Issue Verifying Domain Ownership on Vercel After Project Transfer

Help
1

I am currently transferring a project from one Vercel account to another (both of which I own). By transferring, I mean that I deleted the project and domain from the original account and re-created the project under my personal account.

However, when attempting to set up the domain on the new account, I encountered an error stating that the domain already exists in a different account—even though it has been deleted/removed from the original account.

Important Context:

  • Hosting Provider: GigaLayer
  • Domain in Question: dueprocess.gm.gov.ng
  • Ownership: I own both Vercel accounts involved in the transfer.

The Problem:

Normally, I would verify domain ownership by adding the required _vercel CNAME record to the domain’s DNS configuration. Unfortunately, due to the way I purchased the domain, this is not possible.

GigaLayer issued dueprocess.gm.gov.ng to me as a top-level domain, even though it technically is a subdomain under gm.gov.ng. Because of this, I do not have access to configure DNS records for the root domain (gm.gov.ng). I can only manage subdomains under dueprocess.gm.gov.ng.

As a result, while I can add and verify something like project.dueprocess.gm.gov.ng, I am unable to add the _vercel.gm.gov.ng CNAME record required for domain verification.

My Goals:

  1. I want to be able to transfer or re-create my domain under the new Vercel account.
  2. I want to know if it’s possible to use the domain dueprocess.gm.gov.ng in my Vercel project, given the DNS limitations described above.

Please let me know if you require any additional clarification. I would greatly appreciate your help in resolving this issue.

2

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.

You can also use v0 to narrow down the possibilities.