Transfer
Registrar-to-registrar pushes
We hold active accounts at every registrar on this page so we can move a domain directly between two of them without the seller ever exposing their registrant info to a stranger.
Partners
Every deal we close runs through one of these ten platforms.
Domain brokerage is a registrar game. Where a seller holds their domain, where escrow can clear, and where the buyer eventually wants it parked all change which path a deal takes. Here are the ten registrars and marketplaces Laser AI works with on virtually every transaction, and what each one is actually good at.
Escrow
Licensed escrow on every deal
Escrow.com for USD, Sedo escrow for EUR cross-border, Afternic native escrow for inline-marketplace closes. The buyer's funds never reach the seller before the domain reaches the buyer.
DNS
Cutover with no email downtime
Every acquired domain has legacy MX, A, and TXT records. We rebuild them at the destination registrar before the push, then cut over with zero inbound-email loss.
01 — 10
The ten registrars and marketplaces, ranked by how often we touch them.
GD
№01
1997 · Tempe, AZ
NYSE: GDDY
GoDaddy
The default for sellers, the largest secondary marketplace in the world.
GoDaddy controls more aftermarket inventory than any other registrar — roughly six of every ten brokered deals globally touch its rails. We maintain reseller and brokerage relationships to pull listing data, run private comp searches, and execute account-to-account pushes when the seller will not move the domain off-platform.
Strengths
- Largest aftermarket inventory through Afternic and GoDaddy Auctions
- Fast push-transfers between two GoDaddy accounts (often same-day)
- Strong WHOIS history data via integrated tools
Trade-offs
Public listings carry markups; the dashboard buries premium DNS and 2FA settings; renewal pricing climbs after year one.
Best for
Buyers acquiring a domain already listed on Afternic or held by a GoDaddy seller.
NC
№02
2000 · Phoenix, AZ
Private
Namecheap
Founder-friendly pricing, clean dashboard, the indie hacker default.
Roughly a third of the founders we close for already hold their secondary domains at Namecheap. After acquisition we routinely transfer assets there because the cost structure is honest, the API is well-documented, and the 2FA and account-recovery flow is harder to social-engineer than most of its competitors.
Strengths
- Aggressive first-year and transfer pricing on .com and .io
- Free WhoisGuard privacy on every domain
- Modern API for automated DNS and bulk transfers
Trade-offs
Limited premium aftermarket inventory; sparse support for less common ccTLDs; no native escrow integration.
Best for
Founders who want a clean home registrar for the long term once a domain is acquired.
SD
№03
2001 · Cologne, Germany
Private (United Internet)
Sedo
The European secondary market — deepest comp database in the industry.
Sedo's closed-transaction archive is the single most useful pricing tool in domain brokerage. When we anchor a negotiation we cite Sedo comps. We also use Sedo escrow for cross-border deals where the seller does not trust Escrow.com or prefers euro settlement.
Strengths
- Largest historical comp database — 19M+ closed transactions
- Native multi-currency escrow built into the platform
- Strong reach into European, Asian, and ccTLD sellers
Trade-offs
Buy-it-now prices on listed inventory are often 2–4x what the same owner will accept off-market; the UI shows its age.
Best for
Pulling comparable-sale data and negotiating with European registrants.
AF
№04
1999 · acquired by GoDaddy 2013
Part of GDDY
Afternic
GoDaddy's premium-listing arm — distributed to 100+ partner registrars.
Every hunt starts with an Afternic check. About one in eight targets is already listed — those are the easy days. For the rest, the listed-but-overpriced inventory still tells us what the seller hopes for, which sets the ceiling for the off-market conversation that follows.
Strengths
- Listings syndicated across every major registrar's search bar
- Fast-Transfer network for one-click closing on opted-in inventory
- Anonymous offer routing through registrar partners
Trade-offs
Asking prices skew high because sellers know listings reach every retail buyer; quality of seller responsiveness varies wildly.
Best for
First check on whether a target domain is publicly listed and at what price.
SP
№05
2023 · Phoenix, AZ
Namecheap subsidiary
Spaceship
Namecheap's next-gen registrar — radical simplicity, honest pricing, everything in one place.
Spaceship is what Namecheap should have looked like if it were invented today. We transfer acquired domains there for founders who value a calm UX, honest pricing, and a single place to manage DNS, email routing, and forwarding. The onboarding flow is the fastest in the industry — a domain pushed into Spaceship is live with DNS records in under five minutes.
Strengths
- Cleanest, most modern registrar dashboard — built from scratch with zero legacy UI debt
- At-cost registration plus a small flat fee; renewals stay transparent and low
- Unified domain, DNS, email, and hosting in a single control plane with no upsell friction
Trade-offs
Still building aftermarket marketplace inventory; newer platform means some edge-case TLD support is trailing older registrars; no native escrow yet for third-party sales.
Best for
Founders who want a modern, uncluttered home for acquired domains without dashboard fatigue.
DY
№06
2002 · San Mateo, CA
Private
Dynadot
Independent registrar with the deepest .ai inventory and tooling.
Dynadot has invested more in .ai infrastructure than any other registrar. We hold a brokerage account there for outreach to .ai-specific sellers, marketplace bids on premium .ai inventory, and the fastest registrar-to-registrar pushes for .ai transfers.
Strengths
- Best-in-class .ai search, registration, and renewal pricing
- Marketplace with strong supply of one- and two-word .ai names
- Sophisticated bulk-management tooling for portfolio holders
Trade-offs
UI is engineer-first and intimidating to non-technical buyers; support response times vary by tier.
Best for
Anything involving the .ai TLD — registration, marketplace search, transfers.
01
№07
1999 · Carlsbad, CA
Private
101domain
The ccTLD and exotic-TLD specialist — 800+ extensions supported.
When a hunt involves a German, French, Japanese, or Brazilian ccTLD that requires in-country presence, 101domain is who we route through. Their compliance team handles the trustee paperwork that mass-market registrars refuse to touch, which lets us close deals on .de and .com.br without forcing the founder to incorporate locally.
Strengths
- Supports nearly every ccTLD, including registry-restricted ones (.de, .fr, .com.au)
- Local-presence and trustee services for restricted TLDs
- Hands-on concierge support for complex international transfers
Trade-offs
Higher per-domain pricing than mass-market registrars; pace of negotiation matches the registries it works with (slow).
Best for
International AI startups acquiring local-market ccTLDs alongside the global .com or .ai.
MM
№08
1999 · acquired by Newfold Digital 2022
Boise, ID
MarkMonitor
Enterprise-grade brand-protection registrar used by the Fortune 100.
Once a brand crosses a meaningful trademark threshold, we hand the primary domain off to MarkMonitor (or CSC Global). Both are equipped to defend against domain hijacking, registrar social engineering, and the dictionary-attack squatting that follows any well-known AI launch. We coordinate the transfer from the negotiation registrar into the enterprise registrar as the final step of a deal.
Strengths
- Enterprise SSO, role-based access, and audit logging
- Active brand monitoring and UDRP filing support
- Highest-grade registrar-lock and DNSSEC implementation
Trade-offs
Annual contracts only; per-domain pricing is 5–20x mass-market registrars; not appropriate for under-Series-B companies.
Best for
Series B+ AI companies whose primary domain has become a meaningful trademark asset.
CF
№09
2018 (registrar) · 2009 (Cloudflare)
NYSE: NET
Cloudflare Registrar
At-cost registration paired with the world's best edge DNS.
Most AI companies we close deals for end up running on Cloudflare DNS within ninety days. We frequently push acquired domains directly into Cloudflare Registrar after escrow, which gives the founder at-cost renewals forever, hardware-key-enforced security, and a single dashboard for DNS, email routing, and edge configuration.
Strengths
- At-cost pricing — registry wholesale plus zero markup
- DNS, DDoS protection, and Workers in the same control plane
- Account security model (hardware-key required) is the hardest to compromise
Trade-offs
Supports a limited TLD list; transfers in only (no domain registration of brand-new names); no marketplace.
Best for
Long-term home for a primary .com after acquisition, paired with Cloudflare DNS.
PB
№10
2014 · Portland, OR
Private
Porkbun
Independent registrar with honest pricing and a strong reputation.
Porkbun has earned a quiet reputation as the registrar that does not try to upsell. We route transfers there for founders running lean — solo builders, pre-seed companies, anyone who wants honest renewal pricing and does not need enterprise tooling. Their API and DNS are reliable, support is human, and the marketplace is starting to surface real inventory.
Strengths
- Genuinely low first-year and renewal pricing, no bait-and-switch
- Free WHOIS privacy, SSL, and email forwarding included
- Marketplace growing quickly with founder-friendly seller terms
Trade-offs
Smaller aftermarket inventory; limited enterprise tooling; brand recognition still building outside the indie ecosystem.
Best for
Indie AI founders who want a no-nonsense registrar for secondary domains and dev projects.
You do not need to pick the registrar. We pick the path that closes the deal.
Tell us the name. We tell you which platform the seller is on, where escrow should clear, and where the domain should live once it is yours.