It’s happens all the time. Maybe your email has changed over the last two years, or you’ve lost the signup information and login information and you need to find out how to get control of your domain back. (Note this is different to losing your domain altogether – if it expired and somebody else swiped it, you’re going to have to pay them for it!)
When this happens it can be very easy to lose control of your domain. So be careful! Use the following guide to find out who controls your domain name now and get your domain password(s) as soon as you can so you can put the domain back in your name.
First, do a WHOIS lookup of your domain …
If you have a .com.au domain the best WHOIS use http://www.mywebname.com.au/
If you have a .com domain, I tend to use http://whois.melbourneit.com.au/
The WHOIS data will something look like this…
| Domain Name | DNADIGITAL.COM |
| Registrar | NETREGISTRY PTY. LTD. <—- NOTE THIS! |
| Whois Server | whois.netregistry.net |
| Referral URL | http://www.netregistry.com |
| Name Server | NS0.DNSMADEEASY.COM |
| NS1.DNSMADEEASY.COM | |
| NS2.DNSMADEEASY.COM | |
| Status | clientDeleteProhibited |
| clientTransferProhibited | |
| clientUpdateProhibited | |
| Updated Date | 09-mar-2010 |
| Creation Date | 18-apr-2001 |
| Expiration Date | 18-apr-2012 |
| Last update of whois database | Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:29:33 UTC |
Look at the second line that says “Registrar”. This is the company that controls your domain name.
You’d think it would be easy to call and get it sorted out.. and it may be BUT sometimes these big companies have smaller resellers who sell domain names at a wholesale rate.. this means that you might not be their customer directly, even if they DO control the domain ultimately. In this case, you should ask them nicely who the reseller is and then give them a call.
If you are unlucky, that reseller might have another reseller.. (doh! start over!) until you get back to the person who sold you the domain in the first place!
Most registrars have a “Password Recovery” option on the main website. Give that a go first. If you don’t have access to the email address on your domain’s technical contact you’ll have to ask the registrar about a fax/letterhead process which will take longer, but they all have a method like this.
If you can’t figure it out.. don’t worry.. just call DN! Digital and we’ll see if we can help! 1300 798 901