

Ask HN: How do I contact a domain name owner if the WHOIS says little? - pizza

I want to buy a certain domain, but the owner isn't listed on the WHOIS and I have no way of contacting them. Help?
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0x0
No emails listed in the WHOIS at all? Try webmaster@domain, postmaster@domain,
and a few variations of those. Or dig into one of the "whois archive" web
sites, maybe you'll find an earlier WHOIS record with owner info.

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jameszol
If it's worth that much to you, then you can go through a broker service like
Sedo.com to get a bid in to the owner of the domain. Let them do the work of
finding and contacting the owner.

I've used brokers several times and find it to be well worth their fees if
they can make a deal happen. I believe Sedo charges $69USD, then 15% of the
purchase price if they're successful.

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dylanhassinger
I heard an interesting story the other day by the founders of Wedgies.com,
they contacted the web hosting company that was hosting the landing page for
the domain they wanted. The hosting company turned off the DNS, which made the
buy contact them, and then passed the current contact info on to the buyer.

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dholowiski
Yikes. I'd be fuming mad if my hosting company did that, even if it was just a
landing page. One reason among many to keep your DNS and your hosting company
separate.

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allbombs
a few ideas

1) search on social networks, if they (domain) have an account look at who
they are following

2) search to see if it's a dedicated host, what other domains are on the
server.. look at that whois and contact info

3) search google or way back time machine for old versions of the site (scroll
to bottom to see if contact info)

4)pray the generic email works

5) register a diff tld (.ly .it .me .co etc)

