Question 1

Do I need to enter new Whois information with every domain registration under Dynadot?

Accepted Answer

No. You can have Whois contact records in your Dynadot account that can be selected and assigned when you register a new domain. You can even have multiple records available to easily assign for each of your individual domains.

Please note that some TLDs have additional requirements which need to be met to successfully complete a registration. This information can also be automatically added if you plan to register multiple domains under these TLDs. Login into your Dynadot account and visit your account control panel. From there, use the left menu to get to the "My Domains" -> "TLD Settings" page. On this page, find the TLD you are looking for and enter your default information. Some TLDs will always make the Whois lookup information private.

Question 2

Can I update my Whois domain contact records after they have been set? If so, where?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your Whois domain information can be updated at any time. To make an adjustment, login to your Dynadot account control panel and go to the "Contact Records" page under "My Domains" shown in the left-side menu. From here, click the name of the contact record you wish to edit and make any necessary adjustments. Any changes made may take a few days prior to seeing the changes in a Whois lookup search. Depending on which TLD that contract record is attached to, you may be required to verify your updated contact record from your email.

For more specific details, visit our help page for more information.

Question 3

How exactly does Whois lookup privacy work?

Accepted Answer

At Dynadot, our Whois privacy will replace your personal information such as your name, phone number, physical address, and email address with our domain privacy contact information. This ensures that your information is not available for misuse by others. Through this privacy process, we filter out junk mail and spam and forward you messages which are important for you and your domain management.

We do make domain privacy optional, so if you wish to show your contact information publicly for any of your domains, you can adjust accordingly from the "My Domains" section of your account control panel. For more information, visit our help page.

Question 4

When is it recommended not to enable privacy?

Accepted Answer

The decision not to enable privacy will most likely come down to the purpose of an individual domain. If you are using the domain to run your business or to host your personal website, you will likely want privacy enabled to avoid unwanted marketing or having your information unwillingly added to a spam list by anyone using a Whois lookup. If you are in the market of selling your domain(s), disabling privacy will garner additional opportunities for buyers to contact you directly.

A strong alternative if you're attempting to sell your domain would be to utilize a "For-sale" landing page. This would allow prospects to contact you instead of having additional information pulled from your Whois contact record.

Question 5

Why is a Whois database important?

Accepted Answer

The Whois database acts as a form of regulation on the internet. Without the Whois database and contact records, there would be little accountability when it comes to publishing online content. This would result in more unethical and illegal content residing around the web. It is also important as a method to buy and sell domains, as domain investors (users who frequently buy and sell domains) use it as another tool for establishing contact and to begin negotiations.

Question 6

Can I use privacy for every top-level domain extension?

Accepted Answer

No. Although the majority of TLDs support privacy, there are a number that do not as registries set their own rules regarding privacy.

Question 7

I have privacy enabled, why am I receiving emails from people I don't know?

Accepted Answer

While our domain privacy does prevent your personal contact information from appearing in a Whois lookup, we will still display a forwarding email address in its place. Others can email this address and we will forward any potentially relevant emails to your email address attached to your Dynadot account. This ensures that any important domain-related inquiries or requests can still be received by the domain registrant while not displaying any of their personal information.

Whois Domain Lookup