Working with a digital agency for the past four years, i have been in one have the roles where i have to register new client domains and alocate hosting space for them.  In a number of occasions, our clients requested for domains that where already taken and they insisted on getting/purchasing them from the original owners.

Well, if you have you once asked yourself who owns that particular domain?, Who is it’s direct / immediate registrar?, Who owns the domain, the domain age, the technical / contact person?. This article is for you. I will share with you all the possible ways to track all information regarding a particular domain name even if its WhoisGuard protected.

WhoisGuard protection is a way domain owners and registrar use to hide specific domain details from the public search. This information will include but not limited to domain owner details, technical details and administrator contacts. The one good reason for WhoisGuard protection is that it helps to prevent domain owners from being spammed or attacked using internet activities like phishing.

Anyhow, today i am here to share with you  5 ways on how to know your domain registrar.

But first, we need to know who a domain registrar is.

Who’s A Domain Registrar?

A domain registrar is an organization that manages your domain name, for example, www.gotechug.com. Domain registrars use DNS records to connect your domain name with email, websites, and other web services. Popular domain registrars include Namecheap, 1and1, Bluehost to name just a few. Picture a domain registrar as a shop where you can one or several domains.

You can purchase domains from several accredited domain registrars. Domain name registrars manage the reservation of Internet domain names and must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry.

And incase you registrar a domain from one registrar, you’re still in full capacity of transfering the same domain name to another registrar. Sometimes for a fee or for free depending on your first registrar terms.

Anyhow, lets now look into how to know a your domain registrar.

#1. WHOIS Lookup

Whois is the number one destination website for a number of people in search of domain details. When your conduct a whois search on a specific domain, you’re in position to spot the current domain registrar, the domain age, the personal and technical domain contact detail among others.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to WHOIS lookup, provided by ICANN, a non-profit that collects domain information.
2. Enter your domain name in the search field and click Lookup.
3. In the results page, look for the Registrar section.
   The registrar is usually your domain host. For example:

   URL: www.gotechug.com
   Registrar: Namecheap Inc

4. Go to your registrar’s website using the listed URL.
5. Sign in with the credentials you used when you purchased (or transferred) your domain.
   If you forgot your password, contact your domain host’s support team. In this case for me, its Namecheap.

#2. Domain Resellers

Just like the name states, domain resellers are those hosts who aren’t registered with ICANN but sale and register domains through an accredited registrar for a commission. In actuall sense, domain resellers don’t have the root access to the domain but have the managerial abilities.

#3. Billing Records

This is the third one but should have been on this list first. Its always good to do the easy things first since they save you lots of time.

If you own the domain, that means that at one point in time you purchased it from somewhere online. It is now time to checkout for the purchase email / payment receipt you received from whoever what selling the domain. In most cases, your domain registrar sends the purchase receipt with all the domain details including telephone lines incase you wish to reach out to the support team.

And since your domain host is typically who you bought your domain name from. If you don’t remember who your domain host is:

Here are the steps:

1. Search your email archives for billing records about registration or transfer of your domain name. (Your domain host is listed on your invoice.)
2. Visit your domain host’s website.
3. Sign in with the credentials you used when you bought or transferred your domain.
   If you forgot your password, contact your domain host’s support team.

#4. Third-Party DNS Hosts

According to Google, several third-party DNS hosting services, such as ClouDNS.net and FreeDNS, offer custom DNS hosting. If you use a third-party DNS host for your domain, the registrar listed in the WHOIS lookup is not where your domain records are managed.

Sign in to your third-party DNS host to access your domain records.

#5. Third-Party Internet Tools

There a couple of tools you can use to further search for details related to your domain name such as domain trust rating, domain owner country, domain age, domain/website value. Such tools include ScamAdviser(dot)com

To Read: 100 Computer Facts I Learned Online

 

Extra Tip – Access WhoisGuard Protected Details

During your research on who owns which domain or who hosts your domain, you’ll come to find out that there are domains that don’t have there details availed publicly due to WhoisGuard Protection. WhoisGuad is an internet tool that is used to protect domain owners from spammers and online malicious activity. This is achieved by hiding personal domain contacts details associated with a specific domain name.

A WhoisGuard protected domain will show you whoisguard protected on a number of field results after a specific domain search.

In the case that you still have interested in knowing how owns that particular whoisguard protected domain, you’ll simply have to contact the domain host / registrar to avail you with the domain owner contact details.

In most cases, these detials are not shared with you and in a number of times, the domain host will contact the domain owner and pass over whichever information you wish to have.

Anything left out, feel free to leave your feedback in the comment box below.