Recovery · web designer
Your old web designer holds your domain
Many businesses let their web designer register the name. Years later, the designer does not answer, or wants a fee to release it. Start with the registry record.
Steps
How to get the name back
Read the record
Find out who the registrant is on the registry record. For a .au name, the record shows the registrant's name and eligibility details.
If it is your business
You already hold the licence. You need control of the account the name sits in. Ask the registrar how to prove you are the registrant.
If it is the designer
Ask the designer to move the name to your business. This is a change of registrant, done through the registrar.
If they refuse
Check the eligibility rules for the name. auDA takes complaints about a holder who does not meet them.
What the auDA rules say
.com.au names (rule 2.4.4). The holder must be a commercial entity. The name must Match its business or company name, an acronym of that name, its Australian trade mark, or the name of a service or goods that it sells.
.au direct names (rule 2.4.3). The holder needs an Australian presence. The name does not need to Match a business name.
So for a .com.au name, compare the name with the holder on the record. If a designer's business holds a name that matches your business, and not theirs, tell us. We explain what the rules say about that case.
We are not lawyers. We tell you what the auDA Licensing Rules say and what the registry record shows. For advice about a contract with your designer, talk to a lawyer.
We can make the approach to the designer for you, and we keep the tone businesslike.
Enquiries
Tell us about the name
Type the web address and the name of the designer or agency, if you know it. We check the record and reply by email.
- A person reads your enquiry. No bot replies.
- We check the name on the registry record.
- We reply by email with what we found and your options.