How to Verify Domain Name Ownership with WHOIS (2024)

The pressure is great Naming your online storeThe process of choosing a name for your business can be fun and inspire your creativity, but it can also be daunting, especially if all your ideas are already taken. Even if your desired business name is available, someone else may have already claimed it. Domain name.

But that doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. In some cases, you can find the domain owner (also known as the domain registrar) and contact them to negotiate a purchase. You can easily find that information using the free domain lookup tool WHOIS (pronounced “who is” and meaning “who is responsible for this domain name”).

Read on for instructions on querying WHOIS and setting up your new domain.

How to verify domain ownership

1. Go to the WHOIS database
2. Search domain name URL
3. Detect if contact information is private
4. Find registrant contact information

1. Go to the WHOIS database

To verify the ownership of a domain, Shopify WHOIS databaseThe database contains vital information such as domain registrant names, IP addresses, contact information, and more.

Note: Many domains make this information publicly available in their databases, but some may use Privacy Shield to hide such information from the general public.

2. Search for the domain name URL

To find information about a domain, enter the domain’s URL in WHOIS database search bar.

Use the Search button to find information about domains and their owners.

First, WHOIS provides domain names, IDs, Domain Registrar Server, URL, and creation date. From the following, shopify.com was created on March 11, 2003, and is currently Mark Monitor.

You can also click View Map & Details Expand the window to view more detailed data about the domain name.

3. Detect if contact information is private

Now, you may have noticed that this information does not directly lead you to the domain owner – in fact, domain name services act as intermediaries and protect the identity of the domain owner, which means that additional research and investigation will be required to find the real owner of the domain.

4. Find the registrant’s contact information

If the identity of the domain owner is hidden, find out information about the company that owns the domain. inquiry or About us A page that describes the company’s leadership, founders, owners, etc.

You can also find out where your company is registered and look for databases that list information about registered companies. Look for the Secretary of State or Department of Revenue website for that location. For example, if your company is registered in Florida, you can find the website for that location’s Secretary of State or Department of Revenue. Check the ownership of the business You can identify it by your company name, employer identification number, address, or registered agent name.

What to do if you find out who owns a domain

Once you know who owns the domain, you’ll want to find out how to contact them and negotiate a contract to transfer ownership of the domain.

Contact the domain owner

First of all, you need to contact the domain owner. You may be able to find their contact information using the steps above. Often, the contact information will be provided in the form of a physical mailing address. However, if you would like to contact them in a different way, there are a few steps you can take to find the right contact information.

Start with a Google search. Just type the person’s name into Google and see what comes up. You can also search for “(name) email address” or “(name) contact info.” If that doesn’t produce any results, try looking through databases like these: Hunter Or Linkedin.

Once you have contacted the domain owner, be prepared to negotiate a deal for the domain. Have a price in mind and be prepared to hear a counter offer. Domain AuthorityOr how much search equity your existing site has. If it’s obviously outdated and not ranking highly in search engine results pages (search results), you can offer a lower number. However, for an updated site with a strong digital presence across multiple channels, you’ll probably want to start with a higher number.

Transfer your site to a new domain

Once you have secured ownership of the domain in question, Migrate an existing site Add it to your domain name. (If you’re building your website from scratch, you can skip this step.)

If you built your website on a platform like Shopify, you can migrate it between almost any online site builder. Migrating your site to ShopifyEach is a relatively simple process.

Come up with new ideas for domain names

If negotiations don’t go well and you can’t secure ownership of the domain name, you’ll need to brainstorm new ideas. Here are some tips to help you: Choose a domain name You don’t have to start completely from scratch.

• Choose a different top-level domain (TLD)Many websites use the .com TLD, but you can also check if your domain name is available in .co, .org, .shop, .biz, or other TLDs.
• Add words to your domain nameWords like “shop” and “buy” are great to add to your domain name. For example, if shoes.com is not available, you can use shopshoes.com or buyshoes.com.
• Use the help of a domain name generatorFrom Shopify’s free ideas Domain Name GeneratorEnter your idea and keywords and we’ll show you popular alternative domain names you can use for your business.

Set up your domain in Shopify

When you register a domain with Shopify, you automatically get access to Shopify’s full suite of business tools, and your domain Inventory control Delivery and Fulfillment.