Be Interviewed on DomainSherpa
The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 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.
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 owner’s 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 you’ve put in place are actually in effect.
What is the Process to Lookup Domain Name Details?
The domain name registration process has been engineered in a very transparent way. Everybody has an open access to obtain information about domain name registrant and the ownership of a domain by just clicking on certain informative links. It also helps in keeping a track of domain name expiry dates and the start date of registration.
The WHOIS Lookup
“WHOIS” is the utility that is used to check or find out the information about a domain name. This gives not only the information of the registrant but also the administrative contact, billing contact, technical contact, domain expiration date and original registration date.
To find the domain name owner information, there are a few very simple and easy steps to follow by using the internet:
- To check the domain name registrant information simply visit the website such as www.whois.net or web solution providers website like GoDaddy or https://www.tucowsdomains.com.
- Type in the exact web address or complete domain name of the website you are seeking information for.
- With a click or two (you might have to prove you’re not a robot), you’ll have the full registrant details.
Verify the Details
You can verify the details given about the domain name. If you find any information incomplete or incorrect, you may initiate a request to the domain registrar to make changes. Sometimes, if the information is not completely available, as many registrars or individuals do not want to share their information completely, you may specifically visit the registrar’s website and find information.
A WHOIS Example
Now, here is a practical illustration of how to determine who owns a domain name. We will take the example of www.DomainSherpa.com as an example website and let us explore as who owns this domain.
Step 1: Begin the WHOIS lookup
Visit a WHOIS lookup service. You can use www.whois.net or, in our case, www.tucowsdomains.com/whois-use-and-information/whoislookup and “Enter Domain Name for WHOIS Lookup”:
Step 2: Perform the CAPTCHA entry
Step 3: The privacy paragraph
Step 4: Domain name registrant information available
Step 5: 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.
To Summarize
- Domain name registrant information is available and useful for many reasons
- The domain name registrant information can be obtained through a WHOIS lookup
- Your personal information can be protected through a service called domain privacy
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe for updates (it's free)
Good material
Nice Article Keep it up…
really very useful content. most valuable article.
this is a filmschool domain> onlinefilmmakingschool.com
I am trying to visit touchlessfaucets.info but whois doesn’t show anything
Nice Article Keep it up…
Thanks a bunch for this. Really useful
I was seeking this information, found out what I needed. Thanks, Naeem
Useful information, thanks for sharing this!
I rarely see much value in commenting after that period,
Your personal information can be protected through a service called domain privacy
Good and full description, thanks for such extensive material. It will definitely be useful
helpful post
I really like your post because this post is very helpful to me and it gives me a new perspective
Wow this blog is really awesome
Good Work
This is really good information. To determine who owns a domain is useful in a few conditions
This is really good information. To determine who owns a domain is useful in a few conditions
This article is really helpful for new bloggers to get the best domain name
Thanks for this nice info. It will help me to create my next project and help me to determine my new domain name.
Great source of information. These are some of the things that needs to be understood before buying a good domain name. Thanks
Wow. Thanks for this interesting information on domain ownership.
Thats a great news. I never knew that we can know a domain name owner. Thanks for sharing.
A great article to me. I am looking for some information of some domain names. This is an article I will save for use.
Thanks for your Great Info-that is very understand able
This was exactly what I was looking for to ease my mind on the subject. Thanks
I will be able to know who owns the websites. thank you for such a great informational post!
Got to know a lot about domain name owning process. Thanks a lot.
Great source of information. These are some of the things that needs to be understood before buying a good domain name. Thanks a lot.
Well, that is really helpful, I was wondering how I will be able to know who owns the websites. thank you for such a great informational post!
I would like to know who one the Arada.org
Great source of information. These are some of the things that needs to be understood before buying a good domain name. Thanks
How do I contact the owner of this domain?
We own the TM and wish to secure it. I’m not sure if we can claim under bad faith registration as it is not passing off, nor redirecting traffic and the only other TLD we have is .com, .uk and .ie. only .com was registered before the .co.uk was taken.
Are there any grounds to secure under trademark legislation or do we have to buy it? How can we buy it if we cant find the registrar’s details?
Thanks.
domai expiet date ??
Hi, this is very informative. Thanks for sharing!
This is Very very nice article. Everyone should read. Thanks for sharing and I found it very helpful.
anyway to get whois info which is protected by third party services?
Very Nice Pice Of Information, Great read. Thanks a lot.
Copyright infridgement
Richmond Volleyball Club – Stag Head Logo
https://www.richmondvolleyball.co.uk/
Hello
Can you help me!
I am the legal owner of copyright in the following work(s) entitled “Stag Head”
As the legal copyright owner Richmond Volleyball are using the the stag head as a logo without my permission.
I want to report this to web host (ie. wordpress) but not sure how think to go find out who manages the web site and how to report this.
Look forward to any advise…
Regards
David Rijvers
Bravo ce site est super ! thanks
Please tell me who controls my website which is currently down – thanks
How can I tell if a Contractor is a Scam?? Would this site help me?
Thank you!
After much research, this was exactly what I was looking for to ease my mind on the subject
With much gratitude
This is a great article and all, I just wish that actual contact information was not presented as in parseable form. It should be presented as PNG so that either number or the email address can’t be used for advertising. I think https://webanalysis.tools/ sets a good example here, but further steps need to be taken for identity protection. Spam calls, messages and emails are getting out of hand, not to mention easily accessible WHOIS information gives more data for brute force hack attempts.
I need to find out if i bought this domain a long time ago.
Hi, I was researching a domain name for a client, and it didn’t turn up on the WhoIs lookup, but did show up on the tucows.
In the Registry info, what does this mean?
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
The site isn’t actively being used, so I assume that it might be for sale, but I don’t want to bother approaching the owner if it cannot be transferred for some reason.
Thanks, Nancy
Thank you for this interesting post.
Personally I use this site http://www.my-ip-tools.com to find the info.
Provided that the whois is not masked of course.
Try this tool too, htts://ipdomain.bid
Hi Michael,
I am unable to find the owner of website:
ALTERNATE-NEWS-NETWORK .NET
I guess before I trust the content on this website I should have some info about the owners. My server is outside of US, may be that’s why I get no results.
Could you please help! Would appreciate it. Thanks!
Hi Mark,
I looked up the domain name at:
https://whois.domaintools.com/alternate-news-network.net
Right now it says that it is not registered:
Whois Record Not Available
This domain is not registered.
That means there is no registrant and no website.
Perhaps you typed in an incorrect domain name. If so, replace the domain name with the correct one in the URL above.
Good luck to you,
Michael
Sorry, my mistake. Here’s the link and the website works:
https://www.alternativenewsnetwork.net
Thanks for sharing this useful post
May I ask you how also know how many visitors a website has or check traffic statics?
Wait for your reply!
Thanks
Omar
Hi Omar,
Here you go:
https://domainsherpa.com/how-to-find-domain-name-or-website-traffic-information/
(as an update to this tutorial, SimilarWeb.com is a good tool)
And for domain names:
https://domainsherpa.com/type-in-traffic-tutorial/
Best,
Michael
Hi Michael, how do i find out the original creation date of the domain name and history of who has owned it?
Thanks,
Ryan
In the whois record, you will see a “Record created on” or “Creation Date” field with a date. That’s the original date it was registered, assuming it didn’t fully expire, was dropped, and then hand registered by someone else (https://domainsherpa.com/understanding-the-domain-name-lifecycle/).
Can i find any domain expiry date?
Yes. Follow the instructions above.
However, just because you see an expiration date listed as, say, next month, doesn’t mean that it will expire on that day. Current registrants have until (and past in many cases) that day to renew, and many domains are renewed in the last few days before expiration.
Sorry for the mistakes. I enclose the corrected version:
“Obviously they know how to do it right. Why they didn’t care with audi.com I will try to find out in contacting them.”
T. Adam
Dear Michael, may be it wouldn’t be bad, to renew the information you are giving in the above article. I just tried to find out whether the information you present concerning domainsherpa.com are still valid. I guess you know, they are not.
Domain Name: DOMAINSHERPA.COM
Registrar URL: https://www.godaddy.com
Registrant Name: Michael Cyger
Registrant Organization: Web X.0 Media LLC
Well, who is now the owner? The “registrant name” or the “registrant organization?
Have a look at the following examples.
audi.com
registrant name: Richard Zollner
registrant organization: AUDI AG
Microsoft.com
registrant name: Domain Administrator
registrant organization: Microsoft Corporation
Volkswagen.com
registrant name: Domainmaster EZ Mailstop 2w017
registrant organization: Volkswagen of America
keytlaw.com
registrant name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Organization: —
porsche.com
registrant name: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft
registrant organization: Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft
May be ICANN would give some clear information? But ICANN only informs that “registrant” would be the owner. But who the hell is “registrant”? Is it
a) the person or organization mentioned in the “name”-field or
b) is it the one mentioned in the “organization”-field?
If a) then audi.com and volkswagen.com obviously do not have real owners.
Exploring the German DENIC I find for audi.de:
Domaininhaber (= registrant name): AUDI AG
Obviously the know how to do it right. Why the didn’t care with audi.com I will try to find out in contacting them.
Kind regards from Germany
Tim Adam
Hi Adam,
“I just tried to find out whether the information you present concerning domainsherpa.com are still valid. I guess you know, they are not.”
The information for the WHOIS of DomainSherpa.com is valid. I’m not sure why you think it isn’t.
“Domain Name: DOMAINSHERPA.COM
Registrar URL: https://www.godaddy.com
Registrant Name: Michael Cyger
Registrant Organization: Web X.0 Media LLC”
Exactly. Each registrant has to list a name, and may list an organization.
“Well, who is now the owner? The registrant name or the registrant organization?”
The Name who works for or is associated with the Organization.
Take, for example, if you were to buy a domain name from an individual. If the individual is in control of the email address listed then can can technically transfer the domain name to another entity. Whether it’s legal or not is another story, as the Organization may in fact be the rightful owner of the domain name.
Any other questions, please let me know.
Best,
Michael
thank you your article help me alot
I always use https://whoisping.com/ to find details about domains, online ping and IP blacklisting etc. I found this website useful and cheers for it.
Nice article, but if you are a domainer, then main thing you should care about is your time. Use services like https://whob.com/email/ and they will automatically send your email to the domain name registrant/owner.
@Minh most privacy companies forward your email to the domain name owner.
It’s always complex thing for me. You have shared such a nice information thanks your so much for the effort. You just drop me out of complex things.
Some domain like kiemtiencenter.com that I can’t use whois lookup to ..
How do i know which company they used to protect domain privacy
You can do a whois lookup at https://whois.domaintools.com/kiemtiencenter.com/
Then send an email to the “Admin Email” address listed. Hopefully the privacy service will forward your request.
If that fails or in addition to that option, you can use the contact information/form on the website.
And if that doesn’t work you buy access to DomainTools’ “whois history” tool (https://research.domaintools.com/research/whois-history/search/?q=kiemtiencenter.com) to find out the email address that was associated with the domain name prior to the domain name being placed under privacy protection.
Good luck.
thanks. It was really helpful.
This looks really amazing and i hope it will keep on working!
I use https://whois.sc/domainname for all my whois lookups. It’s a company called Domain Tools. Cool service. Worth a look at.
Great tutorial on how to do this!
really very interesting !
Great info regarding how to find a domain owner. Thanks for such informative article.
very interesting !