Check Archive.org for Historic Pricing

This afternoon while doing some acquisition research and due diligence, I came across a domain name that is for sale. The “for sale” landing page looks somewhat dated, as if it was created quite a long time ago. Within the messaging was the asking price of the domain name along with some other (unappealing) domain names that the registrant also seems to own and wants to sell.

I then visited the Internet Archive – Archive.org – to get an idea of the domain name’s history, time on the market, and asking price history. Archive.org shows how different websites looked over the years. You can enter in a particular domain name, and you can see many entries from past days, weeks, months, and years.

In the case of this particular domain name, I was able to see the logo and design on the landing page has been the same for many years. At the beginning of its time, there wasn’t much more than what amounts to a temporary logo and a “coming soon” type of design. A few years ago, the domain name had “for sale” messaging without an asking price. It wasn’t until a year or so ago that the price was listed.

In this particular case, the only thing I can glean from Archive.org is the owner has been trying to sell the domain name for several years without luck. I can use this knowledge to make a lower than asking price offer and try to convince him the domain name didn’t sell because it was overpriced. If I were the seller, I would have some rebuttals ready, but it doesn’t look like the person is a domain investor.

Had the situation been different, I could have seen how the price changed over the years. Maybe the price started much lower and continued to rise over the years. This would tell me what the owner would at least consider taking. Having this type of knowledge is helpful when making purchase inquiries and offers.

Archive.org is a great tool in general, and it can also be used by domain investors seeking more information about domain name acquisition targets.