[▲ Vercel Community](/) · [Categories](/categories) · [Latest](/latest) · [Top](/top) · [Live](/live) [Help](/c/help/9) # Fail to transfer domain in Vercel 112 views · 0 likes · 7 posts Dagassacoop (@dagassacoop) · 2025-12-03 <!-- Questions that get answered the fastest are the ones with relevant info included in the original post. Be sure to include all detail needed to let others see and understand the problem! --> <!-- Current versus Expected behavior --> I’m trying to transfer my domain sashaproduction.ca from IONOS to Vercel. The domain is already added to my Vercel account as an external domain and is pointing to my Vercel project (Registrar: Third Party, Nameservers: Third Party, Edge Network: Active). When I go through the “Transfer in” flow in the Dashboard and submit all required information (including a fresh EPP/Auth Code from IONOS), the UI shows a generic error: Failed to initiate domain transfer. In the browser console I also see these errors: * Failed to get contact verification status for domain sashaproduction.ca DomainNotFirstPartyError: Domain sashaproduction.ca is not registered with Vercel * Failed to get renewal price for domain dwV2ESAI11CxvVz InvalidDomainNameError: dwV2ESAI11CxvVz is not a valid domain name. <!-- Code, configuration, and steps that reproduce this issue --> **Steps to reproduce** 1. Domain sashaproduction.ca is registered with **IONOS** and is already added to Vercel as an external domain (points to my Vercel project, works fine over HTTPS). 2. In IONOS: * Domain transfer lock is disabled. * A new **Auth/EPP Code** is generated and copied. * The domain is older than 60 days. 3. In Vercel Dashboard: * Go to **Domains → Transfer in**. * Enter sashaproduction.ca and the EPP/Auth Code from IONOS. * Fill in contact details and confirm the transfer. 4. After the last step, the UI shows **“Failed to transfer in”** and the console logs the two errors mentioned above. There is no additional error message in the UI that explains what exactly failed. **Configuration details** * Current registrar: **IONOS** * Domain: **sashaproduction.ca** (.ca TLD) * DNS: Currently still managed by IONOS, A / CNAME records point to Vercel, site is live. * Goal: Fully transfer the domain registration (not just DNS) from IONOS to Vercel, so that Vercel is the registrar. <!-- Project information (URL, framework, environment, project settings) --> Has anyone seen this behavior when transferring in a .ca domain? Is there anything I might be missing in the transfer setup, or is this likely a bug with the “Transfer in” flow / API for .ca domains? Any guidance or ideas on how to get more detailed error output (or successfully trigger the transfer) would be appreciated. system (@system) · 2025-12-03 The domain troubleshooting guide can help with most custom domain configuration issues. You might be able to use that guide to solve it before a human is available to help you. Then you can come back here and share the answer for [bonus points](https://community.vercel.com/t/introducing-the-vercel-leaderboard/1358). https://vercel.com/docs/projects/domains/troubleshooting You can also use [v0](https://v0.dev/) to narrow down the possibilities. Jacob Paris (@jacobparis) · 2025-12-11 Hi, I dug into this and it turns out we cannot support .ca domains for transfers We've updated the docs with full info here https://vercel.com/docs/domains/supported-domains Better UI during the transfer process to make this clear will be coming soon Rafal (@grizhliecodes) · 2025-12-30 Hi Jacob, I’m having a similar issue, albeit a bit different. I am trying to transfer in bookpal.io from cloudflare. I just successfully transferred another `.io` domain, so not sure what the issue can be. The error message that pops up for me is rather confusing: “Failed to initiate domain transfer. The domain bookpal.io is already in use by another user or team.” I’m not using this domain anywhere to my knowledge, so not sure how it could be in use? I don’t have a single project on vercel at the moment. I also checked some v0 demos i built, no domains hooked up to any of them… Any clue if I’m doing something wrong? Many thanks, Rafal Exact error: ``` [ { "_tag": "Exit", "requestId": "20", "exit": { "_tag": "Failure", "cause": { "_tag": "Fail", "error": { "domainName": "bookpal.io", "message": "The domain bookpal.io is already owned by another team or user.", "_tag": "DomainAlreadyExistsError" } } } } ] ``` Jacob Paris (@jacobparis) · 2026-01-09 Hi, that domain was previously attached to a Vercel project back in 2023 on a different account, did you purchase it recently? It's possible it was from a previous owner Before you transfer it from Cloudflare, try adding it as the domain for a project, which will prompt you to set TXT records to verify your ownership. That should release it from the other project and then you can proceed with the registrar transfer Rafal (@grizhliecodes) · 2026-01-09 Thanks Jacob, will give that a try! I purchased this domain in 2025 so your scenario makes sense. **Edit:** Ok, so i successfully hooked it up to a project now. The error still shows up but I'll give it a day or 2, incase there's any background work that has to be done for the transfer to be allowed. Thanks :)  Rafal (@grizhliecodes) · 2026-01-13 Yoo, was this just extremely timely or did you guys add this "Claim" feature because of this "bug" :smiley: ? Either way, thanks, all worked now, thanks for the assist!  
