Forum Moderators: mack
When I'm asked for my physical address for my domain, what should I put? I don't have an office -- I'm doing this out of my home. I'm not really comfortable putting down my home address. I live in a fairly small town, but thankfully my last name is fairly common, so just my name won't help people find me quickly. I just don't want some sort of loonie showing up at my house raving about how my reviews (subjective as they are) ruined their life because they got screwed over by someone else.
A P.O. Box might work, but the only one is within walking distance of my house (a plus!). But compare that with the phone book, and it's like a neon sign pointing to me...
What do other home-based business owners do?
I'm not rich, and I don't expect my website(s) to make me any money for at least a year (sooner would be bonus).
Comments? Suggestions?
Your domain host?
They ain't gonna snail-mail you unless you fall behind in your hosting fees AND fail to respond to emails
In imitation of the Blues Brothers, those who don't need to know think that I have been "living" at the local sports stadium for over 10 years :)
(b) P.O. Box, inexpensive VOIP service with voice mail, inexpensive FAX service (if you want to list a FAX number), use a company or assumed name, and list the contact name as "Domain Administrator". Oh, and a Disposable Email Address (DEA) service.
The latter is much cheaper if you have more than a handful of domains. And I prefer it, as it looks much more "legitimate" than domain privacy services.
It *is* important that people be able to contact you, so don't use fake information! You might just want to accept that $10,000,000 offer for your domain name. Or you might find it prudent to honor that DMCA takedown request.
The reason I first posted is because I always thought you HAD to have an address listed, or feel the wrath of the powers that be. Is this not true, then?
I want people to be able to contact me, just not at home.
I've got my domain under Domain Privacy right now, but I just don't like the idea of MY domain under someone else's name (is it REALLY mine in that case?). There's nothing at the domain yet, but when there is, I don't want some "nefarious registrar" to steal my insignificant domain name(s).
If I can get away with not putting an address, that's the way I'll go. I just want to make sure that I can (newbie than I am). :)
Thanks to eberyone for your help and advice. I realy appreciate all of the input!
Note: please check the specific terms of your registry (not registrar), as they may vary outside of the well-known .com, .net etc.
Note that a real U.S. Post Office box is considerably less expensive than one at your neighborhood "mailbox store".
There is a bit of law involving the latter that you should know about. It's technically illegal now to use "suite #", "apt. #", just "#" etc. for addressing these. (Makes it erroneously appear as a physical location.) These are supposed to be addressed as "PMB" (standing for "private mailbox").
John Doe
PMB 123
456 Elm Street
Anywhere, CA 12345
An assumed name (also called a DBA or "doing business as") is a legal device that allows you to use a "company name" without incorporating, forming a partnership, etc. It typically involves a simple, inexpensive filing with local authorities, and publication in a "newspaper of record". If you want to dot all the "i"s and cross all the "t"s, this is an important step, as it will help establish ownership in any dispute.
A person can find out who is behind the name, but not so casually as simply looking at the WHOIS information and there's your name right there.
Anyway, use the assumed name as the "company name".
I use "Domain Administrator" as the personal contact name. Frankly, I haven't researched this, but I note that many major corporations (example: Microsoft) have their WHOIS information listed this way. Many (Microsoft is one) actually don't list a personal name at all for the registrant - only for the admin and tech contacts.
I think you are right to be concerned about domain privacy and the possibility of losing your domain as a side-effect. The issue actually came up recently, in the demise of RegisterFly. Although they ultimately retained their domains, those with private registrations through RegisterFly had some tense moments. If RegisterFly hadn't ultimately agreed to turn their database over to GoDaddy, I think it would have been a long, painful process to get control of their domains back - whereas those with non-private contact information could have been contacted via their publicly-available WHOIS information.
