Wayback machine thoughts?

[NameGroove]

Hi all,

I realized that some of my 5Ls were previously registered but I'm recently learning that much longer words were also previously registered. Some were for sale previously and others were websites (and never for sale). All of course passed the expiry auctions and drops without being picked up.

Do you hand register domains that were previously registered? Or do you believe if they were dropped that it's now garbage? I realize this is a generic discussion and the answer may be in the middle (depends on the name, what its use was, how long it was registered). If you agree it's somewhere in the middle what sorts of things would make it worthwhile to hand register? Would you then consider lowering (or raising) the price based on it being previously regg'ed? Or does it not matter at all?

Trying to identify if I should be one (year) and done with the names.

 

[NamesMax]

Virtually EVER name that you will register now has been previously registered. Depending on it's use, that could increase it's value. For instance if it was developed and had backlinks that could drive traffic to it, that would be a plus.

Of course you can check the Wayback Machine to see if it was used in a detrimental way that might hurt it's current use.

 

[NameGroove]

Virtually EVER name that you will register now has been previously registered. Depending on it's use, that could increase it's value. For instance if it was developed and had backlinks that could drive traffic to it, that would be a plus.

Of course you can check the Wayback Machine to see if it was used in a detrimental way that might hurt it's current use.

I wouldn't say virtually every name. I'm running about 50% (after analyzing 50 names). So half were previously registered and half not.

Of the ones that were previously registered, ~38% were live websites. Obviously eventually all went out of business. A small % of those names were bought by Chinese companies at drop auction/catch. Perhaps those are the ones whose value may be harmed. I'll have to look into those in more detail. The remaining ones were either parked or showed no live website screenshots on Wayback.

Re looking into harm - it didn't appear any of the chinese sites were spammy or adult related... but of course I can't be sure about that. Do you know any tools I can use to see if the domain has a poor rating now?

Note - almost all of my domains are brandable - not Geo or SEO - so not sure it matters as much since my sales aren't based on backlinks. It's also interesting to note BrandBucket and Atom don't see to care about the sites being previously registered. Both companies have accepted and published many of those names for sale.

 

[Blueleaf66]

I wouldn't say virtually every name. I'm running about 50% (after analyzing 50 names). So half were previously registered and half not.

Of the ones that were previously registered, ~38% were live websites. Obviously eventually all went out of business. A small % of those names were bought by Chinese companies at drop auction/catch. Perhaps those are the ones whose value may be harmed. I'll have to look into those in more detail. The remaining ones were either parked or showed no live website screenshots on Wayback.

Re looking into harm - it didn't appear any of the chinese sites were spammy or adult related... but of course I can't be sure about that. Do you know any tools I can use to see if the domain has a poor rating now?

Note - almost all of my domains are brandable - not Geo or SEO - so not sure it matters as much since my sales aren't based on backlinks. It's also interesting to note BrandBucket and Atom don't see to care about the sites being previously registered. Both companies have accepted and published many of those names for sale.

How do you know that half were previously registered and half not? If there's no record on Wayback Machine it doesn't mean the domain has never been registered. In my portfolio I only have around 10 names that have never been registered before (all related to emergent tech or current trends). Only Whois records would confirm if it's been previously registered or not if there are no records on WM.

Spam Score doesn't mean much IMO, but you need to check if the domain is not on some blacklist, and also for a bad history (this you're already doing).

For spam score & other metrics:
https://websiteseochecker.com/spam-score-checker/

Another useful tool:
https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

 

[LucyC]

I would be more focussed on how the domain name fits in the market now, if we're looking at domains that have been registered previously - that could be all the way back into the 90s. So much has changed and the ecology of what is online and what isn't is everchanging.

Do your research, if you feel there's a market - stick with it and adjust your prices accordingly.

(I love looking at Wayback & other websites for nostalgia and for a domainer's/collector's 'thrill' in the same way I bought a domain name with a '96 reg purely because it beat my other '96 reg by 4 months! )

 

[NameGroove]

How do you know that half were previously registered and half not? If there's no record on Wayback Machine it doesn't mean the domain has never been registered. In my portfolio I only have around 10 names that have never been registered before (all related to emergent tech or current trends). Only Whois records would confirm if it's been previously registered or not if there are no records on WM.

Spam Score doesn't mean much IMO, but you need to check if the domain is not on some blacklist, and also for a bad history (this you're already doing).

For spam score & other metrics:
https://websiteseochecker.com/spam-score-checker/

Another useful tool:
https://mxtoolbox.com/blacklists.aspx

So interesting!

I checked the 50% of the names that Wayback machine doesn't show as previously registered within the WhoIs history database and 50% of those names were previously taken. Which means 75% of my total hand registrations were previously taken, leaving 25% as first time hand regs. This test was of a 50 name selection of my total portfolio (~10%).

Re blacklists; 20% of my names were shown on a blacklist. However, all 20% (10 names) solely showed on the abuse.ro list which appears to be a catch-all blacklist. Digging further for all 10 names:
This site https://blacklisteddomain.org/blacklist-check/#check showed none of those 10 names on any blacklist.
This site https://dnschecker.org/ip-blacklist-checker.php? showed all 10 names were solely being blacklisted by https://matrix.spfbl.net/ for this reason"This IP has been flagged because it's a non email server generic EC2."
In fact, I even checked SPFBL for the names that showed as all clear on the mxtoolbox and every single one was also flagged for the same reason. Hard to understand if this "flag" would reduce the selling price of my domains as it appears to be a generic AWS cloud serving flag - and not specific to any domains I own.

I also checked the SS (Spam Score) of the 50 tested domains. 12 of the 50 domains (24%) had spam scores of >1%. Some of these were names that were never previously registered (according to WhoIs history and Wayback) and where I have never emailed or used the domain in any way. Of course others were previously taken and obviously used. Are these spam scores reliable? Assuming they are - are these names worth less (or droppable) due to the spam scores? How could a name that has never been used show a spam score?

What are the actionable items for the 10-12 names that show on the EC2 blacklist and/or have spam scores >1%?

Are there any actionable items for the 75% of my domains that were previously registered? Or is that just "fun to know"?

 

[Blueleaf66]

So interesting!

I checked the 50% of the names that Wayback machine doesn't show as previously registered within the WhoIs history database and 50% of those names were previously taken. Which means 75% of my total hand registrations were previously taken, leaving 25% as first time hand regs. This test was of a 50 name selection of my total portfolio (~10%).

Re blacklists; 20% of my names were shown on a blacklist. However, all 20% (10 names) solely showed on the abuse.ro list which appears to be a catch-all blacklist. Digging further for all 10 names:
This site https://blacklisteddomain.org/blacklist-check/#check showed none of those 10 names on any blacklist.
This site https://dnschecker.org/ip-blacklist-checker.php? showed all 10 names were solely being blacklisted by https://matrix.spfbl.net/ for this reason"This IP has been flagged because it's a non email server generic EC2."
In fact, I even checked SPFBL for the names that showed as all clear on the mxtoolbox and every single one was also flagged for the same reason. Hard to understand if this "flag" would reduce the selling price of my domains as it appears to be a generic AWS cloud serving flag - and not specific to any domains I own.

I also checked the SS (Spam Score) of the 50 tested domains. 12 of the 50 domains (24%) had spam scores of >1%. Some of these were names that were never previously registered (according to WhoIs history and Wayback) and where I have never emailed or used the domain in any way. Of course others were previously taken and obviously used. Are these spam scores reliable? Assuming they are - are these names worth less (or droppable) due to the spam scores? How could a name that has never been used show a spam score?

What are the actionable items for the 10-12 names that show on the EC2 blacklist and/or have spam scores >1%?

Are there any actionable items for the 75% of my domains that were previously registered? Or is that just "fun to know"?

Thanks, that's interesting.

Spam Score stays the same for a very long time. But it can be lowered when someone acquires the name, builds on it etc etc. I've sold names that had SS greater than 50% without a problem, so I don't use it as a valuable metric UNLESS the domain's history is also dodgy. Don't have any data on drop rates or diminished sales.

Blacklists also clear. But I don't have much info or experience with that either, sorry. I sold names that were on similar email blacklists too and now some of them are no longer on those lists. Don't have a clue. It would only concern me if the domain has provable "bad" history and/or appears on multiple blacklists.

BTW, it's possible to delete WM captures too (need to contact them though and explain the situation) so the data is not always reliable.

 

[HotKey]

I would be more focussed on how the domain name fits in the market now, if we're looking at domains that have been registered previously - that could be all the way back into the 90s. So much has changed and the ecology of what is online and what isn't is everchanging.

Do your research, if you feel there's a market - stick with it and adjust your prices accordingly.

(I love looking at Wayback & other websites for nostalgia and for a domainer's/collector's 'thrill' in the same way I bought a domain name with a '96 reg purely because it beat my other '96 reg by 4 months! )

The cool thing about previously registered domains is that there at least one other person in this world that saw something to it. And if there is one, there may be more..

As much as I like untouched reg's we can back our method to madness to names that have had appeal in the past. I think though you really have to tighten expectations on a probable sale with some sort of name recognition.

Be prepared for long holds otherwise. Buyers can come out of the blue but that's not a dependable business model it is more for someone with a secondary source of income.

 

[LucyC]

The cool thing about previously registered domains is that there at least one other person in this world that saw something to it. And if there is one, there may be more..

As much as I like untouched reg's we can back our method to madness to names that have had appeal in the past. I think though you really have to tighten expectations on a probable sale with some sort of name recognition.

Be prepared for long holds otherwise. Buyers can come out of the blue but that's not a dependable business model it is more for someone with a secondary source of income.

Oh, I agree. I just think it's always worth having those considerations about market viability from an end-user perspective.

I own MissAttitude.com, the co.uk and registered UK trademark. Previously recognised as a successful chain of jewellery/clothing shops run in the 90's by a young Reuben Singh, it resonated extremely well back then but I have to ask myself would it so much now? And with all the prominent 'miss' brands now in the sector. That's what's held me back from development and led to me acquiring a new domain name for a similar market more inline with what I feel fits right for 2024.

That is the logic I apply and put my money to as an end-user.

But again, I do see where you are coming from.

 

[dennisok]

Hello guys, it means I've leaving money on the table as I always come across domains with spam scores and never considered getting em bcos all what have been taught us about spam names. Thanks for sharing!