debate If a domain is 1 year or younger in age, are you less likely to buy it?

[Daniel Owens]

It, is a known fact that aged domains rank better in google, however it seems like as many has half the domains listed on namepros (auction section especially) have been registered in the last 3 months, so not even 1 year old. What do you guys think about the value of domain age?

 

[Kpett]

Every domain name was hand-regged at one point in time ...

 

[karmaco]

Your not asking for healthy debate when you make pronouncements and deem them as truth @Daniel Owens. It comes off as trying to incite. Guess you have never heard of the brandable market where even a flipper can make a profit and age doesn’t really matter.

Thousands of people hand reg every day. Guess that guy who regged cryptogame and sold for high five figures was dumb. Guess I was dumb when I sold 3 young hand regs for mid XXXX in the last 6 months. You haven’t got a clue what you are talking about.

Hand regging in emerging and future industries can be lucrative if you register good names. Sorry you are regging names that lose you money but don’t make blanket statements about domainers as a whole.

 

[Dave]

Moral of Story: AVOID HAND-REGGING, "You, are not as good a domainer as you think." HAND-REGGING WILL LOSE YOU MONEY!

I disagree. If you know what to look for and can catch onto a trend early enough. That is the key.

There are so many recent examples in recent years of people hand registering domains and selling them for big profit. Someone on this forum sold one recently for $10,000, they hand registered it towards the end of last year.

5 to 6 years ago you could hand register many crypto related domains that would now be worth 5-6 figs each.

But keep telling yourself it is dead, it means less competition for those of us who like to research trends, what is popular and so on.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think this is yet another case when any simple rule does not work all the time. When a name is still available for hand reg, I ask myself why. I consider the name characteristics, past sales if any of the domain name, etc. However, you must do exactly the same for a name about to drop - why is it that it has not sold, and why is it being dropped?

As others have said, if you know niches and especially if you have expertise in marketing trends, it is possible to sometimes see value where others have missed it.

No domain purchase is guaranteed to result in a return on investment, whether hand reg, drop, auction or other purchase. Only invest what you can afford to potentially lose. Be smart and informed when you do invest in any domain name.

 

[Dave]

It's can be a hobby, pipe dream, addiction (#domainhoarding). I think hand regging is pissing money into the wind on a $10 annual liability. I'll do it once in a while but it is not a serious investment. It's like a scratch card or lottery with chances that are quite a bit better and a reward/ payout substantially less.

People have been saying this since I joined in 2007. Now I get their point but I don't agree with dismissing hand registering completely.

When I joined Namepros I was a poor student in my first year of university. My only choice at the start was to hand register domain names. I managed to sell a couple for $x,xxx, then caught onto the EMD trend at a good time that meant I could buy hundreds of EMD domains and sell them on SEO forums for $xxx each. Or develop them with lead gen or such.

My point is I caught onto a trend, hand registered domains, and paid my way through University with domain names. It was my part time job at Uni. Whilst many were working in bars or shops, I bought and sold domain names.

 

[boker]

Moral of Story: AVOID HAND-REGGING, "You, are not as good a domainer as you think." HAND-REGGING WILL LOSE YOU MONEY!

You have your VIP status for nothing. Last year I have sold 353 domains to resellers and 23 to end users, all handregged under 1 year old, with low xxxxx profit for each, resellers and end users. I'm hand ragging on a daily basis and at least once a month I have an offer just days after I bought a domain.

 

[Silentptnr]

Nothing wrong with having an idea and deciding to register the name.

A domain bought at auction is no more likely to bring profit than a recent hand reg.

I see domains I think are great and I see some real head scratchers, doesn't matter the age.

There will always be good and not so good investments.

Its much more important to understand potential holding times, registration discounts, etc.

I know you mean well, but I also know you promote hand reg discounts.

Building a quality portfolio, old or new, is much more important. Buyer's remorse happens with new domains and aftermarket domains.

The best advice is to understand that as a new domain speculator, one should be very careful.

 

[Kpett]

The name itself, what keyword it has or how relevant it is, particularly in an emerging market, determines its value more than its age.

 

[branding]

I don't care about the age. If it's a good name, it's a good name. Simple as that.

Also, domain age really doesn't matter SEO wise.

 

[domaineed]

I wonder how a person who is unable to distinguish between a good and bad hand-reg would be able to make better investment decisions in the aftermarket. They are destined to lose way more in the aftermarket, imo. My advice to newbies as a newbie would be that if you really don't know what you are doing, please don't do it. It's an investment vs. gambling problem. Personally, I first tested if my few hand-regs were liquid at the cost price and why so before even thinking about scalability. I sold them (about 5) at a profit here on NP and regged about 15 more. Will only scale further if my next tests are successful. In other words, whether you are a newbie or a pro, hand-regging or buying in the aftermarket, you have to find ways and make things happen according to your own unique circumstances. You must know the risks beforehand, imo.

 

[branding]

Hand-regging is a really bad thing to do and most of us need to limit it a lot to very few per year or stop the practice.

Unless you know what you're doing. I wouldn't call myself a domainer but I keep an active portfolio for clients so I can serve up a good name when they need one.

I usually sell at least 1 handreg a month in the 1k range so wouldn't call that bad.

 

[Kpett]

Everyone who hand-regged good crypto and bitcoin domains when they were emerging are now reaping the rewards. Sure there's a bit of a gamble there, but if you do your research and can identify new trends or markets, then hand-regs can be successful.

 

[Manaen]

Every good domain is taken and domains drop for a reason. If, they drop they and are worth even a little they are picket up by snapnames, dropcatch, dynadot expired auctions, etc. Registers are not morons they don't let domains be registered by hand. Chance, are if you have hand-regged a domain it was either dropped (it's a bad domain), or was never registered in the history of the internet. It is foolish to hand-reg from all we are learning, 1 to 2 domains a year is too many!

That doesn't address the inherent quality of a domain name which is fundamental. What you're really against is buying crap names, which is perfectly reasonable and everybody with half a brain would agree with you. I'd even argue you should actually should endeavor in hand regs for speculation purposes, given that you spend enough time researching.

Everyone here has at some point lost money acquiring crap names until they got the hand of it. Dropcatching and auctions certainly restrict the base quality of the general pool of the domains which is safer. But to say it's pointless is not correct. While it's true that many members lose money in hand regs, some actually make a confortable income out of it. There is gold among trash, and it takes experience to discern. The beauty of domaining lies in this fact. In the realm of possibility, it's statistically true that you can reg a domain that was never registered and find a buyer who'll pay more than you did the same day. Markets and trends shift, and one's loss can be another's gain across time.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't hand reg names. That just means you have to educate yourself, learn from your mistakes and make intelligent buyer decisions.

 

[Josh R]

A lot of my sales are hand regs from 2-3 years ago. Mostly in emerging tech, but sometimes made-up brandable 5 and 6L .coms.

 

[Shamiul]

IMO:

Resellers overthink, End-users don't.

For brand and niche sites, End-users only think if it's a perfect word or combo, if it sounds authoritative and if it goes with what I am going to do.

And people who are into mini-site project, look for low competitive mid-high CPC keyword domain with at least some exact searches.

Age really doesn't matter for ranking!

Let's hand-reg for upcoming trends.

 

[Silentptnr]

I do the same research on any domain I am considering adding to my portfolio. I've made many poor choices and some real winners, but I can truly say that I am way up in profit with my hand registered domains even with losses due to many I decided not to renew.

 

[Michael M]

This thread made me go back and look at my recent end user sales to see how many were handregged. I wanted to share this so that new investors might see it isn’t about the age of a domain – but the name itself.


Analyzing my last 20 end user sales, here is where I purchased them from:

Handreg – 9

Auctions - 6

Namepros – 5


For me, hand regging has been profitable. But for anyone that is new – please understand – hand regging crap will not produce good results. Most good names are already taken - but there are hidden gems out there.

You need to study the market and trends before jumping in. And – as always – never invest more than you can lose.

 

[Uppercredit]

Every good domain is taken and domains drop for a reason. If, they drop they and are worth even a little they are picket up by snapnames, dropcatch, dynadot expired auctions, etc. Registers are not morons they don't let domains be registered by hand. Chance, are if you have hand-regged a domain it was either dropped (it's a bad domain), or was never registered in the history of the internet. It is foolish to hand-reg from all we are learning, 1 to 2 domains a year is too many!

You don't have a clue of what you are saying I guess

 

[infosec3]

I disagree. If you know what to look for and can catch onto a trend early enough. That is the key.

There are so many recent examples in recent years of people hand registering domains and selling them for big profit. Someone on this forum sold one recently for $10,000, they hand registered it towards the end of last year.

5 to 6 years ago you could hand register many crypto related domains that would now be worth 5-6 figs each.

But keep telling yourself it is dead, it means less competition for those of us who like to research trends, what is popular and so on.

Very well said. The age of a domain name is only relevant to some domainers. What matters is the name itself. A lot of good names that you can flip for $XXX or even $X,XXX drop everyday. I sell a nice number of such names every month, a few per week. The key is to have a good understanding of what is garbage and what is valuable.

 

[hawkeye]

It is every domainer's responsibility to listen up, stop hand-regging and warn newbees to avoid doing it!

Wow, I never knew this!! I've been in this biz for 20 years, I have and do, belong to all the main domain forums and I (and maybe a million other domainers), never got this notice. When did it come out, where can it be found, and why haven't domainers ever been notified of this 'responsibility' before? Are there any other domainer 'responsibilities' we should be aware of??

 

[Josytal]

Hand-regging is a really bad thing to do .

I disagree with this presumption. Check the "Report Completed Domain Name Sales" section of the forum https://www.namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/
and you will notice that about 30% of the posted sales are hand-regs. Personally, I've sold many hand-regs. Now and then, if sale price not less than $1000, I report some of my sales in the section. One of the sales I reported recently was for a hand-reg domain:

https://namepros.com/threads/report-completed-domain-name-sales-here.83628/page-614#post-6739274

That's hand-reg for you!

 

[anantj]

Watch this...

Yes I've seen this and he's pretty much saying the opposite of the "fact" that the OP is claiming. What Matt is stating (At approximately 1:35 min mark and 1:50 min mark) is that domain age does not really matter and the quality of content is what matters more!

 

[Manaen]

Hand-regging is a really bad thing to do and most of us need to limit it a lot to very few per year or stop the practice.

Why?

 

[branding]

Handregging shitty names in niches you know nothing about with random keywords, that's a bad thing, I agree. Everything else, as long as it's an educated pick won't do you any harm. Don't spend money you can't afford to lose though.

Buying "quality" names at auctions is no guarantee of a decent sale/profit either.

 

[w3names]

For me, domain age does not matter at all. Like @NameDeck said, a good name is a good name.

Regarding hand-regging, all my sales over the years, worth $XX,XXX in total, were hand-regged. However, I appreciate that it is a lot harder to find good unregistered names these days.