How To Tell Where Domain Is Registered

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

But when you get to register the domain name you're ready on, you lot find that someone has already claimed it. What a disappointment.

Before you requite upwardly on that perfect name and start the whole procedure again from scratch, know in that location might yet be promise.

Registered domain names are sometimes yet available—if y'all know how to find the owner.

People invest in domain names for a number of different reasons. Sometimes, it's to offset their own website at that domain. Sometimes it'due south purely for investment purposes. And in a few cases, information technology may exist for a website idea that either never comes to fruition, or that falls off the owner'southward radar over time.

If the website you're interested in isn't being actively used and updated, then 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 enough to make a sale worth it to them you may still accept a chance.

In both cases, yous should anticipate spending more than for the domain name than if yous went with something no one else owns nevertheless. Just if y'all're really assail that domain proper noun, it's worth trying your chances.

How to Find Out Who Owns a Domain Proper noun

Before you lot can learn whether buying your domain is even a possibility, you demand to figure out who to contact well-nigh it. How much work that involves will depend on a few factors, but you lot should exist able to at to the lowest degree go the ball rolling with these iii steps.

Step 1: Visit the Website

In cases where the owner bought the domain as an investment, they'll arrive piece of cake for you to contact them. So start by pulling up the website to meet what shows up.

You might similar…

They may say outright that the domain is for sale, and include contact information or a grade you lot can fill out. Or in some cases where the domain is in agile utilise, y'all'll exist able to find contact information on the website'due south Contact or About page.

If you lot're lucky enough that this step does the play a trick on and you find the domain owner, yous tin can skip the side by side ii steps.

Step 2: Cheque 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 and so gets submitted to the WHOIS directory, so that at that place's a tape of who runs each website online.

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

whois directory for looking up domain name owner

Put in the name of the domain you lot're looking for and scroll down to find all the data the WHOIS directory lists for it. In a few cases, that may contain the owner'south contact data. If so, you can skip the adjacent step.

Fifty-fifty if not though, it will always include at to the lowest degree their domain registrar and domain expiration date. That lets you know if the domain will be coming up for renewal soon. If and then, yous may be able to snap information technology up for cheaper when it expires than if you buy it from them directly. But that but works if they don't renew, so you're taking a take a chance.

Either way, knowing the domain registrar enables you to take the next step.

Step Iii: Contact the Domain Registrar

Many domain registrars at present offer domain proper noun privacy, which keeps the owner's personal information from existence listed in the WHOIS directory. Between that and GDPR legislation, the WHOIS directory is no longer a reliable way to find a domain owner's personal contact information.

That means in many cases, yous won't be able to acquire directly who the owner is via the directory. But you will exist able to observe out who they registered the domain with.

This still isn't a dead cease. Go to the website of the domain registrar (simply Google the name if it'southward not included in the WHOIS record), and wait for their contact data. Give them a phone call or write them an email letting them know what domain you're interested in buying, and ask them to laissez passer along your data to the possessor. The registrar will take the possessor's contact details on file, and will be able to share your interest with them without violating any privacy concerns.

What Next?

At this point, you have three different paths to consider.

one. Contact the Domain Name Owner

If one of the steps above leads you to the website possessor, it's fourth dimension to reach out! Craft an email letting them know that yous're interested in purchasing the domain.

To avoid looking like spam, make sure your electronic mail conveys seriousness and professionalism. If you have a professional email address at a domain name yous own, that will wait more legitimate than one from a yahoo or aol account. If not, consider at least setting up a gmail address, which looks a fleck more than respectable.

Make sure your email includes:

Your contact data – both email and phone, so it'south like shooting fish in a barrel for them to cull the method they adopt.
Language that makes information technology clear you're willing to pay – you may non want to include a specific offering however (if you don't know where they stand, you could offering more than than required), merely they're more likely to answer if they know this is a genuine business offer
Something that shows your legitimacy – how can y'all show you lot're a real person with serious intent? Perchance that'south a link to a website you already run or a LinkedIn profile.

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

2. Hire a Domain Broker

If you lot haven't managed to notice the contact information for the owner at this indicate, or if you accept merely would still like some help navigating the process of making an offer, look into hiring a domain broker. Businesses similar Sedo and Brannans exist specifically to aid manage deals between domain sellers and buyers.

If you're inexperienced at buying a domain proper noun, they tin can help yous figure out a reasonable price to request, find the right person to contact, and ensure the purchasing process goes through the proper steps and then that everyone'due south happy at the finish of it. At that place are lots of scammers in the world of online transactions, and online brokers tin help you steer clear of those that exist in the domain name manufacture.

3. Consider a New Domain Name

There's a decent hazard that even if you accept all of these steps, the person that owns that domain now either won't want to sell, or will only accept a higher toll than yous can pay.

In that case, yous're far from the offset person to have to come up with an culling to the showtime name y'all ready your eye on. Consider different domain name extensions—if the .com is taken, the .net or .co may nonetheless be available. And begin new domain proper noun ideas. You may simply come up with something yous like even more than your original idea.

Decision

Finding a good domain name that hasn't already been claimed is difficult—there are and so many websites already out there that a lot of ideas have already been snapped up. But yous may even so exist able to buy the domain you actually want. And failing that, a little creativity or flexibility will aid y'all find 1 that works just every bit well.

Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based freelance content author and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to learn new things. She uses that marvel, combined with her experience as a freelance business owner, to write most subjects valuable to pocket-size business owners on the HostGator web log. You tin notice her on Twitter at @atxcopywriter.