Tools to see how many times a domain has been bought and sold? Domain Owner History?

[shawn81]

Hi Folks!

I'm in the process of trying to buy a domain off someone who isn't really using it for much other than a single anding page for his defunct company.

The current ower is putting a massively high price on the domain (five figures) which is WAY more than what any regular buyer would value it at. He claims he paid that price several years ago when he bought it.  I don't believe him, and I feel he's just using that as an excuse to value his domain very highly.

Does anyone know of any tools I could use to help me see how many times the domain has changed owners? I have a sneaking suspicion that he is the original owner, but I have no way to tell.

It currently has privacy on it so I can't tell much by looking at whois.sc or using my subscription to whorush.com. Any one have any other ideas for me?

[SteveWebb]

Hi Shawn,

Your best bet is probably the Whois History tool from DomainTools: http://www.domaintools.com/research/whois-history/

This isn't a free service, but they do offer a 7-day free trial.  Also, here are a few more options that might help (they will probably have less information than DomainTools):

http://www.hosterstats.com/ http://www.who.is/

Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that any of these tools will solve your problem (e.g., if the domain has had privacy enabled for many years, you'll just see historically private records), but they're probably your best option.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,
Steve

[CustomButtonCo.com]

Shawn is correct. Domian tools will give you a great history plus info on the current owners other domains.