This knowledge-base article is for third-parties who are attempting to contact the owner/registrant of a domain name registered with Maxer Host.
Due to data protection and account security, Maxer Host is unable to share the contact details of the domain owner or registrant with you.
If you contact our team, please be aware that any information we provide will be limited to public information that is freely available online - for example, details from the WHOIS database, content published on the website associated with the domain (if one exists), or public information available via search engines such as Google or Bing.
Additionally, it is our company policy not to pass messages between third parties and domain owners (in either direction). If a domain owner wishes to be contacted, they will typically have made that possible via their website or a generic email address.
If they have not, Maxer can send a one-off email to notify the domain owner that a third party has attempted to make contact. This email will outline the same steps found in the guide below. It is then entirely up to the domain owner whether they choose to act on that information.
You are welcome to re-attempt the steps in the guide at a later date to check whether the domain owner has updated their contact preferences. If you are still unable to make contact, you should assume that it is their decision not to be reachable.
The only exceptions to this policy are requests from law enforcement, court orders, or matters involving cybercrime. In such cases, the relevant police department or legal representative should contact our Abuse department, which handles all legal correspondence.
GUIDE FOR THIRD-PARTIES
1) Check the Public WHOIS Database
You can perform a public WHOIS lookup using tools such as DomainTools. This may show basic information about the domain, such as the registrant’s name or company - depending on the domain extension and the privacy settings chosen by the domain owner.
Since the introduction of GDPR on 25th May 2018, most WHOIS results are redacted for privacy, and will display messages like "Registrant Name: REDACTED FOR PRIVACY". However, some domain owners choose to opt in and make their contact information public. For example, if you search DomainTools for "maxer.com", you’ll see our company name and address, as we have opted in to display that information. Most domain owners do not opt in.
The information displayed varies by domain extension. For example:
- .com domain names may show the full address and postal address
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Country-code domains (such as .ie and .fr) may show only the legal owner name if it is a company or legal entity.
- Other country-code domains (such as .de) restrict WHOIS details completely to authorised representatives, normally legal representatives or law enforcement).
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Some domain extensions do not support public WHOIS visibility at all.
2) Check the corresponding website
If the domain has an active website, it may include a contact form, email address, or other way to reach the domain owner. This is often the most effective method of contact.
If there is no website or contact details available, it is reasonable to assume the domain owner prefers not to be contacted.
3) Email generic email addresses (e.g. postmaster@)
You can also try sending an email to the postmaster@ address for the domain name.
This address is part of the official RFC standard for domain management - technically, every domain should have it enabled or forwarded to a monitored inbox.
There is no guarantee that it will reach the domain owner, but it is worth attempting if WHOIS and the website do not provide a contact point. Other addresses, such as webmaster@ or admin@, are also quite common and may be worth trying.
Summary
If all three steps fail, it is likely that the domain owner has chosen to remain private. Maxer cannot pass messages between third parties and domain owners, and we do not offer a domain brokerage service.
However, you are welcome to try again at a later date in case the domain owner updates their contact preferences. If your initial attempt to contact a domain owner has failed, you might want to review it again in a few weeks time.
Updated by PA on 25/03/2025
