Note: The ENS App and ENS Explorer are both currently on Sepolia testnet. Behaviour and available features may change before mainnet.
Explorer doesn't have a transfer button. It's built for inspecting names rather than moving them. To send a name to another wallet, use app.ens.dev, your wallet, or an NFT marketplace — a name is an ERC-1155 token, so any tool that can send one will do.
How to move a name
The straightforward route is the ENS App: open the name, go to its settings, choose to change the owner, enter the destination address and sign. Full steps are in Change owner & transfer a name.
Because names are standard tokens, sending one from a wallet's NFT view or listing it on a marketplace works too. All three do the same thing on-chain.
The Can Transfer role
A name can only be moved if the Can Transfer role is present on it. You get this automatically when you register — open the Roles tab in Explorer and you'll see it listed against your address, alongside Set Resolver and Set Subregistry.
Two things to know about it:
It's an admin-only role. The Roles tab shows a tick under Admin and nothing under Manager — that's correct, not a missing value. There's no manager-level equivalent.
It's set when the name is registered and can't be granted afterwards. That's why
Can Transferdoesn't appear in the Add user drawer, which only offers Renew, Set Subregistry, Set Resolver and Unregister.
If Can Transfer isn't on your name, it can't be moved, and no role grant will change that.
What moves with the name
All of the roles you hold move to the new owner automatically, in the same transaction. Roles you granted to other wallets stay exactly as they were — so if you're receiving a name, check the Roles tab afterwards to see who else can act on it.
The name's records, resolver and expiry are unaffected by a transfer.
Clear your records before you sell or gift a name
Records belong to the name, not to you. Your ETH address, avatar, socials and anything else you've set all stay put, and the new owner inherits them until they change them.
So before you hand a name over, open the Records tab and clear anything that shouldn't travel with it — an address that still points at your wallet is the one to watch.
What Explorer is useful for here
Before and after a transfer, Explorer is the place to check the result:
Roles — confirms who now holds what, including anyone the previous owner granted access to.
Ownership — shows the current owner and the name's expiry.
Token info — shows the current token ID, which will have changed as part of the transfer.
Common questions
Why is there no Transfer button in Explorer?
Explorer is a read-and-inspect tool. Actions that move a name live in the ENS App and in wallets.
Can I give someone transfer rights without handing over the name?
No. Can Transfer is fixed at registration and isn't grantable afterwards. If you want someone else to manage a name without owning it, grant them Renew, Set Resolver or Set Subregistry instead from the Roles tab.
My token ID changed after the transfer. Did something go wrong?
No, that's expected — roles moved as part of the transfer, and any role change re-mints the token. Any marketplace listing tied to the old token ID stops working.
Can I get the name back if I send it to the wrong address?
Only the new owner can send it back. Check the address before you sign.