Transfer a Domain

Domain transfer hands a verified domain over to another Taifa Mail account or workspace. The domain keeps its DNS and DKIM setup, and its sender addresses, email forwards and inbox routing move with it. This is useful when an agency returns a client domain, when a personal domain moves into a company workspace, or when ownership changes hands inside a team.

A transfer is a two-sided handshake. The current owner starts it, the recipient accepts it, and a 24-hour safety window runs before ownership actually moves. Nothing changes hands until both sides agree and the safety window ends.

What moves and what stays

Before you start

A transfer cannot begin while the domain has work in flight. Clear these first:

• No broadcast using this domain's senders is currently sending or scheduled.
• No transactional email on this domain is scheduled.
• The recipient already has an Taifa Mail account. Ask them to sign up first if they do not.

The recipient's plan also matters. Their account must have room for another domain under its plan limit. If they are at their limit, the accept screen shows the block before they accept, telling them how many domains they are using and prompting them to upgrade or pick a different workspace. The same limit is enforced when they accept, so a transfer can never push an account past its plan.

Start a transfer

1. Go to Domains in the sidebar and open the domain you want to transfer.
2. Click Transfer in the actions at the top of the page.
3. Enter the recipient's email address. It must match an existing Taifa Mail account.
4. Optionally add a short note. The recipient sees it on the accept screen.
5. Click Send transfer request.

The recipient gets an email with an accept link and an in-app notification. The request stays open for 7 days. While it is pending you can withdraw it at any time with Cancel transfer, and destructive actions on the domain are disabled.

Accept a transfer

If a domain is being transferred to you, you receive an email and an in-app notification, and the request appears under Incoming domain transfers on your dashboard.

1. Open the request from your dashboard or the email link.
2. Review the domain, the sender, and any note.
3. If you belong to more than one workspace, choose which workspace receives the domain.
4. Decide whether to rotate the DKIM key (see below).
5. Click Accept transfer.

Accepting does not move the domain straight away. It starts a 24-hour safety window. During that window the original owner can still stop the transfer. When the window ends, ownership moves automatically and you are notified. You can also Decline a request, which closes it and notifies the sender.

Rotate DKIM key

When accepting, you can choose to rotate the DKIM key:

• Keep the current key (default): no DNS change, no signing gap, sending continues immediately.
• Rotate on transfer: a fresh signing key is minted. You publish a new DKIM TXT record, and there may be a brief signing gap until it propagates.

Keep the current key unless you specifically want a clean cryptographic break from the previous owner.

The 24-hour safety window

The safety window protects against a domain being taken without the real owner noticing. Once a transfer is accepted:

• The original owner gets a "stop this transfer" email with a one-click link, plus an in-app notification.
• The domain page shows how long is left before ownership moves.
• The original owner can stop the transfer at any point during the window. Stopping reverses it completely and ownership never moves.

If nothing stops it, a background job finalises the transfer after the window ends. If a blocking condition appears during the window (for example a new scheduled send), the transfer is reversed rather than stranding that work.

After the transfer completes

When ownership moves, both sides are notified by email and in-app:

• The previous owner sees the domain removed from their account, with its SMTP credentials revoked.
• The new owner sees the domain, its senders, forwards and inbox routing under their account, with a prompt to create new SMTP credentials before sending.

An entry is written to the activity log on both sides for audit.

Stop or cancel a transfer

• Cancel withdraws a request that is still pending (the recipient has not accepted yet). Use Cancel transfer on the domain page.
• Stop reverses a transfer during the 24-hour safety window after it was accepted. Use the one-click link in the "stop this transfer" email. The domain page shows how long is left and reminds you to check that email. The stop link is sent only by email, so an attacker who cannot read your inbox cannot stop you reversing the transfer.

Once the safety window ends and ownership moves, the transfer is complete and cannot be undone from the dashboard. To move the domain back, start a new transfer in the other direction.