Domain Name Problem. Is there an expert on the porch?

[Marty]

I had a website up for years that I cancelled eariler this year. I had purchased my domain name through the webmaster, who was wonderful by the way. I have no idea who the domain name is through, I just paid her for it and she always took care of that for me.

I would like to try my hand at my own website but it says my domain name is taken. Yes I know, its taken by me! I do believe it has not expired. I have tried to contact my former webmaster to see if she can shed some light on this for me but she is out of touch for some reason.

Is there anything I can do to regain my domain name since I don't know where she got it registered? I really am desperate to try to track it down before it expires so I don't have another mess on my hands. Would appreciate this very much.

 

[minimomNC]

See if this will work. in the address bar type in whois.sc/ then put your webaddress without the www or http. It should show who is hosting that web address

Oh not an expert but I tried it myself and it worked.

 

[Marty]

Thanks so much karen you are a genius. I found it thanks to you and it seems to still be active. There was a email address there along with some others: I didn't know which one to pick so I used this one: admin@overseedomains. I emailed that one to see what I have to do to be able it doesn't expire and use it again. This will be the first time I am attempting to do a website on my own with complete management so I am terrified and will need all the help I can get. Been so worried about this and the whole thing, thank you again.

 

[kaykay]

This is why I tell people over and over to never let the web person buy your domain name. It can cause so many headaches!

You will have to get her to sign it over to you. Many of my customers have me buy their name for them because they dont want the hassle but I will always sign one back over. Many web designers either wont or want a fee for the name. Or you can wait for it to expire and buy it then.

Many times its easier just to pick a new domain

 

[Marty]

KK I was actually going to call you yestarday because I figured you would know about this stuff. And you are right, this is a headache. I'm not sure why my former webmaster has been unavailable for so long so that is why I am trying to do this on my own. She always took such good care of things for me, no complaints at all. I did already get an automated response from that admin address that says someone will contact me in 5-7 business days. :arg!

I obviously cannot rename my little farm and I'm sure no one else would care to be a Brave Little Prancer so I do want my name back asap.

Any ideas are welcome on how to speed up this process.

 

[SampleMM]

Why not do bravelittleprancers. net or .org?

 

[Marty]

I thought of that too but geesh my dot com is all over all my cards and stationary and youtubes by the thousands. If I can keep my dot com I would be over the top. I realize this is stupid to be worried about such a trivial thing and usually wouldn't fret over something like this seeing as how its not a national emergency, but I am anxious to add some new things to it that I am excited about.

 

[bevann]

A word of warning.If you want to keep your same web name,DON'T let it expire.My web designer stopped doing and maintaing my web site.When I finally found someone to re do it for me my domain name was taken.Someone had gotten it and wanted $3000 from me to get it back.I told them to forget it.Designer suggested intead of dot com it became dot net. works like a charm.Turns out this person who got it is somewheres overseas and got lots of domain names.guess they make lots of money selling them to people

 

[Marty]

Oh that does not sound good

 

[kaykay]

Yes squatters will buy up your name as soon as it expires. You really have to get ahold of her so she can transfer it to you. I so feel for you Marty! Hopefully she will get back to you asap.

I really hate to say this but after looking at the whois it looks to me like a squatter already has it. They are getting paid for those ads on there. They love to squat names that previously got hits.

If your web person still had it it would list her name. This maybe why shes avoiding you? Because she doesnt want you to know it expired?

You know you can always call!

 

[Marty]

I am sure she is not avoiding me. My webmaster was always wonderful to me and I would use her again in a heartbeat. Its not her fault if the domain expired.

 

[kaykay]

It expired from you on March 24th 2011

bravelittleprancers.com

IP Addresses: N/A

IP Location: N/A

Reverse IP Lookup: N/A

Hosting Company Name:

ICANN Registrar: CATALOG.COM, INC.

Creation Date: Mar 24 2005

Expiry Date: Mar 24 2011



Web Server: N/A

Website Status: N/A

So I am thinking your designer bought it thru catalog.com

Now Oversee domain has it and here is a complaint about them (defintely squatters)

This company is parked on the .com version that we would like to register. We are nebraskadachshundrescue.org and, as we've grown over the last few years, thought it would be nice to register the .com version and direct people to the .org site. This Oversee Domain Management company is sitting on the .com version of our name. Seriously, they are holding a name hostage from a non-profit dachshund rescue group in Omaha, Nebraska. Shame on them. This is domain name scalping. I will not pay one penny over what it is worth on the 'available' market. They can keep it. I know it is absolutely useless to them.

another complaint

I feel your pain, I went on sabbatical and have since returned to find my Domain had lapsed, This company is holding it hostage and demand ransom if I want it returned, There is no question the name sake is mine, a brand I have built over 10 years, one they are capitalizing off of by abusing my generated traffic to sell click through ads.

They will soon realize that with out me generating traffic for it, it wont amount to much, but they don't care because the amount of international traffic hitting the site generates enough revenue for them to continue registering my Domain ...

 

[kaykay]

here is a link where Oversee defends themselves and it has a form for you to fill out to try to get your domain back. Says they answer within 24 hrs. I suspect though they will want a huge fee for it

Oversee domains

New names are acquired every day. In the process of deciding which domain names to acquire, we use a comprehensive set of automated and manual filtering tools to avoid names that might infringe on the rights of others.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

This isn't any help to you, but recently our host notified us that our domain was about to expire and it would cost $500 to reacquire it. Fortunately we had proof of payment and they apologized. Luckily, they notified us before the expiration, even though it wasn't necessary.

That is terrible that yours expired so recently and it caught you unawares, Marty. I love that name! Hope you can get it back.

 

[Marty]

Again, this is soley my fault. I cancelled my website because we went completely on social security and I had to cut expenses. My webmaster gave me wonderful service. I was ignorant about domain names and how it all works but I am certainly getting an education now. My domain name does happen to also come up in my books that are copywritted with the Library of Congress but I'm not sure that has any effect on this.

Since this website, besides my horses I am wanting to build will be also for my books and to display my handcrafted cards, I can change the name then to something else if it will be impossible to retrieve it.

I filled out the form. Watch some dude from India call me that I can't understand.

YAY! FORMER WEBMASTER HAS BEEN VERY BUSY AND CONTACTED ME!