Twenty years in this business, and I still need a checklist to move domains between registries. Back when, .com was the wild west and ccTLDs were the civilized alternative. Mark my words, kids these days have it worse.
Case study from last month:
.de domain: required a signed fax for auth code release. In 2025. The registrar's web portal has two-factor authentication, but the registry itself demands thermal paper and a 9600 baud handshake. I do not own a fax machine. I used a web-to-fax service that cost €3 per page. Took eleven days.
.nl domain: instant push. Click, confirm, done. Forty seconds. Same owner, same verification level, same intended use.
The .de registry claims this prevents "unauthorized transfers." I claim it prevents transfers entirely. Small holders give up. Businesses pay consultants to handle the friction. The registry collects renewal fees either way.
I have heard .fr requires a paper letter. .uk needs a phone call during business hours. .eu is reasonable but slow. There is no consistency, no user-centered design, just decades of accumulated procedure defended by people who do not register domains themselves.
I wrote to both registries. The .nl representative thanked me and noted they had reformed in 2019. The .de representative sent a form response about "security procedures."
Someone with authority should standardize this. ICANN will not touch ccTLDs. The EU could, but will not. So we suffer.
Prediction: .de will announce "digital transformation" of transfers by 2028. It will require a proprietary app that only runs on Android 12+. The fax option will remain, somehow.