Transfer a domain owned by WordPress?
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So here is a hard one: we are working on a documentary, about a valiant effort to raise funds for cancer. The title of the film is being used as a url by WordPress as a ‘sample’ page for making WordPress sites! The page doesn’t seem to have had any action since 2017, but its hard to tell. It also looks like ownership will expire end of this year. Tried to reach out via domain-contact.org to see if we could buy it, but none of the contact emails are going through.
We bought a similar domain, but our audience is getting it wrong and going to this sample WordPress page, which is a dead end. How on earth can we contact WordPress to see if we can buy the domain, or even temporarily redirect from it – in light of the worthy cause it is for?
Anyone have ideas on who/how to approach this?
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Generally speaking I know that WordPress won’t be able to provide any personal information about the owner of the site in question. Even if it is a dormant site. Privacy reasons.
If they are not responding to emails/ comments, you might have to wait until the domain expires. It is important to know, that even after a domain expires, there is usually a grace period. During this time, it still won’t be avaiable for you to purchuse. This time period can go from a couple days to maybe even a year.
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Hi there,
This thread has been tagged for staff, but there’s nothing we can do without knowing the exact domain you’re speaking of.
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Hi!
The url is https://untilthewheelscomeoff.com/We are working with creators of documentary (see trailer here: https://vimeo.com/355405030/78be54a1df) about a valiant effort to raise funds for cancer research, called “Until the Wheels Come Off.” We bought a similar domain, but viewers are of course going to the one above.
Trying to figure out if we can buy it or even just get a redirect for a specific period of time?
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Thanks.
That domain is registered with us, but it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to the individual who owns the WordPress.com username account that purchased that domain. We are simply the domain registrar in this case.
Domains are a form of property, in the legal sense of the word, and the person who owns a domain can do whatever they want with it (as long as it’s not illegal or against their domain provider’s policies), including leaving it connected to an unused site or simple landing page. Additionally only the domain owner can sell it or otherwise transfer ownership of the domain to someone else.
So unfortunately there is no way we can let you buy or use that domain, nor can we redirect the domain to another site for any reason. Only the domain owner can do that.
We also cannot provide you with contact information for the domain owner, as that would be a violation of our privacy policy. You can try reaching out to the domain owner by leaving a comment on their site connected to the domain or submitting their contact form at https://untilthewheelscomeoff.com/contact/. But if they don’t reply to you there, or otherwise aren’t willing to sell the domain to you, there’s nothing else you can do.
The only exception would be if your organisation’s name was a registered trademark, but even then you’d need to be able to prove the domain is being used in a way that violates your trademark in order to lay a successful claim.
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Thank you so much. I really thought this was a template for wordpress products, didn’t realize someone started an actual blog and then moved on, leaving a lot of the template copy in place.
Will reach out to see if they will sell. Many thanks for your help!
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