Transferring an active domain involves switching the domain name registrar that handles the domain registration service, so after the transfer itself, you will have to manage things like renewal payments or DNS record updates through the new domain registrar. The transfer procedure is standard with most top-level domain name extensions. Certain country-code extensions are more specific and entail different procedures, but in the general case transferring a domain name entails a few necessary steps and one of them is unlocking the domain name. The lock is a safety option, which is being embraced by more and more domain name registry operators. It is a default feature supported by all gTLDs. If a domain name is locked, it will be impossible to start a transfer procedure, so nobody can even try to take your domain. The lock can be annulled only through the account where the domain name is registered and all new domain names that support this option are locked by default the moment they are registered.