If you aren’t using DomainTools, here are 5 ways to get started.
DomainTools, a product of Name Intelligence, is perhaps the most powerful repository of data for domainers. Here are five ways I use the site:
1. Verify ownership of big ticket domains. When I’m buying an expensive domain I like to verify that the person I’m buying it from actually owns it. DomainTools’ historical whois tool lets you see the whois record for a domain name. This feature prevented me from being scammed on a $5,000 purchase. It also comes in handing when you’re writing articles about domains. It’s how I figured out that Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff was the likely seller of the domain Bill.com recently.
2. Domain suggestions. I’m not always thrilled by the domain suggestions DomainTools provides. But I like how its shows you a side-by-side comparison of the available domains for each term is suggests. If you see a domain that is registered in .net or .org but not .com, it might be worth registering it.
3. Buying already registered domains. This weekend I was looking for a domain to register for a new site. I searched for availability on DomainTools, and for each domain it told me if the domain was listed for sale at Sedo, Afternic, TDNAM, or BuyDomains. If you’re looking to pick up some underpriced domains, do a “For Sale” search and select the “Under $2,000” category.
4. Find out who you’re dealing with before making an offer. DomainTools’ registrant search helps you understand the owner of a domain you might be interested in purchasing. When you search for the domain it tells you how many other domains the owner has registered. You can purchase a list of all of the domains; this is a controversial feature because it makes it easier to hijack someone’s entire portfolio of domains. However, merely knowing the number of domains is helpful and unharmful.
5. Typo tool. Want to know who is typosquatting on your web site? A quick search shows you possible typo domains, if they’re registered, and if they’ve been registered previously. I also like the “Registrant View”, which shows you who the culprit is. Somjai Santiratikul and Timothy Davids, I have my eye on you!
For all its power, DomainTools can be a valuable tool for domainers. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is going to start integrating DomainTools into its search (we don’t know how yet). Could Google use it to weed out domains that have changed ownership? After all, that’s one of the reasons Google became a domain registrar in the first place.
[This article was inspired in part by Peter Askew’s recent post at Domainer’s Gazette.]
Marty says
Suggestion #3 is great. I have been trying to find a tool that congregated all this information. Thanks for the ideas!
Patrick McDermott says
“However, merely knowing the number of domains is helpful and unharmful.”
Andrew,
I disagree that knowing the number of domains via Registrant Search is unharmful.
I have seen it many times where a Complainant in a UDRP tries to use the fact that a Respondent owns many domains against him.
“Respondent owns 75,577 domains. Respondent registers domains in bulk which is evidence
Respondent has no rights or legitimate interest in the disputed domain”.
Or something like that.
The Complainant does’t need to pay for the report.
Just seeing how many domains is attributed to someone is ammunition enough.
Patrick
Andrew says
@ Patrick -that’s a fair point. However, a an arbitration panelist should not consider the number of domains as evidence of wrong doing (although I’ve seen this go both ways), so even if the complainant says they own a lot of domains, this fact is often dismissed by the panelist. Could it sway them? I suppose it could.
Patrick McDermott says
Hi Andrew,
Yes it could go both ways.
My point was that Domain Tools showing how many domains someone owns (accurate or not) is not so benign.
Look at this:
“How to Search for Domain Name Holders and Patterns of Registration”
“What follows is a guide on how to search for this information, particularly in cases where the registrant in question has registered multiple domain names.”.
“Bulk registration of domain names is one of the hallmarks of cybersquatting and is accordingly listed as one of the enumerated circumstances evidencing bad faith under the UDRP.”.
“Unfortunately, the process for discovering this pattern (of registrations) is not as simple as one might hope.”.
Source:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/udrp/process.html#search
Now it’s quite easy to do that research and see without any cost of money or time how many domains someone owns.
Pay the freight and you get to see what the actual domains are.
Bottom line:
If you are a Respondent in an UDRP dispute, there is absolutely no advantage to you that the Complainant knows how many domains you own.
But that info could work to the advantage of the Complainant depending on who the Panelist(s)is/are.
There are lots of people who think it’s wrong for someone to own lots of domains.
Unfortunately, some of those people are UDRP panelists.
Patrick
Andrew says
@ Patrick – thanks for the research. You make a valid point. The way I’m using it is benign, but it could be used against you.