How do I get a domain name for business without supplying my home address?

TriciaW

I would not go for a PO box either but you can get virtual offices that forward mail to you

soolin

I echo some of the points above if you are running a business then the important thing is to give the buyers confidence.

We get a lot of 'help have I been conned' posts on the various forums on MSE and the first thing someone does is to look at the who is to see what sort of registraion the business has. Anything that looks odd- and that can be a hotmail account or a known virtual address will probably result in the answer 'yes, the seller looks potentially dodgy'. LIkewise buyers will look at the address supplied on your web page and if that tracks back to a post forwarding service or anything other than a 'real' geographic address that they can track you to many will consider you a little dodgy and move on.

I sell on ebay and my full geographic address is displayed as is an address for every other legit busines strading on there. Why would a buyer trust a standalone website that doesn't even have the same basics as a seller on ebay?

QuackQuack_2

First of all NOMINET whois only shows the address, not a phone number. It would be a fairly poor source of data for marketeers - however those that track rogue traders would make use of it.

In my there are very few legitimate reasons to try and 'stealth' a domain name. It's fair to say that anyone who operates a business and tries to mask where they are operating it from often does so for potentially fraudulent reasons (benefits, tax, scamming etc). The whole 'Privacy' thing tends to go hand in hand with bulltish used by dodgy people. People are more savvy than they were and see right through this.

OK, opinion out of the way let's look at what you can do:
UK Domain names are a bit like our borders - anyone can abuse them for gain. You could just supply NOMINET with a false address - they are never checked. However if someone spots it, they can contact NOMINET who can terminate/suspend the domain - probably not something you want if you are trading.

You could use a virtual office / mailing address but a quick Google will usually reveal that it's a shared business accommodation address and people can draw from that what they will.

You could go for a PO Box, but a quick email to RM will reveal the matching street address.

The plain truth is this, if you are a legitimate trader with nothing to hide just register it properly because, believe me, it's quick and easy to hunt down anyone who does not - you just follow the money. Basically - as the old saying goes; If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck. It's a duck.

stephent82

I trade from home. Most of the 'junk' I get mailed to me comes from my HMRC Registration, Business Banking details and my details I give out. TBH, it isn't all that bad. I just stick it all right into the shredder then rcycling. Would be great if you had a wood burning fire - would light up a treat!

texranger

In 11 yrs i have yet to receive any junk mail from the details i have in any of my whois

TriciaW

Thanks everyone for your comments, its been very interesting . I am just starting out turning a hobby into earning income. I don't have a huge Budget so I was looking for a cheap solution. The fact that I have tried to find out the details and I have had to ask the right questions to the host providers tells you that I am legit. (I have reported one to Nominet for giving me the wrong answers!)

My day job is one that I wanted my home details private. Maybe this is a fear that is false though. Virtual office may be an option but I will maybe just put my house on thanks again

texranger

TriciaW wrote: »

(I have reported one to Nominet for giving me the wrong answers!)

you have to careful in chosing a webhost as you will get some that will just get a cheap reseller/master reseller/alpha package from ebay and they call themselves a host without any knowledge of what they are doing.

i tested one out (simple questions) a few weeks ago and they never knew what a dedicated IP was and worse still never knew what DNS was.