How Do I Track Down the Owner Of a Domain

[Mark396]

I am looking to create a service and the perfect domain is already owned by somebody.
There is no contact information or buy this domain button on the site. It's all adds
relating to the domain. I know go-daddy and other domain providers can run a search
and help you track them down, however they want $70 with no guaranteed return.

Can anyone provide any insight on how to track the owner of a domain?

 

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[Mrs. BRKb]

You can search the whois.

WHOIS Search provides domain registration information from Network Solutions

 

[Tom.V]

You can search the whois.

WHOIS Search provides domain registration information from Network Solutions

Correct, a standard WHOIS search would be your first course of action. Most domain owners will have some type of privacy protection in place which will send you to the privacy company themselves. If their name and contact is not on the whois, try emailing them via "admin@(domainname.com), administrator@(domainname.com), contact@domainname.com", and the sort. Often times, as I have found, this will reach someone on the other side. The option to send all emails at a specific domain to one email can work in your favor as well, if the above stated names do not work.

 

[Mark396]

Correct, a standard WHOIS search would be your first course of action. Most domain owners will have some type of privacy protection in place which will send you to the privacy company themselves. If their name and contact is not on the whois, try emailing them via "admin@(domainname.com), administrator@(domainname.com), contact@domainname.com", and the sort. Often times, as I have found, this will reach someone on the other side. The option to send all emails at a specific domain to one email can work in your favor as well, if the above stated names do not work.

Thanks UnGodly! Exactly what I was looking for. Will try that right now...

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

You can also check the secondary markets; a lot of the domains I find are indeed taken, but they are also listed for sale on the secondary markets (Sedo.com, etc.); you can make contact that way and get a gauge for what the owner wants.

 

[nausbot]

.net .org .co .??? all taken? Hyphon? Pluralize a word?

 

[TJPB]

I am in the same boat. I ended up adding "gear" to the name and it works. I'm still trying to track down the owner though......no replies to anything yet.

 

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[Chris_Willow]

I say don't worry about it too much and focus on growth.
Basecamp stared as basecamphq.com
seomoz.org is now moz.com
thefoundation.io is now thefoundation.com
dropbox was once getdropbox.com

Once you're making money you can purchase the premium domain.

 

[TJPB]

I say don't worry about it too much and focus on growth.
Basecamp stared as basecamphq.com
seomoz.org is now moz.com
thefoundation.io is now thefoundation.com

Once you're making money you can purchase the premium domain.

That's true.....unless the premium domain owner is inaccessible.

 

[Marineti]

Also you can use search with special search tools. Try google search with such command: "@yourdesireddomainname.com” email
or you can use payable services like: https://findthat.email/ or hunter.io

 

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[GeoffP]

Correct, a standard WHOIS search would be your first course of action. Most domain owners will have some type of privacy protection in place which will send you to the privacy company themselves. If their name and contact is not on the whois, try emailing them via "admin@(domainname.com), administrator@(domainname.com), contact@domainname.com", and the sort. Often times, as I have found, this will reach someone on the other side. The option to send all emails at a specific domain to one email can work in your favor as well, if the above stated names do not work.

Is postmaster@domainname.com still required? Or did the rules change?

 

[ravenspear]

Is postmaster@domainname.com still required? Or did the rules change?

Nothing is really required. There are certain addresses that the email RFC says should be valid but that doesn't mean the domain owner cares or has actually configured them properly.