How To See Who Registered A Domain

You've spent time brainstorming domain names. You've tried unlike domain suggestion tools. And you've finally figured out the perfect name.

But when you go to register the domain proper noun you're assail, you lot detect that someone has already claimed it. What a disappointment.

Before you give up on that perfect name and commencement the whole procedure again from scratch, know at that place might nonetheless be hope.

Registered domain names are sometimes even so available—if you lot know how to observe the owner.

People invest in domain names for a number of different reasons. Sometimes, it'south to get-go their ain website at that domain. Sometimes information technology's purely for investment purposes. And in a few cases, information technology may be for a website thought that either never comes to fruition, or that falls off the possessor's radar over time.

If the website you're interested in isn't beingness actively used and updated, so the owner may be happy to hear from an interested buyer. And even if the owner is clearly using the domain name right at present, if you're willing to spend plenty to make a sale worth it to them yous may still have a chance.

In both cases, you should anticipate spending more than for the domain proper name than if you went with something no one else owns however. But if you're really set up on that domain name, information technology'southward worth trying your chances.

How to Discover Out Who Owns a Domain Name

Earlier you can larn whether ownership your domain is even a possibility, you need to effigy out who to contact nearly it. How much work that involves will depend on a few factors, but you lot should be able to at least get the ball rolling with these three steps.

Step One: Visit the Website

In cases where the owner bought the domain as an investment, they'll make information technology piece of cake for you to contact them. And so start by pulling upward the website to see what shows up.

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They may say outright that the domain is for auction, and include contact information or a course you can fill out. Or in some cases where the domain is in active use, you'll be able to find contact data on the website's Contact or Virtually page.

If you're lucky enough that this stride does the trick and you lot find the domain owner, you can skip the adjacent two steps.

Step Two: Check the WHOIS Directory

Every time someone registers a domain name, the domain registrar that processes the sale is required to collect basic contact information. In some cases, that data then gets submitted to the WHOIS directory, so that there's a tape of who runs each website online.

The WHOIS directory is therefore our next stop for seeking out a domain proper name owner.

whois directory for looking up domain name owner

Put in the name of the domain you're looking for and coil down to find all the information the WHOIS directory lists for it. In a few cases, that may incorporate the owner'south contact information. If then, yous tin skip the side by side stride.

Even if non though, it will always include at least their domain registrar and domain expiration appointment. That lets you know if the domain volition be coming up for renewal soon. If so, you may be able to snap it up for cheaper when it expires than if you buy it from them directly. Merely that merely works if they don't renew, and then you lot're taking a gamble.

Either way, knowing the domain registrar enables you to take the adjacent stride.

Pace Three: Contact the Domain Registrar

Many domain registrars now offer domain name privacy, which keeps the owner's personal information from existence listed in the WHOIS directory. Betwixt that and GDPR legislation, the WHOIS directory is no longer a reliable fashion to notice a domain owner's personal contact information.

That ways in many cases, you won't be able to larn directly who the owner is via the directory. Only you will exist able to find out who they registered the domain with.

This all the same isn't a dead end. Go to the website of the domain registrar (simply Google the name if it's not included in the WHOIS tape), and look for their contact information. Give them a call or write them an email letting them know what domain you lot're interested in ownership, and ask them to laissez passer along your information to the possessor. The registrar will accept the owner's contact details on file, and will be able to share your involvement with them without violating any privacy concerns.

What Side by side?

At this indicate, you have 3 different paths to consider.

1. Contact the Domain Name Possessor

If one of the steps above leads y'all to the website owner, information technology's time to reach out! Craft an electronic mail letting them know that you're interested in purchasing the domain.

To avoid looking like spam, brand sure your e-mail conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you have a professional email address at a domain proper name you own, that volition look more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at to the lowest degree setting upward a gmail address, which looks a bit more respectable.

Brand sure your email includes:

Your contact information – both email and telephone, so it'due south easy for them to cull the method they adopt.
Language that makes information technology clear you're willing to pay – you may not desire to include a specific offering even so (if you don't know where they stand, you could offer more than required), merely they're more than likely to respond if they know this is a 18-carat business offering
Something that shows your legitimacy – how tin y'all show you're a existent person with serious intent? Maybe that's a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.

People become a lot of spam emails, so you want to clarify that you lot're a real person with real interest. If you lot can pull that off, the chances of getting a response are much college.

2. Hire a Domain Broker

If y'all oasis't managed to detect the contact information for the owner at this indicate, or if you have just would withal similar some help navigating the process of making an offering, look into hiring a domain broker. Businesses like Sedo and Brannans be specifically to help manage deals betwixt domain sellers and buyers.

If you're inexperienced at buying a domain proper name, they can assistance y'all figure out a reasonable price to asking, find the right person to contact, and ensure the purchasing process goes through the proper steps so that everyone'due south happy at the end of it. There are lots of scammers in the world of online transactions, and online brokers can help y'all steer clear of those that exist in the domain name industry.

3. Consider a New Domain Name

At that place's a decent chance that even if you take all of these steps, the person that owns that domain now either won't want to sell, or will only accept a higher price than you can pay.

In that case, you're far from the first person to have to come up with an alternative to the first name you set your center on. Consider different domain proper name extensions—if the .com is taken, the .net or .co may all the same be available. And begin new domain name ideas. You lot may simply come upwards with something yous like even more than your original idea.

Conclusion

Finding a good domain name that hasn't already been claimed is hard—there are so many websites already out at that place that a lot of ideas accept already been snapped up. Simply you may still exist able to buy the domain you actually want. And failing that, a little inventiveness or flexibility will help y'all detect ane that works only too.

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based freelance content author and lifelong learner with an ongoing marvel to larn new things. She uses that curiosity, combined with her feel as a freelance concern possessor, to write almost subjects valuable to small business owners on the HostGator blog. You tin can discover her on Twitter at @atxcopywriter.