How To Tell Who Owns A Domain Using Whois
JamieRead more December 1, 2020
Domain names are supposed to be unique, and some are now worth quite a lot of money. If you are searching for a domain name and your preferred choices are taken, you can find out who owns them and see if they are interested in selling their domains.
WHOIS is a great source to get what you need. Find the owners contact information, make a connection, and see if they are open to offers. So, what is WHOIS, and how do you identify the owner of the respective domain name? This article answers those questions and more.
How To Look Up Your Domain Registration With Whois
Whois is a service that all domain registration companies have where you can physically or programmatically look up ownership of a domain. Keep in mind that not all information is public. Companies can mark their ownership as private. In either case, if you look up your domain information using Whois, you should be able to tell whether its in a domain registration account you own , or if you dont recognize the business or registrar start tracking down who does.
Heres a sample Whois result:
If you find that the business, email address, or the domain registration company of the registrant is a subcontractor, agency, or IT company that youve hired to manage your DNS, have them immediately change the registrant business and email address back to you and make sure you OWN the domain registration account where its set up at.
Keep in mind, every domain registration has different contacts associated that will allow you to offer your external resources access or the ability to get notification on changes:
- Registrant who owns the domain
- Admin typically, a billing contact for the domain
- Tech a technical contact who manages the domain
I immediately crafted an email to the IT company and requested they transfer the domain to an account owned by the companys owner. Their response wasnt what youd expect they wrote directly to my client and hinted that I may be wanting to rip off the company by putting the domains in my name, something I never requested.
Nonsense.
Contacting The Domain Owner
Since the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation came into force on 15th May 2018, the personal contact details of domain owners in the EU can no longer be published. You can only find out who owns a domain by contacting the domain provider, who then forwards the request to the domain owner. Reasons for contacting the domain owner may include general and technical inquiries, domain sale inquiries, as well as information in the event of possible misuse of the domain or domain name.
With .uk domains, Nominet will ordinarily not release your personal data without your consent. The exception to this is in the case of a legitimate request from, for instance, a law enforcement agency or a trademark holder wishing to enforce their intellectual property rights.
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Who Legally Owns A Domain
Searching for a domains owner can turn up multiple names provided as contacts for functions such as technical support, administration, and billing. But, the legal owner of a website is the registrantthe person or entity in whose name the domain has been registered with a dedicated domain registrar or hosting provider. As long as registration fees are kept up to date, that owner retains full rights to the domain and has sole control over selling it at any time, whether or not the domain is nearing expiration.
Why Domain Names Are Important
Now that weve covered how to find the owner of a domain name, its necessary to understand why domain names are important in the first place. Domain names are there to help websites be located and categorized. However, for companies and individuals, domain names can be the difference between a thriving web presence and one that has trouble getting off the ground.
When youre the owner of a domain name, your business or personal website gains credibility. Many internet users are rightfully skeptical of unknown websites, and when your domain name is tailored to your business, it gives your company a sense of trustworthiness that it might not have otherwise.
If a companys domain name is related to the services they provide, it becomes easier for internet users to find them, even if they havent heard of the company before. People who use a search engine to look up services or goods will have a higher chance of being directed to the companys website, especially if the content on that website has been optimized for search engines.
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Keep Your Domain Registration Contact Details Private
The WHOIS lookup tool will display the contact details associated with your domain by default anyone can see them. But there is a loophole. Domain Privacy hides these details from public view, keeping your personal details private. Remain anonymous to strangers using the WHOIS directory and protect your identity with our Domain Privacy service.
How To Determine Who Owns A Domain Name
Naeem MobasharDecember 28, 2010 | Updated: December 9, 201570
The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is the organization that authorizes registrars to issue or assign domain names to public. A registrant is the person or entity who is considered to be the domain name owner authorized to make or request for changes to be made in vital information related to domain name. It is, therefore, critically important to know the owner registrant of a domain name and also the person or entity having administrative, billing and technical rights related to domain.
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How Is Whois Changing
In light of the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, coming into force within the European Union in May 2018, many Registries and Registrars that operate within that region, or globally, are required to gain Registrant’s consent before disclosing Personally Identifiable Information to any third parties or the public. As a result of the implementation of the GDRP, much of the data historically found within WHOIS will no longer be included or be redacted. The absence of this information has a trickle-down effect throughout the domain industry, affecting WHOIS data output for domain names and Registrants that do not have an immediate or obvious nexus to the European Union
Contact The Domain Registrar If Looking To Buy The Domain
Since the website owners information is private, the registrar holds the details you need. Unfortunately, you have to communicate with the registrar, and they will pass the information on to the website owner. The WHOIS website should have registrar contact details, such as a phone number or email address. Just mention that youre interested in the domain if and when it becomes available. Some domain name owners are willing to sell them, while others may not be interested in closing a deal. Others plan on dropping the name after it expires.
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Domain Name Privacy In Whois
As mentioned above, domain name registrant details are available to anyone who cares to look for it. Information is minimal but provides enough details to contact the owner or the person who registered the domain name.
However, many domain owners use a third-party service to submit the name in an effort to protect their own identity from fraud, harassment, spam emails, spam calls, and marketing lists.
In cases where the owner is not listed as the registrant, youll need to contact the registrar or registrant and they will forward the information to the actual domain owner.
Whys It Necessary To Have A Whois Database
The ability to find domain info quickly and accurately is important for a couple main reasons: 1. A WHOIS check is essential for people in the business of buying and selling domains. These individuals need a method of communication for their transactions. A WHOIS search will provide one or more methods for reaching the current owner of a web address. 2. The WHOIS database is a way to maintain accountability for people who operate online. For example, if you felt someone was using your trademarks on their website, the WHOIS database provides a number of ways to resolve that dispute.
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Can I Look Up Org Info Biz Us Or Tel Domains
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Rant: Who Owns Your Domain
Yesterday, I was with the board of a regional company and we were discussing some migrations. Some of the steps needed were going to require some domain records to be updated, so I asked who had access to the companys DNS. There were some blank stares, so I quickly did a Whois lookup on GoDaddy to identify where the domains were registered and who the contacts were that were listed.
When I saw the results, I was genuinely shocked. The business didnt actually own their domain registration, an agency that they were working with did.
This is unacceptable.
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Looking Up Who Owns A Domain Name
The first thing you need to know is that WHOIS is not an acronym. Its a rare internet find where the word just makes sense.
Who is the owner of this domain and how can I find them?
A WHOIS lookup is a simple method to gain contact information and find out who owns a site.
Heres an example of how WHOIS lookup works with ICANN WHOIS Lookup:
Ever wondered who is behind a certain website?
If youre looking for a way to check who owns a domain name, youre in the right place.
In this article, we discuss how you can find out a domain owners information easily by using a WHOIS lookup tool.
Why Find Who Owns A Domain Name
Before you go looking for the owners of various domain names, its important to ask yourself why youd want to do this. What possible benefits can you get from learning this information?
Believe it or not, it can actually be incredibly useful for numerous reasons. For starters, domains are always up for sale, and you might be interested in purchasing an existing domain name. In which case, by looking up who owns it, you can find all their contact details to get in touch and enquire about the purchase. Many people choose to purchase a domain name when they create a new website for a company or brand and wish to have a certain name to fit the site perfectly.
Following on from this, you also get to see when the domain expires. Again, this is perfect if you want to purchase one, as you can see when it needs to be renewed, and can contact the owner at the ideal time to submit a bid.
Furthermore, using a tool to lookup the owner of a domain name can help you with your own websites too. Yes, if you own a domain, you already know who owns it thats obvious. However, when you look this up, you will gain loads more information and can cross check it with your own. This includes various registration details about the owner which you need to ensure are correct. If theyre not, you can change them so that everything is how it should be, and you wont run into any issues. Plus, youll see when your domain expires, which enables you to re-purchase it when the time is right.
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Searching For Website And Domain Owners
In closing, you should not be surprised when you conduct a WHOIS search and see that the actual domain owner isnt posted because of a Domain Privacy tool. If you do want to know how many domains an individual might have, you can conduct the four reverse searches provided above.
Check out our article on the whois command if you want to learn how to use it.
Why Is Determining A Domain Name Registrant Important
Determining a domain name registrant is important for many reasons:
- The lookup can verify that the registrant details of your personal domains are properly entered. If they are not, you may miss renewal notices, purchase offers, partnership requests and the like.
- If you are interested in making an offer on an already registered domain name, you can easily lookup contact information, such as the owners name, mailing address, email address and telephone number.
- If you are tying to protect your personal information, a lookup can tell you if the privacy controls youve put in place are actually in effect.
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How To Secure Domain Privacy
If youve managed to secure a domain name, but havent registered it for domain privacy, your private information will be available to anyone who conducts a WHOIS database search. If youre not comfortable with having your information so readily accessible, but are set on domain ownership, Domain.com offers Domain Privacy registration for several TLD domain extensions.
If you register for Domain privacy, a WHOIS database search for your domain will report Domain.coms information instead of your personal information. In effect, Domain.com will mask all of the personal details that you dont want to be shared with the public. Registering for Domain Privacy does not mean that you sacrifice any control over your domainyou retain total ownership.
Unfortunately, not all TLDs qualify for Domain Extension privacy. Domain Privacy is only available to .com, .co, .net, .org, .tv, .info, and .mobi domain extensions.
Some More Registrant Information Domain Server Information Domain Name Record Information
WHOIS performs the required task efficiently, however, at the same time it should be noted that the information available may be exploited or utilized for spam and other purposes. You may end up receiving emails and unnecessary information from different resources and start filling up your inbox. To get rid of this problem, there are certain tools to help protect your privacy.
As in the case of www.DomainSherpa.com, we are able to see only limited information about the actual owner as the information is camouflaged through a privacy protection service called domain name privacy. Many domain name registrars offer domain privacy to mask the actual information of the domain owner. The privacy feature helps display third party information to safeguard your personal information from publically available information. Personal information is collected by the registrar and is accessible only on request by following certain privacy rules and regulations.
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