Changing domain ownership

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Changing domain ownership

Last updated October 06, 2026 22:05

Transfer your Squarespace domain to another person.

If you're the current owner of a domain, also known as the registered name holder, you can change the owner of your domain to another person. After you transfer ownership, you, along with any domain managers, will no longer have access to the domain. The new owner can reinvite any domain managers back as needed.

Transferring domain ownership is useful if, for example, you're leaving an organization and want to shift the responsibility of domain management to another person.

Tip: If your domain shares billing information with a Squarespace website, visit Changing site ownership to transfer ownership of your site and domain at the same time.

This guide explains how to transfer domain ownership to another person. To transfer a third-party domain to Squarespace, review Transferring a domain to a Squarespace site. To transfer a domain away from Squarespace, visit Transferring a domain away from Squarespace. To understand all of the different ways to move a domain, visit Choosing the right option for moving your Squarespace domain.

Before you begin

In Squarespace, domain ownership is established by the Owner permission level. While you can have multiple contributors with manager permissions on a domain, a domain can only have one owner. Owners can't be removed by any other contributor.

When you transfer ownership of a domain, keep in mind:

  • We'll remove the payment method on file for the domain. The new domain owner adds a payment method as part of the ownership transfer process.
  • The domain's DNS settings, custom nameservers, and forwarding rules don't change.
  • The contact information on file for the domain doesn't change, but you can update it manually.
  • Connected domains disconnect from the site they're connected to when the new owner accepts the transfer. Reconnect it afterward as needed.
  • If your domain has a Google Workspace subscription purchased through Squarespace, the new domain owner becomes the account holder and responsible for payment, unless you cancel your subscription before the transfer is complete.
  • If your domain is grouped, you'll need to transfer ownership of each domain separately. Changing the owner of one domain doesn't automatically change the owner of all domains in that group. To change the ownership of multiple domains in a group, follow the steps in this guide for each domain whose ownership you want to change.
  • If you registered your domain through a third-party reseller that isn't Google Workspace, contact your reseller for help changing the owner of your domain. If you registered your domain through Google Workspace, contact us for help.
  • PayPal Payment Links will stop working and PayPal will disconnect from the domain.
  • Pay Links on Domains will stop working if you transfer ownership of the domain.
  • If you have a Google Workspace subscription associated with the domain, ensure it's not past-due. Otherwise, it won't transfer with the domain.
  • If you have an Essential Email by Titan subscription, you can't transfer ownership.

Eligibility

Check the domain's contact information

Before starting the domain transfer process, ensure the current domain owner’s contact information is correctly registered. To do that, go to the Domains Dashboard, and click your desired domain. In the Overview panel, review or edit the details in Registration Information.

Initiate the domain ownership transfer

To transfer ownership of a Squarespace domain that doesn't share billing or permission settings with a website:

  1. If you haven't already, invite the future domain owner as a domain manager to the domain and ensure they accept the invitation.
  2. Open your domains dashboard and click your domain.
  3. Click Permissions, then click … next to the future domain owner's name.
  4. Click Transfer Domain Ownership. Enter your current password, or if you have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled, reauthenticate your account using your 2FA method and click Continue.
  5. Click Send confirmation email. This sends you a confirmation email with the subject Confirm ownership transfer of [domain]. Confirm you want to initiate ownership transfer by clicking Start ownership transfer.

If your domain shares billing information with a Squarespace website, visit Changing site ownership to transfer ownership of your site and domain at the same time.

Tip: The domain owner transfer process won’t begin until after you confirm the transfer via the confirmation email.

Accept the domain ownership transfer

After the current owner confirms the transfer of the domain, the new owner receives an email with the subject Domain ownership transfer request for [domain].

As the new owner:

  1. Open the email and click Accept domain ownership.
  2. If you aren't already logged in, log into your Squarespace account when prompted. Your Squarespace account email must match the email address that we sent the ownership transfer invitation to.
  3. Click Accept ownership in the pop-up window that appears.
  4. Confirm your existing payment method or enter a new payment method for the domain.
  5. Click Complete ownership transfer to complete the transfer. After the transfer completes, both the new owner and the previous owner of the domain receive a confirmation email.

Note: When entering a payment method for your domain, if you have grouped domains in your account that use a different payment method than the one you entered, the payment method on your grouped domains will update to the new payment method. To use a different billing method for your new domain, complete the ownership transfer process using the same billing method on your new domain as you have on your grouped domains. After your ownership transfer completes, contact us for help ungrouping your domains, ensuring you add your preferred payment method in the process.

Next steps for the new domain owner

Changing the domain owner doesn't change the contact information (also known as the Registration data) of the domain. After you transfer ownership of the domain, the new owner may want to update the domain's contact information.

Keep in mind, changes to the registrant contact's email address, first or last name, or organization name must be approved by both the new email address and the old email address. To learn how to update your domain's contact information, visit Domain registration data.

Reconnect the domain (optional)

Changing ownership of a domain disconnects it from any site it was connected to. If your domain was connected to a Squarespace site before you transferred ownership, visit Connecting a Squarespace domain to a Squarespace site to learn how to reconnect it.

Resend the ownership transfer email

If you didn't receive the confirmation email for initiating the ownership transfer, you can resend it to yourself from your domains dashboard:

  1. Open your domains dashboard.
  2. Click your domain, then click Permissions.
  3. Click Resend confirmation email under your name.

Cancel the ownership transfer

If the new owner hasn't accepted the ownership transfer yet, you can cancel your transfer request from your domains dashboard.

How you cancel your transfer depends on if you've confirmed the transfer via the transfer confirmation email or not.

If you haven't confirmed the transfer:

  1. Open your domains dashboard.
  2. Click your domain, then click Permissions
  3. Click Cancel ownership transfer under the current owner's name.

If you've already confirmed the transfer via the confirmation email, you can still cancel the transfer request as long as the new owner hasn't accepted your request:

  1. Open your domains dashboard.
  2. Click your domain, then click Permissions.
  3. Click … next to the name of the manager you sent the invite to.
  4. Click Cancel ownership transfer, then click Cancel request.

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Changing domain ownership