Domain Search | Picking the Right Domain Name | Domain Already Taken
A domain name does not have to be online or working for it to be already registered. The domain search on our website performs searches in realtime with the domain registry and gives you the true availability of the domain. You can also perform a whois search on a domain to find more information such as the registrar of the domain and in some cases the contact information for the domain.
What to do if taken?
You have the following options when the domain you want is not available:
Register Another Domain (recommended)
Purchasing domains from existing owners can be expensive and time consuming. They may not respond to your requests or may ask for a large price for the domain. The fastest and easiest option is to search for another available domain and register it.
Contact Current Owner to Buy Domain
You can contact the owner of the domain to buy it from them. Contact information may be found on the domain's website (if any) OR via the domain's whois record at https://www.misk.com/tools/#whois. Many domains for sale include a price and/or contact method directly on their own website.
If none of those options provided you with a contact method, you may need to ask the current registrar (listed in the whois record) to forward a message on your behalf to the current domain owner. If the current owner is willing to sell the domain to you, you can work out payment with them, and then transfer the domain into your Misk.com account.
Keep in mind, domain transfers between registrars can take several days to complete. If the domain is registered at another registrar, follow the instructions at https://www.misk.com/kb/incoming-domain-transfers. If the domain is already registered at Misk.com, follow the instructions at https://www.misk.com/kb/internal-domain-transfers. Ownership of a domain name is determined by the whois contact information. Once the domain has been transferred to your account, you'll also need to update/verify the whois contact information as per https://www.misk.com/kb/whois-ownership to officially list yourself as the owner.
Wait for Expiration / Release
You can wait for the domain to expire (if hasn't already) and try to register it as a new domain. Expired domains are not released to the public right away. They go through a number of stages after expiration before being released. You'll need to check with the domain's current registrar to see what their policy is for expired domains. As an example, our domain expiration policy can be found at https://www.misk.com/kb/domain-expiration-policy.
If the domain is nearing release (after any/all expiration grace and pending delete periods), you can routinely search for it on our website at https://www.misk.com/ (our domain search is a real-time search) and try to grab the domain before anyone else. You can also review the domain's whois record at https://www.misk.com/tools/#whois to see its current status.
Dispute the Registration
If you have a trademark on the domain name, you can look into disputing the registration of the domain name.
The domain was available yesterday, but not today?
Domain names go fast. We've seen so many people lose their name because they waited too long to register it and someone else registered it. If you find a name you like and it's available, register it as soon as possible.
Misk.com respects your domain search privacy and does not use your search data for any other purpose. Some registrars have been known to register domain names based on their customer's domain searches (known as front running). Be sure to only search for names on secure and safe sites like Misk.com and don't share proposed registrations until the names are fully registered.