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STARTING WELL · · 3 min read

Your web address might be in someone else’s name

If an old designer or a nephew set up your site, your domain may be in their name. One free lookup on your phone tells you.

Hands holding a phone over a wooden workbench, with a set of keys and a coffee mug nearby, in soft morning light.

Type your web address into a free WHOIS lookup on your phone. The record that comes back shows which company registered the domain, when it renews, and often whose name is on it.

The name decides who owns it. If an old designer, a nephew or a past agency set it up for you, it may be registered to them. The site feels like yours. On paper it belongs to someone else, and they hold the keys.

Hands on a laptop at a kitchen table beside a folder of receipts and a pencil, in warm afternoon light.
Log in at the registrar and check whose name is on the registrant contact.

Three checks, in order

  1. Run the lookup. Note the registrar (the company holding the domain) and the expiry date. If the owner details show as redacted for privacy, that is normal and tells you nothing either way.
  2. Log in at that registrar. Look at the registrant contact. Your name or your business name should be on it, with an email address you still read.
  3. If you can’t log in, find out who can. Ask whoever set it up to move it into an account in your name. Registrars have a process for this.

Check the renewal email while you’re there. A domain tied to an inbox nobody opens can lapse quietly, and getting it back can be slow.

If the name on the record isn’t yours, don’t wait for renewal day. Ask now, while the person who set it up still answers their email.

The lookup says the owner details are redacted. Is something wrong?

No. Redacted for privacy is normal and tells you nothing either way. Log in at the registrar and check the registrant contact there.

What if I can’t log in at the registrar?

Find out who can. Ask whoever set it up to move it into an account in your name. Registrars have a process for this.

How we handle yours

Ask every agency the same question before you sign: whose name goes on the domain, and who holds the logins? A straight answer takes one line.

Ours takes two. Your domain stays in your name. The logins are yours on day one.

Your domain stays in your name. The logins are yours on day one.

Our AI team builds the site and the AI desk around a domain you already own and control. That is part of why the work is fast. Nobody untangles accounts later, and nobody has to hand anything back if you leave.

Run the lookup before you answer any agency, us included.

Then take one of our demos for a spin. We built them from what owners like you told Bark.

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