It depends on whether you are buying the company or its business, and on who is actually registered as the holder of the domain. On a purchase of an ownership interest, the domain remains with the company if the company is its holder. On a purchase of the business, the rights covered by the sale pass to the buyer, but the domain registry will record a change of holder only on an application by the existing holder, made through a registrar and with the consent of the new holder. The contract must therefore oblige the seller to take that step, and payment must be tied to it.
When buying an e-shop, the domain is often the most valuable thing you are acquiring. It carries the customers, the search positions and the reputation of the brand. Yet a domain is not handed over like goods from a warehouse. The entitlement to use it and to dispose of it arises for the holder upon registration and changes under the rules of the registry, not by the mere signing of a purchase contract. The procedure therefore depends on the structure of the deal and on who is registered as holder today.
First establish who the holder is
The rules of the .sk registry define the holder as the person to whom, following a successful registration, the rights and obligations attaching to the domain have arisen, including the entitlement to use it and to dispose of it. In practice this need not be the company operating the e-shop. The domain may be registered to a founder, to a managing director, to another company in the group or to a web agency. Ask the seller for confirmation from the registrar as to who is the holder of each domain you are buying, including variants with a different extension.
Buying the company
If you are buying an ownership interest and the holder of the domain is the company itself, nothing changes in the registry and the domain stays with the company after the change of shareholder. Risk arises where the domain is held by someone else. In that case the share purchase agreement should contain a condition that the domain be transferred to the company before the price is settled, and a warranty by the seller that the company is the holder of all domains needed for operations. Findings of this kind belong in the legal due diligence carried out before signature.
Buying the business
If you are buying the business, that is to say the things, rights and other assets serving its operation (Section 476(1) of the Commercial Code), the law provides:
All rights and obligations covered by the sale shall pass to the buyer.
— Section 477(1) of Act No. 513/1991 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
The domain registry, however, follows its own rules. SK-NIC transfers a domain to a new holder on an application by the existing holder submitted through its registrar, and the registrar will submit it only on the written request of the holder and with the consent of the new holder. The CZ.NIC rules for .cz domains likewise base a change of holder on a written request from both the existing and the future holder. It is therefore not safe to rely on the registry recording the buyer of a business as holder without the seller’s cooperation, even where the contract covers the domain. A contract for the sale of a business must be in writing with certified signatures of the parties (Section 476(2)); list the domain in it expressly and specify by when the seller is to submit the transfer application.
Tying payment to the transfer, and other contract points
The safe solution is for the purchase price, or part of it, to be released from escrow only upon proof that the registry has recorded the buyer as holder. A transfer does not change the domain’s expiry date, so check how long it is paid up for and oblige the seller not to allow it to lapse, or to instruct cancellation of the registration, before the transfer. The arrangement should also cover the handover of access to the registrar account, the DNS settings and the email mailboxes, and an undertaking by the seller not to register confusingly similar domains after the sale. If a trademark is associated with the brand, deal with its assignment in the same contract so that brand and domain remain in the same hands.
We arrange domain transfers on the purchase of a company or a business as part of our sale and purchase of a company service, and standalone domain transfers and related disputes under domains and domain disputes. What a contract looks like when buying a domain alone from a private holder is discussed in the article on the domain transfer agreement.
This answer provides general information on the law as at 12 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.
