Under the guidance of the Broker, Buyer and Seller negotiate the price and terms of the IPv4 sale. In most cases, Buyer and Seller will execute an Asset Purchase Agreement codifying these terms. The Asset Purchase Agreement is a legally binding document that specifies when the Buyer is to fund escrow, and to which escrow agent, when the Seller is to initiate the transfer, and when the funds are to be released from escrow to the Seller. ARIN is not involved in this step although they are aware that money often changes hands when IPv4 space is transferred.

The Buyer enters a request in ARIN Online to receive the transfer of IPv4 space, referencing the Seller’s ARIN ticket number.

An ARIN analyst will communicate with the Buyer and may request additional information such as company registration documents. If the Buyer has not completed the ARIN preapproval process, ARIN will ask them to justify their need for the IPv4 space. In some cases, ARIN may ask a duly authorized representative of the Buyer’s company to sign an Officer Attestation Form.

ARIN finalizes most transfers within a day or two of approving them after any required fees are paid and the RSA signed. If this is the first IPv4 resource the Buyer is receiving, ARIN will charge them an “Initial Fee”.  At this point, ARIN updates Whois and the transfer is complete.