Help! Domain Expert needed

[TheGoldenGoose]

On the 24/2 this year I purchased a domain name for a side project. I paid via BPAY have the receipt number etc.

Today I went on to the control panel and apparently there was some issue with it and I don't own it.

I submitted an e-ticket (they won't discuss on the phone)

VentraIP has given me a refund today saying they're not sure how their system allowed me to purchase it because apparently it was taken.

A) what can I do about it?
B) how can I find out details of the current owner? One website says a german guy owns it, another says moniker.com owns it.
C) I want to scream :-/
D) Do I have any rights to the domain name?
E) The domain name was apparently registered the EXACT SAME DAY that I registered it. What are the chances?

[Divert To Mobile]

Hi thats terrible news.

I can only help you with part B)

to find out the owner of any domain the tool is whois.
if .au domain go to
ausregistry.com.au and do a whois lookup to see who the owner is.
if its a straight up .com or .net then go to domaintools.com
and do your whois search from there.

Steve

[AGMBris]

Wow that must be so frustrating!

The likelihood of there being another purchaser on the same day and same time to create that issue, pretty unlikely I would think. It sounds more like an issue with a software program not recognising the correct nature of the domain availability.

Or for that matter, perhaps someone else has seen you search for the domain and purchased it. Did you do a search on the site first through a website giving someone the chance to know you wanted it?

This unfortunately happens in other industries where websites have a search function on the site to see if something is available, like a phoneword in our industry for example.

Would be interesting who actually owns the domain when you find that out through the whois search.

Unfortunately though, the tough news is now there is an owner there may not be anything really that can be done.

I hope you find something that will comparatively assist your move forward in business.

There will be something else that is best for you going forward. Let's hope one door closes for a better one to open!

Good luck

[kathiemt]

I had this happen to me once, a long time ago. Around 1996 actually. In those days I had to go through someone else to purchase my domains (I had no idea how to do it direct) and he was going through a US company and they let someone in the US have the domain over me. I don't believe we applied for it at the same time, I believe she was told by someone there of the domain and thought it was a good idea to have as we were told we had to apply for it and wait a week and then suddenly it was no longer available. It was about 10 years later she finally offered the domain to me and I now own it. Doesn't help you though.

I don't know if the company you went through have a system you can go through to make an official complaint but it's unlikely. I've never heard of them before but tend to stick with the more well known companies. However, given that they've stuffed up, I wouldn't be going back to them to purchase any other domains. Try cheapdomains.com.au or domaincentral.com.au if you're looking to go through an Aussie domain reseller. Or godaddy.com is good for non-Aussie domains.

[adrian_gray]

I have nothing to add really. You're almost certainly stuffed unless you have a trademark claim over the domain. But to mirror what has been asked, did you search for the domain earlier?

Registrars, where you register a name, have a right to claim a certain number of domains - basically domain squatting. If you want a few days after you've done a search, quite often the registrar will have grabbed the domain for themselves. If that did happen, they are always interested in selling the domain name on. Really sucks, but the lesson here is to not wait around. Then again, I own a heap of domains I'm not doing anything with - just because I didn't want anyone else to grab it while I was thinking about an idea...

And, on the bright side, you can probably come up with something even better than before, or a slight adjustment that's just as good!

[TheGoldenGoose]

Thankyou all so much for your responses.

The initial shock has warn off. I do own the .com.au of the same domain and have my heart set on the domain.

Have emailed the current owner, so am waiting to hear whether they will sell/not.

Incredibly frustrating, but nothing much I can do now!

I really don't remember if I did a search first before registering. Chances are, yes! I research heavily when considering business names for clients/myself.

The research is really necessary, so what am I to do to prevent this happening again?

[Divert To Mobile]

use a reputable local registrar.
I use TPP

Steve

[Hamish Jones]

Originally Posted by TheGoldenGoose

what am I to do to prevent this happening again?

From what you have said it appears they are being somewhat evasive with their information.

This would be enough for me to switch domain name registrars.

I currently use Crazy Domains and have had no problems - having registered hundreds of domain names over the year they have been the easiest to deal with.

[adrian_gray]

Just came across a post today with a similar issue to yours... Registrars can be so crap. Just posting this as another warning for people.

[victorng]

Originally Posted by TheGoldenGoose

The research is really necessary, so what am I to do to prevent this happening again?

VentraIP is one of the registrars I use for .au registrations. Haven't had an issue.

Sounds like it was an error in their system that showed the domain as available when it wasn't. It's not unheard of. I've had the same thing with GoDaddy before.

I use domize.com for a quick availability check and then do a whois as well.

Cheers,
Victor