Does Age add value to a Domain Name?

[law_order]

Hi...
I'm really wondering if age adds value to an already good name...

And if yes,why is that?

I'm seeing may people ask specifically for aged domains...even if they are not established site...

 

[Rob J]

I don't think so. I think many people think it makes a domain more valuable, you see all the time in sales pitches "domain regged since 1998", but end users don't give a crap when a domain was regged or if it's been dropped.

It makes more of a difference for established sites, where search engines will rank longtime established sites better.

 

[bmugford]

It depends. Age can add some value to some people, but it is like a fine wine.
It can make an already appealing name seem that much better. But on a worthless name age doesn't matter.

At the same time say CreditCards.com dropped tomorrow, no one bidding would care the creation date was listed as 6/28/2008

 

[whitebark]

If it's aged AND indexed in the search engines then it's worth more to me. Be careful as some will list - regged since 1999 - yet it's not indexed and possibly even banned from the search engines. Just because a domain has age doesn't mean it has a clean history!

 

[labrocca]

Aged matters to me. It may not to others but I don't even buy resale unless the domain was renewed by someone. If it's not worth renewing by another domainer it's not worth it to me either. It's incredibly rare a good name gets placed for sale within it's first year IF it's an earner or has solid potential. And yes...for me that includes LLLL.com's which I have yet to buy even one. I guess the only exception for me is 5L's where sometimes a person comes up with something VERY catchy that I want but it's usually $10-$20 so imho it's worth it. I haven't paid more than that for a brandable in a long time.

If I see a reg date of pre-2000 it catches my eye. There is a greater likelihood that it will have strong backlinks or even directory listing in DMOZ or Yahoo!. However there is plenty of crap from that era and stuff I just can't do anything with. Example would be johnsmithfloridarealtor.com. I can't develop that. However a lot of good 2 worders are from that era that are good development potential. I have a few parameters tests I use for buying domains and age is part of that.

So again...for me...the answer is YES.

 

[Hurley4540]

Well it doesn't hurt it...

 

[law_order]

Some great answers here guys....
Although i'm new to domaining,i always thought that age matters only if the domain name has some value itself...
However,to be honest,since now i 've never underestood why...lol

 

[owntype]

I would be happy to pay $100 to any domain regged before 1993

 

[trendicator]

age matters to me....and i do have a couple of domains which were first regged in late 90's

chances are the older the domain, the better it is...it's not always the case though...

 

[x11joex11]

How would you guys calculate value based on age? Curious what your opinions are on this?

 

[dotnom]

I would be happy to pay $100 to any domain regged before 1993

I have one at 01-mar-1993 but i think i will keep it

----

I buy and sell OLD domains
I took zarden.com for example as the base of my domain portfolio which is a 12,5 years old domain and does great so far

Selling my other 12,5 years OLD domain (EXPANSEinc.com and CPTsales.com here if anyone interested for $100 BIN : http://www.namepros.com/domains-for-sale-fixed-price/486987-expanseinc-com-cptsales-com-12-5-a.html

 

[Aggro]

Some of you have missed the point of the TS' qn and are not comparing like with like:
Does Age add value to a Domain Name?
Like he said, "...adds value to an already good name.."

All other things being equal (name) - of course it does.
If I'm buying a name as an end user, for the same domain, I would certainly **value** it more than a later reg date - doesn't mean I'll pay more for it though.

At the very least, the 'history' per the WHOIS would give anyone checking the WHOIS, on the face of it, some degree of comfort compared to newer reg date.

Same reason why aged limited companies (even dormant) cost more than newer ones.

 

[weblord]

yes. on the grounds that the previous owner or seller is actively promoting, building and developing the domain before he sells.

Hi...
I'm really wondering if age adds value to an already good name...

And if yes,why is that?

I'm seeing may people ask specifically for aged domains...even if they are not established site...

 

[Easydoms]

If a name had a good history behind it then yes i would pay more for it, but members have said to be careful and do your research before buying just in case its banned from search engines, this is the last thing you need if you have just paid $$$$$$ for what you think is a great name dating back 15 years, then to find out its banned.

 

[ezimedia]

HI

I think google and yahoo and other search engines.. like domains with age to them...

Thx
Tom

 

[Charley]

It depends. Age can add some value to some people, but it is like a fine wine.

On the topic I have one that is 2001 registered. I find it valuable as it has overture and wordtracker results.

 

[yapzhanyang]

ah that's bad. I cleared so many domains that has 7 years history or more at reg fee :S. This thread just inspired me to reg illtreatment.com and coolestshit.com just because they have 7 yrs history on it lol.

 

[scarecrow]

suppose a domain was first regged in 2004, but dropped in 2007, and regged in again in 2008, what would the age of the domain be?

 

[bmugford]

I will use the analogy I always use.

Age is like a fine wine. It only adds value to an already valuable asset. If CreditCards.com dropped tomorrow and has a 2008 creation date it would still sell for millions. On the flipside, some turd domain with a 1996 creation date is like a box of wine, not a fine wine.

 

[JoshuaPz]

(Quoted from one of my prior posts; has relevance here):

As a software programmer, I very, VERY strongly doubt Google checks the whois of matching websites' domains in determining how to rank results. If Google DOES rank older domains higher in practice, it's only a side-effect of older domains tending to have more backlinks and usage history than newly registered ones.

I've never really understood this apparent love affair between domainers and those "Record created on ..." lines in whois entries. To date, I have found a much stronger correlation between value/resaleability and INITIAL date the domain was registered than value/resaleability and PREVIOUS date the domain was registered, and this makes sense. The more popular and well-entrenched a concept in popular psyche, the earlier it will probably have been initially registered in the form of a domain name (exceptions include time-specific fads like "JoeThePlummer" and recent tech fads like "Blogs").

THINK for a second: If you're selling to an end-user, wouldn't he/she would probably be more interested in purchasing a domain with, say, tons of usage history since 1999 but dropped in '08 -- as the name probably gets substantial traffic -- than a domain that's been continuously registered since 1996 but has hardly been used at all?

Yes, I would still modify the auction title to read "has history since date XX", because domainers like to define "age" as it's written in that lofty "Record created on..." In my opinion, however, "has history since date XX" presents a much more compelling argument for purchasing a given domain than "aged since XX".