How To Find A Domain Name Owner
1. Visit the Website
When you want to know who owns a domain name, your first step should be visiting their domain. You will immediately learn if someone is hosting a website with it or not, and you may even find contact information or links to it on the landing page.
In many instances, you will land on a page with no information at all. You could skip straight to the next step, but it may be worth checking public archives such as The Wayback Machine to see if the domain has ever hosted a website before. Its a long shot, but a quick search could yield contact information or other breadcrumbs.
2. Check If The Domain Name Is Listed in the WhoIs Directory
Did you know that all domain name registrations are regulated by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ? They require a registrant, administrator and technical contact for every domain name, which can be the same person or corporation. Each contact must provide a name, mailing address, phone number and email address. This information is stored in the WhoIs directory and made available to the public.
You can look up who owns a domain name in WhoIs at NetworkSolutions.com/WhoIs.
Unfortunately , domain name owners can choose to keep their information private, including Network Solutions customers who opt for Perfect Privacy. Private registration services like this replace registration contact information with that of the registrars or the registrars private registration service provider.
How Do I See Information About Domain Names
Use our free WHOIS domain lookup service to see information about domain names. By doing a WHOIS lookup, you can see who owns a particular domain and get information about when the domain expired, its status, and more. You can use these WHOIS lookup results to find whether domains are available or get information about domains you might want to buy all thanks to our WHOIS domain lookup.
What To Do If Your Domain Name Isnt Available: 13 Strategies
Its part of the struggle of running a business in the digital age.
You come up with the perfect business name.
You design business cards, start all of the official paperwork, and tell everyone about it.
But when you go online to register the domain name, you discover something horrible.
Your perfect domain name is taken.
What do you do?
Do you give up your perfect name? Do you modify it somehow? Add a couple random dashes or underscores? Choose a weird domain name ending ?
Its one of the toughest situations to face as a business owner. It can bring your progress to a screeching halt.
This situation makes you rethink your entire brand.
The question remains: What do you do when this happens?
Ive gotten this question hundreds of times before, and Ive also heard some solutions to this problem.
Quite frankly, not all of those solutions are good.
Your domain name is a big part of any SEO campaigns you run, and it will affect your performance.
If you make a misstep with your domain name, it can negatively impact your SEO in the long term.
A large amount of your traffic will come from users who search your brand name. Its called navigational search. Thats why its good to use your brand name as your URL.
But if you cant, dont worry. There are alternatives that will still work for you.
Over the years, Ive seen what works and what doesnt. I want to share what Ive learned so you dont have to make any mistakes.
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Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Another tool that you can try for learning who owns a specific domain is through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This nonprofit library stays true to its name by serving as an online time machine. It efficiently records the websites that have existed on the web.
What you will find even more useful is that it lets you see how older versions of websites looked in the past. For instance, you can view how Facebook looked like in 2010 using the tool. To use, go to archive.org and enter the URL you are curious about. Then, choose the specific year, date, and month to see how the website appeared at that time. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is 100% free.
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Use An Email Finder Tool
Whats an email finder tool, you ask?
An email finder lets users find email addresses that are connected to a web page. This is a strategy that marketers use to find new leads for their companies. But theres no reason why you could use the same technique to find out who owns a domain name.
How does it work?
An email finder would usually come in the form of either a web app or a browser extension. If youre using the former, all you need to do is enter the domain name and wait for the tool to finish processing it. The latter method is slightly easier because you can find out everything you need to know just by activating the extension while youre on the target website.
So if you use an email finder on a site like Disney.com, you should find the names and email addresses of some people who work at the company.
While a site like Disney might be too big of a company to show the information of its top brass, this strategy will most definitely work on smaller sites.
Theres no shortage of email finder tools online. But Hunter.io and Find That Lead are two of the most prominent names in the game.
Most email finder tools arent free. But since you only need information for one website, a free trial might be enough.
Again, the person you might end up talking to may have nothing to do with the domain name registration. The owner of the company could have relegated the task of registering the domain to someone else and havent thought about it since.
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What Do I Do If Someone Has Registered A Domain With My Trademark
You will need to follow the instructions outlined in ICANNs Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy . Consulting a lawyer may also be useful in ensuring your case is as strong as possible.
Note, however, that even though you own the trademark, a domain squatter will still likely fight to keep the domain, since it was purchased in the first place to make money. Getting the domain name may be expensive, but if you own the trademark , you have a good chance of getting the domain from the squatter. Really, it comes down to whether its worth the trouble.
What Are The Costs Of Litigating Trademark Infringement Suits
Litigating a domain name claim can be expensive, but it is an area of the law where courts can award attorneys fees. These fees will depend on the specific rates of an attorney and the law clerks or paralegals that work on the case.
If a court grants an award of attorneys fees, this can dramatically reduce the costs to the individual for filing suit. But a word of caution about getting attorneys fees.
In two separate cases, Bogoni v. Gomez, 847 F.Supp.2d 519, 524 and Creuzot v. Green, 3:17-CV-404-M-BK , the plaintiffs spent over $70,000 on legal fees, then asked the court for an award of attorney fees. In both instances, the court granted the request.
However, the court reduced the amount awarded from $70,000 to approximately $44,000-$47,000. Whether the awarded amounts were ever collected is unknown.
Given the high potential costs of suing, it is best to assume that even if you can recover your attorneys fees, the court may not agree to make the other side pay the exact amount you request.
Furthermore, if you file suit as an individual and not through a trademark or other type of mark, you should consider settlement offers. This is because attorneys fees are oftentimes the only form of monetary recovery available.
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Costs For A Udrp Dispute Proceeding
Fees for the arbitration panel generally range between $1,500 to $4,500, depending on the number of panelists and domain names involved. These fees are in addition to any legal fees paid to the attorneys.
Legal fees will vary, depending not just on the time and effort put into the case, but also on the attorneys billable rates.
By way of example, Minc Law attorneys charge between $250 and $600 per hour, and our paralegals and law clerks bill $100 to $150 an hour.
How To Register A Domain Name: 4 Options
To get a domain name, youll need to call dibs with ICANN. ICANN is a global non-profit authority that maintains records on which domain and IP address belongs to whom and manages access to them.
But ICANN doesnt provide registration services, it only maintains records. Thats where domain name registrars come into play.
The primary role of a register is to:
- Coordinate claims on different domain names.
- Match specific domain names with Domain Name System nameservers.
- Ensure that there are no duplicate domain names.
Technically speaking, you are not buying a domain name from a registrar company, but reserve its usage for a specified time. You can pay to reserve a domain for 1-10 years at a time, depending on the registrar. After your initial subscription expires, youll need to renew it and pay a fee again. You can re-purchase your domain name over and over again.
When registering a domain name, you sign a long-term lease of your domain . You can read more about the domain costs here.
In practice, all of the above is much simpler than you think as we will show below.
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What Is The Difference Between Domain Speculation And Squatting
Theres no single, definitive definition, but generally squatting implies bad faith intent on the part of the person or company that has registered the domain.
That means they have no interest in or intentions of creating a website for the domain or otherwise using it . That person just bought it to sell it for more than they paid for it .
Domain speculation, on the other hand, involves registering domains that might be useful or of interest, but which dont block an existing trademark or brand. For example, instead of registering a variant of an existing companys domain, a domain speculator would register something more general, like weselldomains.com, in hopes that some domain registrar might want it.
Speculators are often more open about the fact that the domains in their portfolio are for sale, as well. Whereas squatters might set up a basic page to make it marginally look like the domain is in use, or create a parking page full of ads to try to get click traffic for extra revenue until they can sell the domain.
Some squatters own many domains, though some will only target a few, since the more domains you own that havent sold yet, the more money youve invested without return. Speculators often own a large portfolio of domains, targeting various industries with a selection of relevant terms.
How To Find Out Who Actually Owns A Domain Name
Last updated on November 23rd, 2022 by Editorial Staff | Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us.
Do you want to find out who actually owns a domain name?
Looking up who owns a domain can help you find the owners contact information, so you can purchase the domain name.
In this article, well show you how you can find out who actually owns a domain name, step by step.
Why Find Out Who Owns a Domain Name?
Finding out who owns a domain name can tell you valuable information about the domain name and the site using it.
Usually, this information will include an email address and other contact information, so you can get in touch to purchase the domain name from them.
It also shows you useful domain name information, like the last time it was registered, how many owners the domain has had, and more.
If you find that multiple people have owned a specific domain name, then this increases the chances of the domain being used for spam.
When youre creating a WordPress website, one of the biggest decisions youll make is choosing the perfect business name and matching domain.
If youve found a great domain, but its already registered, then youll want to reach out to the owner to see if theyre willing to sell it to you.
Video Tutorial
If youd prefer written instructions, just keep reading.
2. Look up Company Information
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How To Backorder A Domain
The process outlined above is the easiest way to buy a domain name that is taken, but sometimes that isnt possible. If you still cant get the domain you want, your other option is to backorder it.
Backordering means that you wait for a domains ownership to expire and purchase it the moment it becomes available.
However, keeping track of a domains expiration date manually can be tricky, so youll want to use a backordering service.
Some of the popular options:
However, even if you use a backordering service, theres no guarantee that youll get the domain you want. The current owner still has to let their ownership of the domain expire, and many hosting services give owners an extra grace period where they can renew after the official expiration date. Typically, thats 75 extra days.
What Is A Domain
A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to find your website or a page of your website online. It is a string of text associated with the numerical IP address of a website that’s much easier for people to remember and search.
Every website has an IP address, which is a unique string of numbers that connect computers to web servers. IP addresses are great for computers, but difficult for people to memorize. That’s where domains come in. A domain name is connected to a website’s IP address so people can more easily remember and search for a website by its domain and their browser can still find the specific web server that hosts the website via the associated IP address.
A domain is often compared to a home address. Your friends don’t memorize your house’s GSP coordinates every time they want to visit you. Instead, they just plug in your street address into their phones. The same goes for visiting a website. Instead of memorizing a website’s IP address, visitors simply type in the domain into their browser.
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How Do I Check If A Domain Name Is Available
The Name.com platform lets you perform a thorough domain name search so you can find out if the name you want for your website is available and for sale. There are a couple of ways to see if the website name you want is available. The easiest method is to type the domain name you’re interested in into our search box and well tell you if the domain is available for registration. You can also search for the domain in Whois Lookup.
How To Find Out If A Domain Name Is Available
Many domain name registrars, such as GoDaddy and Namecheap, allow users to conduct a quick search for specific domain names. This makes it extremely easy to find out if a domain name has already been registered. Those curious can also type a domain name into a search engine or web browsers address bar.
Registered domain names can take several forms. One form is a domain name that corresponds to a fully functional website and is being used for the website owners legitimate business or personal purposes. Another form is a registered domain name that is not actively being used. Rather, it is attached to an empty website with a note stating that the domain name is available for sale.
Sometimes a third party broker is used to facilitate the negotiating process before purchase. Other times you can purchase the domain name directly from the registrar.
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How To Find Out Who Owns A Domain Name
Choosing the perfect domain name for your website can be challenging and even a chore. Then, once you land on your ideal name, you need to double-check that its available for purchase. If its not, you might need to find out who owns a domain name to get in touch with them and make an offer.
Luckily, unearthing the owner of a domain name is pretty straightforward. Youll just need to use a domain lookup tool. Alternatively, you can reach out to owners via a privacy proxy or search for a contact page on the website of the domain you want.
Find The Previous Owner
This last method is probably a long shot but it could work under the right circumstances.
If the current owner of the domain name bought it from someone else, you can try asking the previous owner for the new owners contact details.
How would you know if the site had a previous owner?
You can look up the site on Wayback Machine and look for any sign that the site was once managed by a different person.
For those who have never heard of this tool before, Wayback Machine lets you see cached versions of a website. In simpler terms, it takes snapshots of websites every so often and adds them to its database. Users can then access these snapshots to see what a website looked like days, weeks, months, or years ago.
The idea is for you to enter the domain and go back to a point where the site made a major overhaul. Thats an indication that the site underwent new management. If the older design has an about page, theres a chance that it would show the contact details of the old owner instead of the new one.
If you find the name of the old owner, you can use some of the methods mentioned above to get in touch with the person.
This method is neither the most practical nor the most effective. But if youre really desperate, its worth a shot. Who knows? You might end up getting lucky.
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