debate Aged Domains? A domainer trend

[.X.]

I have seen a lot of titles in domain name listings referring to "Aged Domain" and from what i am seeing it turns some domainers on, what does age have to do with anything? Well, not much really, it can actually be a big negative if the domain was developed and has been blacklisted by Google and ect, The very valuable and mid level names are most certainly going to be aged automatically, 3L.coms, 4L.com NNL.com and good dictionary words, nice two and three word names are guaranteed to be aged, they hold their weight in value alone. not because they aged though.

There is nothing wrong with domainer trends IMO, they keep the domain industry economy a float, but paying a premium price for an aged domain name itself, makes no sense to me. their are plenty of crap domain names out there that are 18 years old, but i see that people will buy them because of their age. Domain names are not baseball cards or antiques, I see it somewhat of a way to make a quick buck, i can get 18 to 20 year old domain names all day long. the vast majority are worthless. but they are readily available at my finger tips to hand register. would i be doing you a justice by selling you a aged 18 year old domain name?? absolutely not IMO, but i am seeing i could make some quick bucks if wanted to doing so, .X. doesn't do business like that. I don't condone those who do, but i also don't blame the ones who do it, contradicting?? No, this industry has always had different fad stages, and i believe that each seller and buyer are entitled to participate in the fads and enjoy domaining, that is what we are here for. every domainer has their turn ons, As do i, mine being mining and spinning up domain names to register, that is what gets me off, keeps me happy and rocks my world in domaining. And many would say that is crazy! their are no hand reg domains left that are any good, or worth any money, they are all takin" , And i wont argue that the vast majority are taken or at the auction houses. but those few that remain out there, Ooooo yeah baby, that is what makes me keep domaining.

So , what does age have to do with it??

Do you believe aged domain names are a domainer trend right now, or are they the real deal??

I respect everyones reasoning for whatever they contribute to domaining, niche, passion for domaining, Those are the reasons we love domaining, rather for making money, developing websites, collecting, Yes, their are domain collectors lol. at the end of the day, it all comes out the same, we all love Naming.

 

[golan]

I already gave up replying in threads about an importance of domain age. If people choose to believe in b.s. - let them believe. For SEO domains market, the domain age still means something, albeit much less than few years ago. But in the name market, no end user gives a shit about the domain age.

 

[slader23]

Of course, the name just got regged yesterday by me, but the history of the domain name goes back 7 years, not that it makes a crap, but i check history on names i register to see what it was by it's previous owner and ect.

In domaining:

HISTORY≠ AGE

Those are two categorically different aspects of a domain.

 

[alcy]

Fair enough, Your opinion is respected.

I do not mean to sound boring or unwilling to play.. or debate... and I appreciate you respect my opinion.. however I must insist that my post was neither opinion nor theory.. but fact. therefore it is not really possible for me to explain my theory...

what I essentially said was what was said countless times before in countless places on namepros by countless people.. which is that .... age is not a guarantee of a quality domain.. but often (ie: in most cases) quality domains are aged...

so thats essentially what I said above.. when I used the word MOST.. that most quality names are aged.. and most low quality names are not aged.

or yet another similar way to say it... (and there are a few more):
if you want quality names, you will have more chance to find them among aged names, than non aged names...

etc etc.. it all basically means same.

it is just how it works. not everything in life is an opinion or theory. there are also some facts. I do not care to be right or wrong. I get nothing out of this. I just care for facts to be heard and made known.. even though from that too, I get nothing at all

cheers.

 

[Name Trader]

There might just be the odd good domain amongst all those aged domains. It's possible. They're not all 100% bad

 

[anantj]

i meant this as fact...not theory

I disagree. Not a fact, especially since you yourself qualify your statements as in most cases. This is an opinion (and a good opinion fwiw) but def not a fact

 

[Name Trader]

A 10 to 19 year old domain cannot be hand regged because they are already registered.

 

[Name Trader]

Wrong! so Wrong!

stub you have been here a long time, I don't know what your exact niche is domaining, but mine is spinning names, and always has been, I have an APP that was written by an old friend here, I paid dearly for it, believe me. spinning and mining names is what i did when i started domaining, It has been my niche since day one.

Any domain you register is a new domain. It doesn't carry any age from the past. This is basic domaining 101.

 

[imadoer]

It doesnt make a difference look at it this way

If you saw r/e/d/ .com up for sale aged 1992 you would pay the same thing as if it went to expired auction and had a new date of 2018

 

[.X.]

It has everything to do with it, if what you are hunting for is an aged domain.

Surely, you know by now, given your NP join date, domain age is different than domain history? So I will assume that you do, and not rehash what others have already clarified.

An aged domain is like an aged coin, it can only be stamped once. If it leaves circulation and gets destroyed, its gone for good. Sure, the same denomination is available from more recent dates, but to a connoisseur or investor it is just not the same.

Personally, I LOVE a decently named, aged domain. 20 years+, someone has taken the effort to renew year after year, that domain has seen soo many fads come and go during its lifespan, and it can speak louder for it's time than any new registration ever could. Granted, there may be more criteria to my investment, but the age IS a massive factor, in many cases, the only.

Realize, that a domain from the 90's, is really a relic. It should be treasured and respected. OK- I'm not saying, as @alcy pointed out, that every aged domain is a good name, of course that's silly, but I'm talking about anything mediocre to decent. Sure, a decent name has merit enough based solely on its quality, but a mediocre name can hold its weight solely by its age. Wheres a freshly regged medicore name, who the hell cares. Likely you will see it drop the following year.

Example (hypothetical) of 3dFlyingCrypto.com

- name is avail for hand-reg. (for obvious reasons)..
- BUT, if this name was regg'd in 1988 and was on an expiry/closeout auction, or any auction for that matter, you better believe I would be in there for the SOLE reason that it is such a beautifully aged domain. And I sure as heck wouldn't be the only one looking to snatch it

Baring an expiration leading to a deletion, a domain only has ONE chance to be registered and lead to a solid aging. If there is an opportunity to keep a continuous renewal, particularly from the 90s, and in the face of all these new G's popping up all over the place, take advantage of it!

I like discovering amazing rocks in untouched wilderness. I respect elderly people, and have a particular fondness for them. 20 year+ single malts, enjoy those too. Old coins, super cool. What's the unifying aspect in all this? Age. Longevity has a certain permanence about it that can only come with TIME. Once age is lost, there is never, ever another opportunity to get it back. You have to start all over again. Perhaps, for me, its a psychological thing. I have a thing for permanence. Building a house on stone, not on sand sort of thing. And this is what aged domains is to me, so that is why I invest in them.

I enjoy a good o'l 20 year name as well. Only the few people that really know me in this industry, know exactly what i do in this industry, remaining silent has paid me big dividends through the years, Just because i have been here at NPs for 18 years doesn't mean anything, I don't know anything about domaining, and that is the way i plan to keep it, except to my friends that i do business with and my true friends here at NPs, which are few, you pick your friends and associates very-very wisely in this industry. Needless to say, their are some outstanding, fantastic domainers here at NPs , very good people. I have many "acquaintances" here at NPs, and they are great people.

 

[Hootsifer]

 

[anantj]

that most quality names are aged

I can show you a ton of expiring domains which are pretty aged but worthless! It's definitely not most

and most low quality names are not aged

Again, most is a little extreme. A lot yet, but not most

 

[.X.]

I can show you a ton of expiring domains which are pretty aged but worthless! It's definitely not most


Again, most is a little extreme. A lot yet, but not most

Excellent points made. @anantj

I will further say this on this topic,

I "Could" hand register domain names 10 to 19 years old, I could post them for sale, fluff up the title of the for sale domain, plug in emphasis in the title that this is premium aged 15 year old domain. If i sell it for $25 , i only paid 6.99 for it. flipped it for a profit of $18 per name i sell. easy money, and as i see what could be a domainer trend going on, i suspect i would sell them like candy bars.

Would i do it? absolutely not, why? not only is it unethical, but it is in essence ripping someone off IMO.

I have lists containing 100's of aged domains, that are available to register right now. As i am sure many domainers do as well.

So why don't i just jump in and make some quick cash? I mean, it would be the buyers stupidity to buy them right? So i have done nothing wrong right?

making quick cash taking advantage of inexperienced domainers, perhaps naive domainers , Is so wrong in every way. their is no way a person can justify in their mind that such acts is ok. You reap what you sew, and Karma is a bitch.

I see, and understand that the majority of domainers "Today" see domaining as strictly business, flipping and making money is what it is all about. No problem, go for it, good luck. I have been here on NPs for 18 years, you have no idea how many people i have seen come into this industry with a so called "Business Strategy" they stay about year, then you never see them again. another one bites the dust. and i will be here at NPs another 18 years God willing, and i will see the same thing i have seen the last 18, that i can guarantee.

Rather these "Aged Beauties" have actual value?, is this "Aged" domain fad between domainers something that will end up with a bunch of angry people once it is over?? Is this domainer trend in the same category as the PR and OVT w/extension that cost many domainer thousands of dollars and produced nothing?? well, that is what this thread is about and your opinion matters, no matter what it is. Good, Bad or indifferent

 

[slader23]

Your serious???

ok,. i hand regged youelectronic.com day before yesterday, go to domainindex, put in, come back and tell me it's age

It's age is 1 day old. When it was dropped the age reset to zero. Once you registered it the clock started ticking again.

Registration=Birth
Age= Time spent living
Expiration=Death

This is the domain life cycle. I'm sure you know this.

 

[Name Trader]

You said quote : Any domain you register is a new domain. It doesn't carry any age from the past. This is basic domaining 101

You went to domainindex and saw that name i hand registered is 7 years old, right?

I didn't register it because it was 7 years old, I registered it because i liked it.

It's a brand new 1 day old domain.

 

[Name Trader]

@.X.

Put your name through this: https://gwhois.org/

This is probably the most respected independant whois on the planet. It's what I used to check this domain also.

I'm really surprised that @.X. , a domainer who has been on NP longer than me does not understand this simple fact.

If you tried to sell one of these domains to me as an aged domain, without mentioning it was newly registered I'd immediately report you to the mods and put you on my ignore list.

 

[Name Trader]

So does every name that sells for x,xxx and xx,xxx off of the auction houses, the history of the domain is important as you know, If a domain is 7-10-19 years old, that is when it was born, it has a history of some kind. it was dropped, and picked up.

They are as old as their last registration. Full Stop.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Even though this has been debated quite a few times on NPs, I think a number of good points, on both sides of the debate, have been made here clearly and respectfully. Thank you all.

Even though I personally feel that age can be over-rated, I definitely agree with those that say, in legacy extensions at least, it can be a useful measure to develop a smaller list from which to apply other quality metrics.

I also agree that age by itself is no guarantee of quality, and that age alone may just mean that the owner was stubborn but misinformed about the value of the domain name, or that it was used by some business that is no longer operational.

I also accept that there can be cases where a domain is not aged but has high quality nonetheless. This may be related to new social trends, technology, branding fashion, etc.

I like @cillosis comment, and I think the degree to which age is related to quality is something that can, like any other proposition, be tested. Quite possibly someone already has, but it would be interesting to take a set of domains for sale (NOT just the ones that are sold which introduces biases) and use statistical measures to see what amount of the value can be correlated to domain age. I would expect a correlation, but not a perfect one.

I think the case of new extensions is somewhat different. Some of the best ones are premiums held by the registries. In a way those could be treated as aged, even though not in the formal sense. In other cases, extensions with low first year and high renewal lead in new extensions to even valued domains changing hands more often and having their clock reset. I have at least 10 in my own portfolio that that has happened, they had a previous owner, lapsed a day or two, and i snapped them up. With extensions where the renewal is similar to first year this tends not to happen.

Thanks for letting me add to the worthwhile discussion.

 

[smartwebby]

"Domain Age": Age of the domain name since creation date. Gets reset when dropped.
"Historic Age": Age of the domain name since it was first registered. No sale relevance.

Sellers should not be mentioning Historic age at all IMO. Its just for research purpose and an extremely minuscule factor to check. It still gets around because of lack of awareness.

I am surprised no one has mentioned this till now. Why the Domain Age factor is still around is because sometimes buyers might require the domain to be aged in special cases... Upgrading your domain name for example. Establishing trust by a new player in a highly competitive vertical is another example. The creation date does do some talking even if its also just a tiny factor.

best,
Anita

 

[HotKey]

So , what does age have to do with it??

It has everything to do with it, if what you are hunting for is an aged domain.

Surely, you know by now, given your NP join date, domain age is different than domain history? So I will assume that you do, and not rehash what others have already clarified.

An aged domain is like an aged coin, it can only be stamped once. If it leaves circulation and gets destroyed, its gone for good. Sure, the same denomination is available from more recent dates, but to a connoisseur or investor it is just not the same.

Personally, I LOVE a decently named, aged domain. 20 years+, someone has taken the effort to renew year after year, that domain has seen soo many fads come and go during its lifespan, and it can speak louder for it's time than any new registration ever could. Granted, there may be more criteria to my investment, but the age IS a massive factor, in many cases, the only.

Realize, that a domain from the 90's, is really a relic. It should be treasured and respected. OK- I'm not saying, as @alcy pointed out, that every aged domain is a good name, of course that's silly, but I'm talking about anything mediocre to decent. Sure, a decent name has merit enough based solely on its quality, but a mediocre name can hold its weight solely by its age. Wheres a freshly regged medicore name, who the hell cares. Likely you will see it drop the following year.

Example (hypothetical) of 3dFlyingCrypto.com

- name is avail for hand-reg. (for obvious reasons)..
- BUT, if this name was regg'd in 1988 and was on an expiry/closeout auction, or any auction for that matter, you better believe I would be in there for the SOLE reason that it is such a beautifully aged domain. And I sure as heck wouldn't be the only one looking to snatch it

Baring an expiration leading to a deletion, a domain only has ONE chance to be registered and lead to a solid aging. If there is an opportunity to keep a continuous renewal, particularly from the 90s, and in the face of all these new G's popping up all over the place, take advantage of it!

I like discovering amazing rocks in untouched wilderness. I respect elderly people, and have a particular fondness for them. 20 year+ single malts, enjoy those too. Old coins, super cool. What's the unifying aspect in all this? Age. Longevity has a certain permanence about it that can only come with TIME. Once age is lost, there is never, ever another opportunity to get it back. You have to start all over again. Perhaps, for me, its a psychological thing. I have a thing for permanence. Building a house on stone, not on sand sort of thing. And this is what aged domains is to me, so that is why I invest in them.

 

[.X.]

I already gave up replying in threads about an importance of domain age. If people choose to believe in b.s. - let them believe. For SEO domains market, the domain age still means something, albeit much less than few years ago. But in the name market, no end user gives a sh*t about the domain age.

Agreed, I have never had an end user say, the domain is not old enough lol

 

[alcy]

age means quality...most cases

no age means no quality...most cases

no magic here ;]

 

[.X.]

age means quality...most cases

no age means no quality...most cases

no magic here ;]

Interesting post, Do you mind sharing your theory on this?

 

[Name Trader]

There are some for sure, But my point is, buying a domain because it is aged alone, makes no sense to me.

stub, remember the days of the fad , Ovt /w extension? = Automatic traffic?? Remember how many lost their ass on buying those names? The same thing applies here IMO

I've got no problem with your meaning. But I think @alcy said my meaning clearer than me. I haven't made a study about this but as a population of all names. The names of the most expensive domains, would generally be older rather than newer. We can always point to some exceptions of course.

 

[.X.]

Maybe just a trend, there's so many terms people use for fluffing up listings. Page rank is gone now so people push these semrush, rank, trust scores...whats next right

I definitely agree, PR is gone, OVT W/ extension is gone, i have found the trust scores not always be so accurate, I do remember investors-resellers requesting PR names and OVT w/extension names back in the day. The problem i had with those, Their were many with fake PR, and OVT w/ extension names lost their overture with the quickness, and the traffic was null, but yet i saw thousands of dollars spent specifically on PR and OVT names with expectations of getting a large amount of type in traffic, only to be disappointed in the results.

I may be totally wrong, but i see a resemblance in low level domains with age, regged in 1999 for example, being a trend for domainer to domainer sales. Those days of people paying a premium for PR and OVT w/ extension domain names with high expectations was not a good thing in the industry when it was all said and done. IMO