Transferring a domain to WP with a Personal plan

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  lesliecasilli · Member · Oct 19, 2016 at 4:26 pm

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  Hello,

  I am looking to leave my current webhost (webhostingpad.com) and transfer over to a wordpress.com site. I would like to get the Personal plan ($2.99/month), which lists that it has a custom domain included.

  My problem is, I cannot see a way to transfer my domain over to the personal plan. Whenever I try it says to upgrade to premium ($8.99/month). Is it possible to transfer a domain over to personal? Or do I need to wait the 8 months until my domain expires from my current host and try to get it on WP when it opens up? I would rather not roll that dice…

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

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  bookgirlmn · Member · Oct 20, 2016 at 12:34 am

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  WordPress.com does not allow you to transfer your domain registration to them. But if you upgrade to any paid plan, it comes with the ability to map your domain to the site. (It will stay registered with your current registrar; you just update the name servers to point to WordPress.com.)

  You definitely don’t want to allow your domain to expire!

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  lesliecasilli · Member · Oct 20, 2016 at 1:36 am

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  Thank you for your reply bookgirlmn :)

  One more question if you don’t mind, since I am pretty new to this. I am currently mapping the domain, but when my domain expires from my previous host, will I then be able to pay for my domain through wordpress? Or do I continue to pay the yearly fee through my current host?

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  bookgirlmn · Member · Oct 20, 2016 at 2:26 am

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  You’ll continue to pay the yearly domain registration to your current domain registrar (or transfer it to another registrar like namecheap or godaddy if you want). WordPress.com does not currently have a way to transfer IN a domain that was registered elsewhere.

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  justjennifer · Member · Oct 20, 2016 at 4:16 am

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  @lesliecasilli – Just to add, since you mention you are new to this, you might want to read what happens when a domain name expires. https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/domain-expiration/ It is specific to domains purchased here on WordPressdotcom, but in general it describes the process everywhere. You should be able to find exact information about your domain registrar on their site.

  TL:DR -If you are actively using a domain name, do not let it expire in order to purchase it somewhere else. That is a world of pain (and money) to try to recover. If you need to transfer your domain to a different domain registrar, do it well before the expiration date.

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  lesliecasilli · Member · Oct 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm

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  Thank you bookgirlnm and justjennifer, you were very helpful!!