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.

 

[Name Trader]

Well, i am not sure that many of the sellers doing this, think they are doing anything wrong, I think in a lot cases, they may just no any better, similar to the examples of domainindex vs whois, they may just not understand.

It's better they get educated by a PM from the mods, then.

 

[.X.]

Your serious??? domainindex, put in, come back and tell me it's age, I hand reg many- many names that cross the 10 year barrier, every week

The mods can lock it if they want, but there may be some people tomorrow that may want to chime in on this. then maybe not.

This is something that folks should pay attention to at all domain name sales sites as well IMO

 

[Name Trader]

I've got no problems at all with the mods leaving this thread open.

 

[Branko Jovanovic]

The domains that where registered when the .COM namespace was not saturated may be of better quality than those that are newly registered this year. The key word here is MAY as even then there was a chance to register a potentially bad domain.

This does not mean ALL domain registered with .COM domain ten year ago are really high quality. As is with everything, this is a case-specific scenario. If you like a domain name, always try to asses its value before purchase.

 

[alcy]

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

i meant that it is fact in most cases


but its ok if we agree to disagree. even though we cannot both be right at same time.. its bit hard to verify this. but in the end it will either be most..or not.

i do not mind if u domain by the rule thqt most aged names are not quality..or that most unaged names are qualitu..as long as u do not mind i domain by opposite rules

cheers bud

 

[anantj]

i do not mind if u domain by the rule thqt most aged names are not quality..or that most unaged names are qualitu..as long as u do not mind i domain by opposite rules

Fair enough and we can agree to disagree. I also do not believe the latter two axioms. I judge a name by itself. Personally, for me (As a domain investor/hoarder/whatever), age is not a factor except unless I'm interested in a domain for parking! But then for parking, other factors are a lot more important than age.

 

[imadoer]

Only reason I search by age it kinda sorts out alot newer bad handregs

 

[cillosis]

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.

This is so well said @alcy.

Another little accepted fact is that honesty can feel abrasive until the wool (so to speak) is pulled from from people's eyes and they see reality for what it is. We all enter this world coddled in a baby blanket -- at some point we have to do the math and see the world without rose colored glasses. I feel everyone, no matter what industry, should learn the Scientific Method. What it it means to propose a hypothesis, how to debate with supporting evidence, and what constitutes an undeniable proof resulting in fact as we know it. Humanity has made incredible strides across the board by applying the same principles to their own disciplines.

Thank you for your insightful post

 

[tvanrijt]

age means quality...most cases

no age means no quality...most cases

no magic here ;]

True, unless you are an early adopter of a new trend, ie crypto names not so long ago, VR names before that etc. However, being early adopter of trends probably also makes you end up with a lot of names that are useless since the "new trend" never caught on to the masses

 

[ecalc]

Only reason I search by age it kinda sorts out alot newer bad handregs

Ditto and another useful filter is [sld.tld] search volume aka ovt+ext which was also thrown out with the bath water earlier in this thread. Given the community acumen here it’s surprising we don’t see more ‘age’ lipstick in sales titles. The age metric that reliably adds value to a domain is the one out the windshield, time remaining until expiration, not what’s in the rear view mirror.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[Name Trader]

You're always welcome @MetBob

 

[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

 

[wizard]

Yes we own loads of aged domains from 1995/1996 but it doesnt stop us selling new caught domains for just as much so makes no odds for us.

 

[likeslikes]

Interesting stuff here..

 

[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.

 

[Hootsifer]

 

[.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.