Should I change the contact info before transferring a domain name?

[john5000]

I'm in the process of transferring several domain names to someone who bought them from me. It's my first time doing this.

I contacted my registrar and they gave me the following instructions:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Support.

If you wish to change the ownership of the domains for which has registered with us, please follow the steps given below:
1. Log into the control panel with the account username and password.
2. Click on ‘Domain Central’ under the ‘Domain’ section.
3. Select the domain names for which you want to change the contact information.
4. Click on ‘Modify Selected Domains’.
5. Click on ‘Set Contact Info’.
6. Enter the contact information and select whether you want to apply the changes to all types of contact information for the domain name.
7. Click on the ‘Save Contact Info’ button.

To transfer the registrar of the domain away from us, need to contact the gaining registrar. To get the Authorization code, please follow the steps given below:
1. Log into the control panel with the account username and password.
2. Click on ‘Domain Central’ under the ‘Domain’ section.
3. Click on the domain name.
4. Click on the ‘Transfer’ button.
5. You will get the Authorization code in the textbox. If the Authorization code is not listed in the textbox, the ‘Send Auth-Info Code’ button will be displayed. Click on that button to send Authorization code.

To update the domain contact information and initiate the registrar transfer, need to unlock the domain status. So, please make sure that the domain status is locked. If so, you can unlock it by following the steps given below:
1. Log into the control panel with the account username and password.
2. Click on ‘Domain Central’ under the ‘Domain’ section.
3. Click on the domain name which you want to unlock.
4. Click on ‘Security’.
5. Click on ‘Unlock Domain’.

However, to initiate the registrar transfer the domain privacy should be disabled. To disable the Domain Privacy, please follow the steps given below:
1. Log into the control panel with the account username and password.
2. Click on ‘Domain Central’ under the ‘Domain’ section.
3. Click on the domain name for which you want to disable the Domain Privacy.
4. Click on ‘Security’.
5. Click on ‘Disable Domain Privacy’.

Thank you!

Sincerely,

(name removed)
Customer Support

I understand all the instructions to unlock the domain, disable the privacy, and acquire the auth-codes.

As far as changing the contact details. Is that something I need to do before I transfer the domain names?

Do I need to update the contact details of each domain to be the buyers contact details before I transfer the domains to him?

[inxz]

Have you received the payment or are you using Escrow?

[john5000]

i received the payment already

[inxz]

Then I would just unlock and send the auth codes to the buyer.

[john5000]

well, i updated the contact info to be the buyers info, and then unlocked and sent the auth codes to him

was it necessary for me to change the contact info?

or does the buyer have to do that anyway at some point on his end during the transfer process?

[GaryK]

I would have made the changes just to be sure it was not in my name anymore before I lost the ability to do so. But the buyer should also check and make any necessary changes once he takes possession of the domain names.

[Webwork]

In theory, I could take any domain I'm the registrant of and upload someone else's info to the domain. All it takes is access to the domain's control panel. Given this I'd likely not loose sleep over the issue of "controlling" the content of the WhoIs.

Where I might loose sleep is if the domain's apparent (false/fraudulent) "ownership" was associated with my identity AND MY credit card or bank account AND I didn't authorize the transaction. :-/

Hope this response makes sense. If anyone wants to correct me about the ability of someone to "fake a WhoIs record" I'm open to the insights or limitations. (I understand email accounts will come into play in my scenario and there are limitations based upon control of non-hacked email accounts AND I understand there are ~rules about the accuracy of WhoIs records that COULD result in the termination of a domain's registration.)