Ask for the files, the data and the setup steps, have another developer restore a copy in your account, click around, and get the rights in writing.
Swipe or tap Next · checked on 2026-10-25
Not technical? Start here. Copy this prompt into ChatGPT or Claude (the free versions work) and it walks you through the whole guide, one step at a time, in plain English. It asks before it assumes anything and checks with you before anything that costs money, reaches a real customer or deletes something. The rest of the page is the same guide, written out, if you'd rather do it yourself.
The walkthrough prompt (copy all of it) · lines 1-4 of 229. Copy all copies the whole prompt; read it in full on the page.
Hi! Please be my patient guide for this step-by-step guide from Receipts Group: "The move test: find out if you own the website you paid for"
The guide is here: https://receiptsgroup.com/guides/website-move-test (open it if you can; if you can't, everything you need is below).
About me: I run a small business and I'm not technical. Use plain words and short sentences.Four checks, in this order. Each one is cheap until the restore, and the restore only happens on a copy, never on your live site.
Ask whoever built it or runs it, in one line: “What's our website built on?” You'll get one of four answers: WordPress, custom code, a website builder like Wix or Squarespace, or the agency's own platform. The kit is different for each one, and the table under these steps shows what a complete one looks like.
Email, not a phone call, because you want the answers in writing. It asks for the three things from the video (the files, the data and the setup instructions), then the accounts, the paid pieces, what happens when you leave, and the rights. Fill in the brackets and send it to whoever built the site or runs it now.
No passwords in this email, and don't let anybody send them back in one. Logins go in a password manager; my five-things guide covers that part.
The email · lines 1-15 of 49. Copy all copies the whole file; read it in full on the page.
Subject: Our website: the move kit
Hi [name],
We're checking all our systems, and I'd like a copy of
everything it takes to run our website somewhere else.
Nothing's wrong. We just want to know we could move it
if we ever had to.
THE KIT
1. The files: everything the site is made of, including
the images, the theme or design, and any plugins.
2. The data: a full export of the database (where the
pages, posts and settings are stored), plus the form
entries if the site keeps them.Go down the table below and tick off what you got. A kit with a gap isn't a fail, it's a to-do: write down what's missing and ask for it. If they sent a login instead of a kit, that's access, not a copy, so ask again for the files, the data and the setup instructions. The free first test further down has Claude or ChatGPT do this check with you.
Put the kit in a folder in the business's own cloud storage, not one person's inbox, and write the date on it. Then ask for a fresh one once a year, and any time your developer or agency changes. A kit from three years ago restores the site you had three years ago.
From WordPress's, Wix's, Squarespace's and GitHub's own help pages, checked 2026-10-25.
This is the actual test. A kit can look complete and still be missing the one thing only the person who built it knows. So somebody who's never seen the site restores it from the kit alone, in an account you control, at an address that isn't your real one. Your live site doesn't get touched.
On a website builder like Wix or Squarespace there's nothing to restore somewhere else, so skip to the rights.
The account and the card are the business's, and the developer gets their own login on it. If you're thinking about moving anyway, use the host you'd move to, so the test doubles as a rehearsal.
Custom-coded site? Also make a GitHub organization for the business, so the code has a home that's yours: on GitHub, click your profile picture, then Settings → Organizations → New organization, and follow the prompts. GitHub's Free plan is $0.
It has to be someone else, because the test is whether the kit works without the person who made it. Send them this brief and ask for a fixed price for the restore and a short written report. No calls to the first developer: every question they'd have to ask is a gap, and it goes in the report.
The brief for the second developer · lines 1-13 of 35. Copy all copies the whole file; read it in full on the page.
MOVE TEST: BRIEF FOR THE RESTORE
What this is: a test of whether our website can run
without the people who built it. Please don't contact
them. If you need something that isn't in the kit,
write it down: that's what we're testing.
What you get:
- The move kit (a shared folder): the files, the data
export, the setup instructions
- A login to our hosting account, in the business's name
- Any other logins through our password manager, not
by emailThe copy goes on a separate test address, never your real one, and nobody touches your domain settings for this. Ask for it to be password-protected: Google says that's how you keep private content out of Search. If they use a noindex tag instead (a line that tells Google not to list a page), make sure the copy isn't also blocked in robots.txt, because then Google never sees the noindex.
The copy carries your site's code, and that can include your ad and analytics tracking. Ask the developer to take it off the copy, so your test form fills don't show up as leads in your ad accounts.
Once you have the test address, open it on your phone and on a computer and go down this list. Use your own name and number on the form, put TEST in the message, and tell the office a test lead is coming so nobody tries to book you.
The click-around checklist · Part 1 of 2 · Copy copies all 30 lines
MOVE TEST: CLICK-AROUND
Test address: ______________ Date: ________
PAGES
[ ] Home page loads
[ ] Every page in the menu loads
[ ] Each service page loads
[ ] A city or area page loads (if you have them)
[ ] Blog posts are there (open three old ones)
[ ] Same pages as the live site (compare the menus)
PICTURES
[ ] Photos show on the home page
[ ] Job photos and galleries show
[ ] Logo showsThe click-around checklist · Part 2 of 2 · Copy copies all 30 lines
THE FORM
[ ] The form sends (your name, your number, TEST)
[ ] The thank-you message or page shows
[ ] The test lead lands where your leads go:
inbox ___ CRM ___ text alert ___
THE REST
[ ] Tap the phone number on your phone: it dials
[ ] Booking or calendar works (if you have one)
[ ] Looks right on your phone
[ ] The copy asks for a password (it's hidden)
What broke: ______________________________
In the developer's report? Y / NPass: everything ticks, and the developer's report says it restored from the kit alone. Not yet: anything broke, or they needed the first developer. That's fine, and it's the whole point: now you know what's missing while everybody's still friendly. Send the report back to whoever built it, ask for the missing pieces, and run it again.
This is the check that costs you a rebuild. The copy can load fine and the form can send, and the code and the images still might not be yours.
Here's how US copyright works, in plain words, from the Copyright Office. Ordinarily, the person who actually creates something owns it.
Work by someone who isn't your employee is only “made for hire” (yours from the start) when it's one of nine kinds of work listed in the law and you both signed a written agreement saying so. A website isn't on that list by name, so I wouldn't count on it.
Otherwise, moving ownership to you takes a transfer in writing, signed by whoever owns it.
So what I'd want in the agreement is a signed transfer (lawyers call it an assignment) of the code, the design, the text and the photos made for you. A license is different: it lets you use something without owning it. That's normal for the paid pieces, like a theme, plugins, fonts and stock photos. You don't need to own those. You need the license in your name, or one that moves with the site.
The rights check (take it to your lawyer) · Part 1 of 2 · Copy copies all 27 lines
RIGHTS CHECK: OUR WEBSITE
Agreement with: ______________ Date: ________
WHAT'S OURS
[ ] The code made for us: transferred to the
business, in writing, signed
[ ] The design made for us: same
[ ] The text on our pages: same
[ ] Photos they took or made for us: same
[ ] Photos we gave them: still ours
WHAT'S LICENSED (fine, as long as it's listed)
[ ] Stock photos: where each one was licensed,
in whose name, and can it move with the site?
[ ] Paid theme, plugins, fonts: in whose name?The rights check (take it to your lawyer) · Part 2 of 2 · Copy copies all 27 lines
[ ] Their own tools or platform: what we can keep
using if we leave, if anything
IF WE LEAVE
[ ] What they hand over (the move kit)
[ ] How fast, in what format, and the cost
[ ] The domain, the hosting and the Google
accounts stay in the business's name
Words to look for in the agreement:
"assign" or "assignment", "work made for hire",
"license", "owns" or "ownership"I'm not your lawyer, and neither is ChatGPT. Have your lawyer read the agreement and write the transfer. Bring them this list, so it's a short meeting.
Then ask what happens when you leave, and get the answer in writing: what you get, in what format, how fast, and whether it costs anything. Some answers are fine. “You keep your text, your photos and your domain, and you'd rebuild the design” is a straight answer. “Don't worry about it” isn't one.
The domain matters most, because it's your address. If it's registered in the agency's name, ask for a change of registrant to your business, which starts with the current registrar. My five-things guide shows how to look up who it's registered with.
Renting isn't always wrong. If it's cheap and it works and you know you can't take it, I don't care, that's a fair trade. What I'd hate is you finding out the day you try to leave.
Everything here is made up: a fictional plumbing company and a fictional agency.
The office manager sends the email. The agency says the site is WordPress and shares a folder with all the files and a database export, but no setup instructions. A second developer restores it into a new hosting account in the company's name, at a password-protected test address.
One round, two gaps, both closed while everybody was still friendly. The agency still runs the site. The difference is the plumbing company could leave if it ever had to.
Do this before you pay anybody. Send the email, then paste the reply (and your agreement, if you have it) into this prompt. It lists what's in the kit and what's missing, and quotes your agreement's words about ownership, so you know what to bring your lawyer. The free plans work.
Before you paste: take out passwords, keys, account numbers and customers' names and numbers. Only the email reply and the agreement go in the chat, not the kit itself.
The kit-check prompt · lines 1-1 of 17. Copy all copies the whole prompt; read it in full on the page.
I run a [your trade] business. I asked whoever built my website for everything it takes to run a copy somewhere else. Their reply is below, and so is our agreement [if you have it].Good: a table with their exact words in quotes, MISSING where they didn't answer, and the ownership sentences quoted from the agreement. Bad: it tells you “you own the site”, or fills in an answer they never gave. Search their email for each quote. If you can't find it, the AI made it up, so ask it to redo that row.
Checked 2026-10-25 on claude.com/pricing and github.com/pricing. Prices change, so check before you buy.
A login is access, not a copy. Reply and ask again for the files, the data and the setup instructions.
Ask what happens when you leave, in writing: what you get, in what format, how fast, and what it costs. No answer, and I'd assume you'd be starting over.
That's the Tools → Export file: posts, pages, comments and users, not the theme, the plugins or the image files. Ask for all the files plus a database export.
WordPress stores its own address, and moving a site to a new address means changing it on the copy. WordPress's guide to moving a site covers it. Make sure the developer changes the copy, never your live site.
Check the spam protection first: a reCAPTCHA key is tied to a list of domains, so the test address has to be added to it. Or the email service the form sends through isn't set up on the copy. Either way it goes in the report, because the kit was missing it.
The uploaded images weren't in the kit, so ask for them. From Squarespace, its export can bring images in as links that stop working once you cancel, so download them yourself first.
Password-protect it: Google says that's how you keep private content out of Search. If they used noindex, check robots.txt isn't blocking the page, or Google never sees the noindex.
The tracking came along with the copy. Have the developer take it off, and write down the date so you can spot it in your numbers.
Ask them for a change of registrant to your business; it starts with the current registrar. ICANN says that after a registrant change you can't move the domain to a different registrar for 60 days (some registrars offer an opt-out), so do it before you need to move.
ICANN says your registrar must give you the AuthInfo code (the code that lets you move a domain to another registrar) within five calendar days of your request. Ask in writing.
A license lets you use it. Ownership moves with a signed, written transfer. Take the rights check to your lawyer and ask about an assignment.
Every call is a gap. Get the answer written into the setup instructions, then run the test again.
That's fine. Everything it needs is in the walkthrough prompt. Tell it to keep going without the link.
What each page backs up is listed at the end of the full guide.
Ask for the kit, have someone else restore it, click around, and get the rights in writing, because if all you bought was access, you bought a subscription with your logo on it.
When we move a company off WordPress onto our platform, they keep the content, the code and the accounts, and yes, you can run this test on us too.
Want help setting this up? Receipts Group builds these systems.
Open the full guide as a page (every file in full, plus the table of contents).