I'm an experienced engineer and sysadmin from back in the SGI Onyx days, but I've stumbled into a tricky situation. I lost a domain registration while I was out of the country, which lapsed because my credit card expired and I couldn't access my email. Someone else picked it up and has been renewing it for the last three years, but they haven't set up any website—just an MX record pointing to forwardemail.net.
The domain is registered with Onamae.com, a Japanese registrar, but navigating their site is a challenge since I don't speak Japanese. This domain belongs to a friend who is a niche celebrity, and I maintain his online presence. Given the circumstances, I doubt it's a ransom situation since there has been no outreach from the current owner. I'd really like to get this domain back for him. Any advice on how to approach this?
2 Answers
Unfortunately, as long as the current owner keeps renewing the domain, it’s going to be tough to get it back without reaching out directly and potentially making a monetary offer. They did register it legally, so it’s a fair game on their part. You might want to wait until the renewal date in December and see if you can contact them then.
Bypass the hassle and check out samedomain.io for alternatives, although it sounds like you're pretty set on reclaiming this specific name.
Thanks for the tip! I'll mark my calendar for December.