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I found a domain which I would like to purchase. The website on the domain was last modified on 1998 and contains a single mail address. Obviously I tried to contact the owner by mail without success. I found more information about the owner using who.is, but I still failed to contact the owner. However I got his name, which still couldn't help me because apparently thousands of people share this name.

What else can I do to contact the owner?

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    You can't unless he wants to be contacted. Many times people fill fake info while registering domains and in that case you cannot contact them.
    – Robert hue
    Nov 9, 2015 at 12:42

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I would agree with Robert Hue, that you can't really contact them that easily. Now technically if they are not using their host's proxy service to hide their contact info, they are supposed to fill it out with correct information. Otherwise fake information (including fake proxy info) can be sent to ICANN via their WhoIs complaint form, but that's just 1 possibility. Even if the information is wrong, reporting it to ICANN may not lead to the results you want, but it is an option if the information is blatantly fake or you contact someone other than one of the contacts listed (using the WHOIS info).

Another possibility is assuming the information is correct, but they don't want to respond to you. Again, nothing you can do about that.

Unless you plan on taking legal action against that person, there isn't much you can do to pressure the domain host or owner into giving you any response.

Your best option is if they allow the domain to expire, generally you can purchase the domain after it's expired for 30 days, but that may depend on the domain host and any additional packages they may have purchased to extend that grace period (NOTE: I'm not 100% sure you can extend the grace period, just putting that out there). However, after it's expired it may be more expensive to start, but once you purchase the domain you will have control over it as long as you keep it renewed.

There isn't any other situation I can think of off the top of my head, but as long as they renew the domain, they have full control over it. So you may have to be patient or use a different domain until it opens up.

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  • Another possibility for "fake" information is private registration - when buying a domain from a registrar, that registrar can put in their own information (usually for a fee). Now that domain has valid ICANN information, but it won't get a third party any closer to finding the person who actually purchased the domain. Another option may be to contact the registrar, if you know them, and request that they forward your message on to the owner - they most likely have up-to-date contact information for them, given that they charge them for renewal.
    – Jake
    Nov 9, 2015 at 17:53

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