support for this...

though occasionally, then seem to use other criteria about what to add.... 🙄

Quote

I wasn't involved in the design decision to include domain suggestions in the admin area, so cannot comment on that. But I have personally spoken with multiple customers who have expected to see the domain suggestions in the admin checker too.

nobody seemingly asked for it through feature requests, but the feature got added anyway (and added after the last beta without any public testing or notification either) - just insane!

[Jade D]

14 hours ago, brian! said:

as an example, there's a feature request for this from three years ago.... it's received a total of 2 votes in those 3 years (and I assume one was from the OP themselves!)... so whatever criteria they apply for deciding what features to add, there's seemingly no great groundswell of support for this...

Hey Brian

This is exactly what is required of whmcs' code and pretty much what I was asking for - pity that its only received two votes and that no one has considered the importance of it.

[brian!]

11 hours ago, Jade D said:

This is exactly what is required of whmcs' code and pretty much what I was asking for - pity that its only received two votes and that no one has considered the importance of it.

when you vote for it, that will be 3. 🙂

[Jade D]

13 hours ago, brian! said:

when you vote for it, that will be 3. 🙂

aha, I tried to login and add the third vote but wasnt able to. I have two profiles on whmcs due to billing.....

[brian!]

4 hours ago, Jade D said:

aha, I tried to login and add the third vote but wasnt able to. I have two profiles on whmcs due to billing.....

i've just voted on it for you - consider it a proxy vote on your behalf! 🙂

[Jade D]

14 hours ago, brian! said:

i've just voted on it for you - consider it a proxy vote on your behalf! 🙂

I just managed to get registered on their requests section and cast a proxy vote on your behalf