Pro-Con of buying a preloved domain?

[Gregse]

Hi All,
Having created a couple of sites and made my requisite number of bloopers - Im looking at starting up a business site (sigh - I know).

However, My question stems more from the angle of - is it better to register a clean new name and tolerate the "sandbox" and other startup hassles -- OR--- look for a suitable preloved domain at an irristable price. Having said that. How does one check if a domain has been blacklisted or generally fallen foul and should be avoided?

Is there any advatages in possible old links and how do yuo chech that if its held by a domain seller etc?
Im sure there are pitfalls - but is there a way to beat the startup indexing issues of new site registrations? Any pointers would be most welcome.

Thanks heaps.
Keep well.