You can no longer sell a domain name “on Google,” because Google Domains no longer exists as a registrar. Google agreed in 2023 to sell its domain registration business to Squarespace, and the domain names registered through Google Domains were moved to Squarespace Domains. Google Domains also never operated a marketplace where owners listed names for sale. To sell a domain name you originally registered with Google, you now do three things: confirm that you control the domain in your Squarespace account, list or offer it through an aftermarket marketplace, a broker or a direct sale, and then transfer it from Squarespace to the buyer once payment is secured. This guide walks through each step, with the specific issues that affect former Google Domains customers.
What Happened to Google Domains
Google Domains was Google’s domain registrar, the company that registered names on customers’ behalf and managed their DNS (Domain Name System) settings. In June 2023, Google announced an agreement for Squarespace to acquire the Google Domains business, and Google Domains customers’ registrations were migrated to Squarespace Domains over the following months. The domain names themselves did not change. Registration terms, expiration dates and, in most cases, DNS records carried over, and Squarespace became the registrar of record.
For a seller, this matters in two practical ways. First, the account you will use to release and transfer the domain is now a Squarespace account, not a Google account, even if you sign in with the same Google identity. Second, any help articles, screenshots or instructions written for the Google Domains dashboard are out of date. Menu names and steps are now those of Squarespace Domains, and they may continue to change, so treat any step-by-step walkthrough, including this one, as a guide to what needs to happen rather than a list of buttons.
If you are not sure which company is your registrar today, look the domain up through an RDAP lookup. RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the service that replaced WHOIS for generic top-level domains when ICANN’s WHOIS obligations for registrars ended on January 28, 2025, according to ICANN’s notice on the 2013 RAA Global Amendment. The record shows the current registrar, the expiration date and the domain’s status codes.
Before You List: Confirm You Control the Domain
Sign In and Secure the Squarespace Account
Sign in to Squarespace with the identity linked to your former Google Domains account and confirm that the domain appears in your domains list. Then secure the account before you advertise the name for sale. A listed domain attracts attention, and some of that attention comes from people who would rather steal the name than buy it. Set a strong unique password, turn on multi-factor authentication, and confirm that the email address on the account is one you control and check regularly. Our guide to registrar account security explains why the email address on a registrar account is the most important control you have.
Migrations create gaps. Accounts that were created automatically during a registrar migration sometimes end up without the security settings the owner had at the old registrar, and owners who have not signed in since the move may not know what recovery options are set. If you see unfamiliar changes in the account, read our guide to a stolen Squarespace domain before doing anything else.
Check the Registrant Details and Expiration Date
The registrant is the person or organization recorded as the holder of the domain. Make sure the registrant name and organization are correct and match the person or company that will sign the sale. A buyer, an escrow service or a marketplace may ask you to show that you are the registrant, and a mismatch delays the sale. Check the expiration date as well. A domain close to expiring worries buyers, and a domain that expires mid-sale can lose its DNS resolution or fall into the redemption process.
Map What Depends on the Domain
Many Google Domains customers used their domain for Google Workspace email, a website hosted elsewhere, or both. When you sell the domain, the buyer will eventually replace your DNS records, and anything that depends on those records will stop working. Before you list, decide where your email and website will move, and make sure no account recovery addresses for your banking, social media or other registrar accounts use an address at the domain you are selling. A sold domain can receive your password reset emails.
Choosing Where to Sell
Aftermarket Marketplaces
An aftermarket marketplace is a platform where registered domain names are listed for sale and buyers can purchase or make offers. The large marketplaces, such as Afternic and Sedo, let you list a domain regardless of which registrar holds it; you prove ownership, usually by adding a DNS record or changing nameservers at your registrar, and set a price. Some marketplaces distribute listings to partner registrars, so a buyer searching for the name at a registrar sees it offered for sale. The size of the supply is worth keeping in mind: Sedo alone had more than 19 million domains listed for sale in 2019, according to the InterNetX and Sedo Global Domain Report 2020.
Many marketplaces offer a “for sale” landing page that appears when someone visits the domain. To use it, you point the domain’s nameservers (the servers that answer DNS queries for the domain) to the marketplace, which you do in your Squarespace domain settings. Changing nameservers replaces all of your existing DNS records, including email records, so do this only after your email has moved or if the domain is not in use. Our guide to nameservers and DNS records explains the difference between changing nameservers and changing individual records.
Direct Sales and Inbound Inquiries
Some domains sell because someone who wants the name contacts the owner. Since registration data is now largely redacted, a buyer usually cannot find you through RDAP, so a simple page on the domain stating that it is for sale, with a contact form or an email address, is the most reliable way to receive inquiries. Direct sales avoid marketplace commission but leave you responsible for negotiation, contracts, payment security and the transfer.
Brokers
A domain broker negotiates the sale on your behalf for a commission. Brokers are most useful for names that may command a substantial price and that have a small number of logical end users, such as a one-word name in a specific industry. Read the brokerage agreement carefully, particularly any exclusivity period and minimum price.
Setting a Realistic Price
Price a domain by comparing it with similar names that have actually sold, not with names that are merely listed. Length, the extension, how clearly the name describes a product or business, and how many companies could use it all influence the price. The 2019 Sedo data is a useful reality check: the average Sedo sale that year was $2,284, but the median was $577.22, and .com names sold at a median of $630, according to the same Global Domain Report 2020. Most domains sell for modest sums, and a few large sales raise the average. Our guide to domain name value explains comparable sales and automated appraisals in detail.
Decide whether you want a fixed “buy now” price, which lets a buyer purchase immediately, or a “make offer” listing, which starts a negotiation. A fixed price usually sells faster through registrar distribution networks, because many buyers want to complete the purchase in one step.
Getting Paid Safely
The rule is simple: do not transfer the domain until payment is secured. If the sale goes through a marketplace, the marketplace collects the buyer’s payment and coordinates the transfer, then pays you after deducting its commission. For a direct or brokered sale, use a licensed escrow service, a neutral third party that holds the buyer’s funds, confirms that the domain has reached the buyer, and then releases the money to you. Do not accept payment methods that can be reversed after the domain has moved, and do not rely on screenshots or forwarded emails as proof of payment.
For larger sales, a short written purchase agreement that names the domain, the price, the payment method, the transfer deadline and what each side warrants is worth the effort. It is also good practice to confirm the buyer’s identity and the escrow transaction directly on the escrow service’s own website, not through links in an email.
Transferring the Domain Out of Squarespace
Once the escrow service or marketplace confirms that funds are secured, the transfer itself follows ICANN’s Transfer Policy. First, sign in to Squarespace, open the domain’s settings and turn off the transfer lock, a registrar setting that blocks transfers to another registrar. Then request the authorization code, sometimes called the EPP code or auth code, which is a unique password for that domain that the gaining registrar must present. Give the code to the buyer, or to the marketplace, through the channel the escrow service or marketplace specifies.
The buyer then starts the transfer at their own registrar and enters the authorization code. Squarespace may send you an email asking you to approve or reject the outgoing transfer; approving it speeds things up. If you take no action, an inter-registrar transfer generally completes within five days. When the buyer confirms that the domain is in their account, the escrow service releases your funds.
Two timing rules catch sellers by surprise. Under ICANN’s Transfer Policy, a domain generally cannot be transferred to another registrar within 60 days of its initial registration or a previous inter-registrar transfer, so a domain recently moved between registrars may need to wait. And if the buyer also uses Squarespace, the domain may be moved between Squarespace accounts instead of between registrars; check Squarespace’s current help documentation for how that works. Our guide to domain transfers covers the full process and the status codes you may see along the way.
Scams Aimed at Domain Sellers
Owners who list domains for sale receive a predictable set of scams. The appraisal scam begins with an unsolicited offer to buy your domain, followed by a demand that you first obtain a paid “certified appraisal” from a service the buyer recommends; the buyer disappears once you pay. The fake escrow scam uses a lookalike escrow website to collect your authorization code or to show you a payment that was never made. And phishing emails impersonating your registrar or ICANN try to capture your login credentials, as described in our report on fake ICANN verification emails.
The defenses are the same in every case. Never pay a buyer’s chosen appraiser. Type the escrow or marketplace address into your browser rather than clicking an email link. Never share your registrar password, and share the authorization code only once funds are secured and only through the agreed channel.
How DNAccess Helps Domain Sellers
DNAccess focuses on the security and recovery side of domain ownership. If you are selling a valuable domain that moved from Google Domains to Squarespace, we can review the account’s security settings and the domain’s status before you list it. If a domain is transferred out of your account without your authorization during or after a sale attempt, our stolen domain name recovery service works with the registrars involved and, where necessary, with counsel to restore it. To discuss a specific domain, contact us.