Track Down a Domain Owner Who Uses Whois Privacy

Elliot Silver
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6

Whois privacy shields a domain registrant’s contact information from public view. When private Whois is enabled on a domain name, it can be more challenging – if not impossible – to track down a domain name registrant to buy the domain name. There is no way to see who registered a domain name that has private Whois records short of litigation or a UDRP filing.

That being said, there are several ways I have had success tracking down domain registrants who utilize Whois privacy proxy services. Here are some of the tactics that can be used to learn who owns a domain name that is privately registered:

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Keep Your Minimum Offer Realistic

Elliot Silver
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21

I typically use the DAN.com buy it now landing page with a Make Offer option. I’ve heard and experienced that these landing pages induce far more offers than buy now deals, but I am okay with considering offers on my domain names. The one suggestion I have is to ensure your minimum offer amount is a realistic number you would consider accepting.

The default minimum offer on my account is set at $500. This number was chosen by me, and it is the highest I can set it because I have one or two names for sale with BIN prices of $500, and the highest default minimum I can set cannot be higher than the lowest BIN price. This means that if I do not modify the minimum offer for an individual domain name, $500 will be the minimum offer set as a default. With DAN, I can modify the minimum offer on a per name basis.

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Domain Brokers Need to Have a Website

Elliot Silver
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10

There are many people who call themselves domain brokers. It’s an easy business to get into, and the self-regulated nature of the business makes it pretty easy for someone to say “I am a domain broker,” without much pushback from anyone. Of course, there is a big difference between good domain brokers with experience and others who don’t have experience, but that’s a different topic.

I recently received an inquiry email from someone claiming to be a domain broker working on behalf of a buyer. Their email address used a custom domain name, and since I had never heard of the person before, I visited the domain name. I was not impressed. I didn’t respond to the email, and it was deleted.

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Domain Name Pricing is an Art

Elliot Silver
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4

I took a Financial Accounting course my first semester of sophomore year in college. I don’t remember much from the class except for one thing the professor told us that I will paraphrase: “accounting is more of an art than a science.” I think the same thing can be said about the pricing of domain names on the aftermarket.

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How to List a Domain Name for Sale

Elliot Silver
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5

Over the years, I’ve been asked by a number of people how to sell a domain name. Most of the people who have asked are friends or friends of friends, and they are not involved in the business of domain investing. I also saw a tweet from someone this past week asking the same type of question, and I thought I would expand on this.

If I was not a domain investor but owned a domain name that has value and wanted to sell it, here are the steps I would take:

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Maven Co-Founder Details Maven.com Acquisition

Elliot Silver
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6

Gagan Biyani, a Co-Founder of Udemy, Advisor at Lyft, and former CEO of Sprig, announced the name of his newest startup: Maven. The thing that caught my attention is the domain name that the company is using – Maven.com. The domain name has been owned by General Motors, and in fact, Whois records show the domain name is still registered to GM.

With that in mind, I asked Gagan and his two Co-Founders (Wes Kao and Shreyans Bhansali) if they bought the Maven.com domain name from GM. Gagan replied with a link to a tweet thread he previously posted sharing the startup naming process his team undertook. He also shared insight into the process of securing the domain name. I think this is a great thread for investors to read for additional insight into the mind of a startup founder seeking a great brand and corresponding domain name.

Here’s the thread:

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