Domain name purchase stalled

Transaction hasn't been completed

[VerySurprised7]

A few months ago I showed interest in a canadian domain name, contacted the owner and agreed on a price. The money was paid and the domain name DNS pointed to my servers. I uploaded content to the server - the domain name when browsed displays my pages.

However, the seller is still registered as the owner of the domain name (the 'Registrant' on the canadian CIRA listing) and his details show under the Technical and Admin contacts. Any requests to change this with my contact info have gone unanswered.

Am I a loser? Can I do anything to claim the domain name I paid for? I believe that the 'owner' can change the pointing to his server anytime he wants, and then I am back to square one less my money...

In retrospect I know I made a mistake by not using an escrow service. Is there any action I can take, anything I can do to to force him to finalize the transaction? I have his email, work address and phone number.

Any help would be really appreciated.

[encyclo]

Do you have access to the admin panel at the registrar's site? If so, you can alter all the details yourself. If not, then you don't (yet) officially own the domain name at all. Do you have a signed contract detailing the transfer?

When you mention a .ca domain, I assume you are Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status in Canada - if not, you aren't allowed to own a .ca domain name anyway. This aspect alone would make it very difficult to persue the matter via the courts, for example.

[VerySurprised7]

Thanks for your reply, encyclo. No, I don't have access to the control panel... and I am not a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident - I thought that they lifted this clause and anybody can own a .ca domain name. Clearly, I did not do my homework before starting the process.

[HarleyGuy]

VerySurprised7

you might want to consider a partnership with a canadian.
find a person who is canadian have a partnership agreement written up and let the person have a small persentage of the site. they will have the domain registered in their name, however you still own the majority of the site.

a canadian citizen that is a legal resident of the U.S. might be even better. your contract with that person will be a U.S. agreement.

[svpwizard]

sticky me the canadian citizen that is a legal resident of the U.S

[BillytheKid]

Try to do a domain transfer to a registrar of your choice. Many registrars froze the whois information when they began creating private registration. Bulkregister is a good example. You may be listed as admin but it wouldn't show up in WHOIS if the sub-registrar doesn't make a new public handle.
If the person you bought the domain from fails to allow the transfer you may complain to ICANN and the registrars involved. The person may approve the transfer if they didn't list you as the admin or tech contact and many people do that expecting the domain to be transfered when they sell one rather than change the contact information.