I have a domain registered at hostgator.com which would expire in a day.Now i want to use godaddy for the domain, what would be the best practise for me:1. Wait for the domain to expire and then register it to godaddyOR,2. transfer the domain to godaddy before it's expiryWould the the domain be immediately available at godaddy after it's expiry at hostgator or will it take some time.Thanks in Advance
I want to transfer a domain to another registrar
domains;domain registration
When a domain expires its not a simple case of re-registering, it goes into several periods after where the person or business can renew the account. If you plan to use the domain again then you should proceed with renewing it, and then transferring. Qoute from an answer I left a few months back: Domain Expiration when transfer is processing, will I lose it?Expiring Domains ExplainedWhenever a domain expires you do not lose your domain straight away,  ICAN has policy's in place that gives registers more time to renew  their domain once it has expired. ICANN refers to these as a Grace  Period and a Redemption Period. There is actually 2 stages until  entering the 3rd stage where your domain becomes registerable to other  people.Stage 1: Grace PeriodAs soon as your domain expires your domain enters the Grace Period,  this stage means that you can renew your domain within 30 days without  additional charges apart from the standard renewal cost set by the  registrar. No one else can take your domain during this period and  some domain registrars even allow you to transfer during this period  while many do not. Failing to renew your domain during the standard  allowance of 30 days enters you into the Redemption Period.Stage 2: Redemption PeriodOnce 30 days has passed and the domain in question remains  nonrenewable then it enters the redemption period, this stage of the  expiring process normally lasts 40 days. During this period again like  the Grace Period no one can register your domain and it is still  locked to the original person who registered it. But unlike the grace  period charges to renew the domain will be much more than just the  renewal cost and this varies from registrar to registrar.Stage 3 & 4: Pending Delete & Dropped DomainFailing to renew your domain during the grace and redemption period  will enter the final stage of it being released into the public, this  is referred to as pending delete and dropped. Whenever a .com or .net  TLD is due to drop it will drop around 11AM to 12:15 PST, It is still  renewable during these last final moments.ConclusionYou actually have around 70 days to renew your domain, it doesn't  matter if its in process of being transferred the domain will still be  yours but will require renewing once transfer has completed.