Domain and hosting checklist when you buy a business

When you buy a business, the website address, the email, the Google listing and the phone number are part of what you are paying for, but they rarely transfer by themselves. Each one sits in an account with a login, usually in the seller's personal name. List them before closing, agree in writing how each will be handed over, and move them into your own name in the first weeks, while the seller is still easy to reach.

Why this needs its own checklist

Equipment and inventory are easy to see. Online accounts are not. A seller who ran the business for twenty years may not remember that the domain was registered by a nephew in 2009, that the email is billed to a personal credit card, or that a long-gone marketing company still manages the Google listing. If any of those accounts lapse or stay locked after the sale, customers who search for the business can end up at a dead page, and mail sent to the old address can vanish.

Your attorney handles the purchase agreement. It is common to ask that the agreement name the domain, email, phone numbers and online listings as assets being sold, with the seller's duty to help transfer them. Ask your attorney how to word that for your state.

Before closing: find out what exists

Sit down with the seller and go through this list. For each item, write down the company, whose name it is in, and who has the login.

Domain name(s). The main address, plus any extras the business owns, like misspellings or an old name. Look up which registrar holds each one at ICANN's lookup tool.
Website hosting or website builder. Where the site actually lives. This may be a different company from the registrar.
Email. Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, a mailbox from the host, or plain forwarding. Note every address customers use, including info@ and the owner's own address.
DNS. Sometimes managed at a third company. If the seller does not know, the person who built the site will.
Google Business Profile, and who is listed as owner and as manager.
Other listings: Yelp, Facebook page, Instagram, Nextdoor, Apple Maps, Bing Places, BBB, trade directories.
Phone numbers, including any tracking numbers a marketing company set up.
Payment and booking tools linked from the website: online booking, PayPal or Stripe buttons, gift card sellers.
Anything billed monthly for the website: plugins, backups, form tools, a care plan with a web designer.

The order to take things over

Do not try to move everything on day one. This order keeps customers reaching you throughout.

1. Domain first

The domain is the key to everything else: the website, the email and many account recoveries hang off it. Two common ways to take it over:

Change the owner inside the same registrar. Most registrars let the current owner move a domain to another customer's account. Look for "change account", "push", or "move to another account".
Transfer it to your own registrar account. The seller unlocks it and gives you the authorization code.

Changing the registrant name and email can trigger a 60-day lock on transfers to another registrar. That is normal and harmless if you are not planning to move it. Turn on auto-renew in your own name and with your own card as soon as you have it. Who owns my domain shows how to confirm the switch worked.

2. Email next

Take over the email account as the administrator, then change the admin password and recovery options. Keep the existing addresses running: customers and suppliers have them saved. If the seller used a personal Gmail address for the business, there is no clean transfer; set up a proper address on the domain and ask the seller to set an auto-reply pointing people to it for a few months.

3. Hosting or builder account

Get the account moved to you, or become its owner. Change the password, the billing card and the contact email. If the site was built by an outside designer, ask for a copy of the site files and find out what they charge each month. See owning your website files for why a copy matters.

4. Google Business Profile and listings

On Google Business Profile, the seller can add you as an owner and then make you the primary owner. Once that is done, remove them and any old agencies you do not recognize. Do the same for Facebook pages and other listings. If the seller cannot reach an old agency that controls the profile, getting your Google Business Profile back from an old agency covers the recovery route.

5. Phone numbers

Business numbers are moved by porting them to your own carrier account, which needs the account number and PIN from the current carrier. Keep the same number on the website and listings throughout.

Things that often get missed

Recovery emails and phone numbers on every account still pointing at the seller's personal email or mobile. Change them, or the seller can still reset your passwords.
Two-factor codes going to the seller's phone. Move them to yours.
An old designer who still has admin access to the site or the domain.
The renewal card. If it is the seller's card and they cancel it after the sale, the domain or email can lapse quietly months later.
Old domains that forward to the main site. If they expire, links in old ads and printed material stop working.
Reviews. They stay with the listing, which is one more reason to take over the existing profile rather than create a new one.

When to change the website itself

Many buyers want a fresh site straight away. It is usually wiser to take over the accounts first and change the design afterwards, once you know the domain and email are safely yours. When you do replace the site, keep the old page addresses working so customers who bookmarked them, and Google, can still find their way. What to save before you replace your old website is a good list to work from.

Your first-month checklist

Domain in your name, auto-renew on, your card on file.
Email admin login in your hands, recovery options changed.
Hosting or builder account in your name, with a copy of the site.
Google Business Profile: you are primary owner, old managers removed.
Social pages and listings: you are admin.
Phone numbers ported or the account transferred.
Every login saved in a password manager, with two-factor turned on.
A short note listing every account and its renewal date, kept somewhere safe.

Once the accounts are yours and the old site still says the right things, you can see the site rebuilt first under your ownership before you decide to switch.