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ORA600
Asked: 2010-12-21 06:47:07 +0800 CST

How can I check whether a domain is occupier without fear that whois provider will immediately register it?

  • 772

There are many horror stories when people checked domains, found not occupied, but when came back to register the best one, all of them appeared to be registered by someone else. So, what is the safest way to check domains for being occupied?

domains whois

3 Answers

  1. Don't use a website. Use the whois command as this should go directly to the registry (not registrar) whois service. It will only refer to the registrar's whois if it is already registered.

    whois doesthisreallyactuallyexist.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "DOESTHISREALLYACTUALLYEXIST.COM".
...snip...

    You can explicitly set the whois server and query type if you wish:

    whois -h whois.verisign-grs.com domain doesthisreallyactuallyexist.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for domain "DOESTHISREALLYACTUALLYEXIST.COM"
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  2. Go to the source. whois [email protected] or alternatively go to http://www.arin.net and whois from their website. ARIN isn't going to steal your domain.

    • 2

  3. I use domaintools.com to do all of my whois lookups. They provide excellent information on the domain beyond the whois details and they do not run a registrar so they won't be registering your domains.

    In the past this has been an issue, but typically a registrar quickly gets banned if caught doing such things.

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