Why is it important to check out the owner of a website before making a purchase? Well, there could be plenty of reasons; however topping the list would be the fact you don’t want to find yourself embroiled in a legal battle.

A website or domain name can now function as a trademark and can be owned by a particular company or individual. As a buyer, doing a little proper due diligence can save you weeks, months, if not years of trouble.

While SecondWind Marketplace offers a complete feedback and trust management system for every member, we suggest following a few basic tips to verify website ownership.

Check Out the Contact Us or About Us Page

The easiest way to verify ownership is to visit the websites Contact Us or About Us page. If it’s a small business, start-up website or blog, chances are you can contact a owner directly instead of dialling a customer care number.

Install Shazou

Shazou (pronounced Shazoo), means Japanese for mapping and is a Firefox add-on. Shazou enables you to geo-locate any website your curently viewing. Shazou was developed as a tool to improve the awareness of where and who you are interacting with. As a buyer, Shazou will show you the details you need to know to make better decisions about what sites you want to purchase. To download Shazou, click here.

Visit WHOIS Search

Used by webmasters and potential website owners, visit WHOSIS Search at DomainTools.com.

A WHOIS Search It is actually a pretty straight forward tool. If you only need to verify the owner and a few other important details about a website, just entire the URL of the website and click lookup. The lookup tool will provide a list of information, which may include the registrant, domain name, administrative and technical contact, and even the expiration date of the domain. To visit WHOIS Search, click here.

If you need more specific information, we also recommending InterNIC. This website allows you to look for website information according to domain, name server, and registrar. You can visit InterNIC by clicking here.

Overall, it’s is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to buying websites and domain names. We always suggest doing a little homework on your part before making that big purchase!

Erik

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SecondWind Marketplace

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1. 

   Nile on Nov-17-2010

   You might find it funny, but when I am in a pinch and on the spot, I end up at GoDaddy to check WhoIs. Now that you shared the link, I am going to bookmark it.

   Some of my new design clients are people who sometimes just have a domain name in mind, but when trying to buy – it is already taken up. One of my friends was able to buy a domain name that had her name in it by looking up the WhoIs info. Very nifty!