If you have a name you may have to resort to the big commercial
databases. Most of these charge substantial membership fees and the searches are charged
on a basis of the number of people found fitting the search criteria. Searches can become
expensive. To reduce the cost, searchers have banned together, one person pays the
membership fee and they share the cost of doing individual searches. Some absorb the cost
themselves others pass the fee along to you, others charge a flat fee and average the
cost. The people in these groups are very good at managing large volumes of information
and targeting searches to minimize cost.
These groups typically use Paypal accounts. Paypal accounts are free bank
accounts and enable you to move money around easily and securely - enter the amount and
email address then press send. I recommend that you get one of these accounts - $5 or $10
can go along way in this realm - be generous.
SearchAngels This group is
very effective and generally, the search helpers, will absorb the fees themselves.
WhoWhatWhereAndHow
will generally absorb the cost if it's not too much.
SleuthServices for difficult
nationwide searches. They have access to an extensive collection of databases. They
handled a difficult search for me and charged about $30. They were very proficient in my
search.
Luanne has an extensive collection of
databases, and if the search contains something unusual - she has seen everything.
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