better to map domain name or register "new" domain name?

  • Unknown's avatar
    sarahjlau · Member ·

    I originally registered a domain name with WordPress in February 2010. I transferred my website AND domain name to BlueHost in July 2012 because I needed an e-commerce site. I recently decided to shift back to a free WordPress site. I’ve got 6 months remaining on my domain name registration at BlueHost, so I opted to just redirect the name servers to WordPress, but it seems as if there’s a $13/year charge for mapping the domain name.

    Ideally, I would like to transfer the domain name and then pay $18/year to register with WordPress in February (rather than pay BlueHost $16 for registration AND WordPress $13 for mapping).

    But WordPress doesn’t currently seem to support incoming domain name transfers. (See, I did read Support and Forum articles looking for an answer before posting). ;)

    So in order to be registered at WordPress, it seems like I would have to let my domain name lapse at BlueHost in February 2016 and then quickly register the “new” domain name with WordPress for $18.

    I guess the smartest thing would have been not to transfer it out in the first place, but since I can’t get back to the year 2010, I’m hoping to get some ideas from folks in the forum!

    I may have missed something obvious, but I wasn’t able to find anyone on the forums who had my particular issue, so I thought it would be useful to ask.

    Thanks for your help!

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    richrobinkoff · Member ·

    Hello. I have tagged this topic for staff review so they can help you look at your account and plan choices.

  • Unknown's avatar
    rachelmcr · Member ·

    Hi there,

    I highly recommend that you keep your domain name registered (either at Bluehost or with another domain registrar) and map the domain to WordPress.com to use it here. Letting a domain name expire is risky — it can take a while for the domain to fully expire and be released by the registrar where you had it before, and there’s always a chance that someone else will snap it up before you can re-register it.

    In the end it’s up to you (to either map the domain or let it expire and try to re-register it here at WordPress.com) but keeping it registered is really the safer bet.

  • The topic ‘better to map domain name or register "new" domain name?’ is closed to new replies.