How is Ownership of the Domain Name transferred?
A domain name that is already registered and pre-owned can be transferred to another owner in either of two ways: internally and externally.
Internal transfers are transfers that take place between two accounts within the same registrar and external transfers take the domain out of the current registrar altogether and move it to another registrar. Internal transfers are usually much quicker; as the domain is staying at the same registrar. The domain name is simply transferred from one account to another.
Account transfer works on a push method, where the seller/current owner initiate the transfer from the current account to the receiving account and, depending on the registrar, some pushes will need to be accepted by the receiving account.
Another type of internal account change works on the pull method which is the opposite of a push, where the buyer/gaining account requests the domain be transferred to it. Again, the losing account will probably have to authorize the transfer.
With external transfers, the domain name is transferred to another registrar. This method can be extremely complicated as not all registrars have easy interfaces to work with.
Normally a transfer is initiated at the receiving registrar, where the buyer/new owner pays for a domain transfer service (in a similar way as they would do for a domain registration). Once payment has been processed, the registrar will send a set of instructions to the person requesting the transfer. These are normally easy to follow, depending on the registrar.
The person selling the domain name or surrendering the domain name will also get a few emails with instructions to follow. Normally, these will be a few security-related processes to verify ownership and for the acknowledgement and authorisation of the transfer.
Once both parties have followed all the instructions, there will be an automatic process that will be conducted by the 2 registrars, which could take up to 7 days to complete. The receiving registrar will often notify the buyer/recipient when the transfer is complete. The buyer/recipient will now have full control and be responsible for renewing the annual subscription at the new registrar. They will also be able to modify the domain ownership/contact details account and hosting/DNS settings.
I would highly recommend Widest.com to be used for domain transfers. Widest.com is a domain registrar with a very powerful, but easy to use interface. Their security features are of the highest quality. There is also a 24/7 customer service support line, just in case you get stuck.
It should be noted that some TLDs will require extra processes. For example, if you are buying/transferring ownership of a .CO.UK domain name, a form will need to be filled out by both the current owner and the new owner and then sent into the .CO.UK registry for processing.
There are also some TLD#s that require residence in order for someone to own them, these are primarily country codes TLDs (ccTLDs). An example of this would be .DE for Germany or .EU for European Union.
If you are buying a premium domain name from a reseller site such as eBusinessDomains.com, the domain transfer process will be quite simple as their specialists would be able to walk you through the processes in a step-by-step fashion.