I recently bought a website called submitzoo.com via digital point and the owner is no longer answering my emails (after me paying of course). So.. he left me with the hosting password details etc, however does anybody understand what this means when you look under whois.net? [whois.PublicDomainRegistry.com] Registration Service Provided By: PROUDIRISH.COM Contact: +353.872958771 Domain Name: SUBMITZOO.COM The current host and publicdomainregistry.com all seem to be passing me to Proudirish.com to change the tags to the hosting company I use. They are a different party to the owner. (who also are not answering emails or phone). Anny ideas where I go from here???
Well i cant tranfser it to my host or register it, which makes it fairly worthless. I've paid for the domain and website.
Alistair, I can try to help you with this. Do you have an instant message account you can use to chat?
No, but I have a couple questions for you about your situation: When you purchased the website, I assume you also specifically purchased the domain name as well, yes? Did the person who sold you the website give you information about how to login to the registrar account holding the domain, or just the hosting account? Your domain appears to have been registered by PublicDomainRegistry.com, which I believe is an accredited registrar. If that's the case, you shouldn't have to go through ProudIrish.com to get your domain, I wouldn't think. What exactly did PublicDomainRegistry say when you contacted them?
Hi Thanks for your help looking into this. I can't get hold of the person or company that owns Proudirish.com. I only have host login details which is freehostia.com, I assumed I was geting the domain name as well. Below is the thread. http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=215908 I tried phoning and emails, one of the emails came back with full mail box error which says it all, phone has an engaged tone all day. Also the owner is not responding either, its been 3 weeks since I bought the site so I really have to start trying to get ownership (if i can). Thanks Alistair
All very strange. If I were you I'd try to get my money back, though it is odd that the guy who sold you the site has a great reputation here on DigPoint. He hasn't been on the forum for a couple weeks, so maybe he went on vacation. Can you report the transaction as fraud and get your money back?
I paid by paypal so I have reported it, as you say the guy that sold it might come good, though its seems a bit fishy. I paid up the money upfront before his 5 days vacation due to his good rep. Not sure what a reseller is in this situation as its hosted with a completely seperate company. A domain name reseller?? Its annoying because I would like to really market the site and build some good links. If its not my registered domain it makes it difficult to do this as one day somebody could claim it back.
Good luck getting your money back; I'm sorry I wasn't of more help. You should definitely complain to PublicDomainRegistry about the fact that ProudIrish has been unresponsive to your complaints and questions. Just so you know, a domain registrar is totally separate from a hosting company. When you buy a domain it's like buying real estate, and you own that domain until you sell it or let it expire. Domains are registered by acredited domain registrars, and those registrars (GoDaddy, Dotster, Enom, etc.) all allow individuals or companies to enter into contracts with them to resell their domains. All registration information is held by a single entity, and the sales and purchases of domains is highly regulated. A hosting company is totally different. A hosting company simply lets you rent space on one of there servers for a fee. You don't own your hosting plan the way you own a domain, and there's no way to control a domain through a hosting account. A warning to all readers: When you purchase a website you should receive all of the ownership information about the domain you purchased, and you shouldn't consider the sale final until you've successfully transferred ownership of the domain. Once the domain is safely transferred to your account with an accredited registrar the transaction is typically complete.
Thanks WMM, Lots of useful info and tips. I will keep trying to get either my money back or the registration details changed. Once again, thanks for taking the time to help.
A most necessary warning indeed, especially when people let themselves get carried away with excitement.