Selling a domain name

Can it be done anonymously?

[nfs2]

I have a domain name i'd like to sell, but i dont want to give the buyer my real name. The domain (and site) is a community site where i used only a screen name, so i dont want the new owner being able to tell my members "I bought this site from a guy named so-and-so, who lives at *address here*", Cause i mean, that wouldnt be cool.

So how does domain selling work? If the guy pays my by paypal, do i just give him my domain password? Cause then he'd have all my info. How do i transfer a domain annonymously?

[specter]

It's not possible.
You have to sell your domain referring to the whois information.

[nfs2]

But the registration was done through domains by proxy, so its them in the whois. Would i still have to give my real name?

[specter]

Make a query on a whois server: those are the information you have to provide for the sale.

[gpmgroup]

You could always sell it to a friend first and get him to sell it on for you.

[crescenta]

I *think* maybe you could just unlock the domain with your registrar (which would allow transfers to other registrars to take place), and then tell the buyer to initiate a transfer to their own registrar. (For instance, if you had the domain registered with Network Solutions, and they wanted to transfer it to eNom.) The buyer would start a transfer, and when you got an email from your registrar saying, "This domain is about to be transferred--is that okay with you?" you say okay. The buyer would then wait a few days and the transfer would take place, and I *think* that the information about the domain would now include his WHOIS information (whatever he had set up with his own registrar), not your WHOIS.

However, I've never actually tried this out (selling a domain to someone else) so I cannot confirm that your WHOIS information would be secure. All I know is that I've transferred several domains to different registrars (I didn't like the old one, whatever) and all that was needed for me to do (at the old registrar) was to approve the transfer, or do nothing and let the transfer go through, and it went through.

Registrars always tell you to keep your domains "locked" because if you don't, someone else could transfer the domain away from you and keep it for themselves. It's not quite so simple (as I said, I always get an email saying, "Do you *really* want this domain to be transferred?") but that's basically how it works.

[mcavic]

If your domain is already registered anonymously, you can probably use a service like Sedo to sell anonymously. They are an escrow service, so the buyer pays them and then initiates a transfer. Note that you have to be able to approve the transfer, which involves someone knowing your email address.

You could probably also sell on eBay, using a Paypal email address that doesn't identify you. They might still reveal your name -- I'm not sure.