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barfoon
Asked: 2010-04-21 13:48:34 +0800 CST

Why can't I register a domain name that a registrar owns?

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I am interested in purchasing a .ca domain name. It was taken, and when I did a WHOIS it showed me that GoDaddy (a registrar) has control of it, however when I go to GoDaddy to purchase it, I have no such option.

I have always wondered - why do registrars do this? I've come across this situation before with other domains as well.
Is there any way to actually purchase a domain like this for yourself?

If anyone can shed some light on this issue, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Cheers,

domain domain-registration domain-name domain-registrar

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    With many registrars you can have the registrar listed as the contact. This is in order to provide privacy for the person or organisation that has actually registered the domain.e.g. I have a domain with DynDNS but you won't find my details listed anywhere. A whois on my domain will only show DyDNS as a contact.

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  2. If you do a WHOIS and it shows that GoDaddy has control of it, this usually means that someone else has ownership of the domain name but has subscribed to GoDaddy's privacy service. This means that GoDaddy does not really own it but is a proxy for someone else.

    You could try contacting the original owner of the domain using the contact details provided. The email contact listed is usually a random hash string that maps to the original owner's email.

    However, the domain is unlikely for sale unless it is owned by a domain squatter.

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  3. From the WIKI page for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_privacy ,

    Domain privacy is a service offered by a number of domain name registrars. A user buys privacy from the company, who in turn replaces the user's info in the WHOIS with the info of a forwarding service (for email and sometimes postal mail, done by a proxy server).

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