Is 10 years Registration a Good Deal?

[H2FC]

Hello...I would like to hear some comments about registering domains for the 10 year term. Is that a good idea? What would or could be some of the pros and cons about long term registering? All comment welcome...please let me know what you think about it....thanks

 

[netfounder]

If I got casino.com.
I would rather 20 years

 

[Vorty]

For good names it's a good deal. For the others less good DN... I prefer to renew every year =)

 

[H2FC]

If I got casino.com.
I would rather 20 years

Yep....me too, but let me clarify my question a little. I'm talking about good valuable names that will surely be worth more in the future....if for no other reason, inflation.

One of my concerns is the cost of registering a domain....is it likely to go higher in a couple of years?...or lower?

Another concern is domains themselves. Is something better likely to come along that will replace them? I really don't believe this is likely...not in our life times anyway....but we never know for sure.

Another concern is, are all your domains safe with one company or should you spread them out between various companies?

I'm seriously considering registering about 300-400 domains for the 10 year period but its a lot of money to put up front without some serious thought and hopefully, good advice.

Also, who is the best registrar to go with for a 10 year period? Considering price, service, dependability, and security?

Thanks for your input.

 

[cayars]

Why tie up your money now when you could use it to reg or purchase other domains/sites? If you use one of the "name brand" domain registers like Moniker, Domain Site or GoDaddy.com you can setup to autorenew and you will get notices way before they are due to renew anyway.

Something could happen in a year or two that could make owning domains less optimal then their worth today. Why have your money tied up if this were to happen?

Prices on domains have been coming down over the years. It's not unconceivable that 2 years from now a domain renewal could cost $2-$4 dollars. I would hate life if I had paid 2 to 4 times that amount upfront.

The only reason I would ever reg for more then one year is when I have to.

This is just my oppinion but I haven't ran into any problems at all doing this and I have thousands of domains with many different registers including some highly sought after high traffic domains.

Carlo

 

[GeorgeK]

If you have a developed site, one of the Google pagerank criteria is rumoured to be the expiration date of the domain name (i.e. if you've registered for 10 years, it might rank higher than another site that expires in 2 years, everything else being the same).

Also, if you ever become ill or die, and your estate forgets to renew the relevant domains, your heirs will be poorer.

 

[PRED]

If you have a developed site, one of the Google pagerank criteria is rumoured to be the expiration date of the domain name (i.e. if you've registered for 10 years, it might rank higher than another site that expires in 2 years, everything else being the same).

Also, if you ever become ill or die, and your estate forgets to renew the relevant domains, your heirs will be poorer.

some very good points there George.
I would say put the minimum 1/2 years on 95% of your portfolio for all the reasons outlined above.
It is worth putting 5-10 years on your best ones (normally just a handful)
for the following reason:

1/ In case something happens to you as George mentioned. (many people outside our community don't understand everything & would see all the technical side as baffling)
2/ In case prices went rapidly up.
3/ If you are making a high end sale. I always think if someone is going to hand over $x,xxx mid upwards, it's courteous to have 4+ years on the ticket at least, for what it costs.

Basically there is no point regging for years & years time apart from very best generics & traffic domains. Just my opinion. Cheers, Predator

 

[GeorgeK]

Also, if a prospective buyer sees that a domain name expires in a few months, they might hold off on approaching you, thinking you might not renew the domain name.

Adding a few years to the expiry date sends a signal to the market that the domain name is of high quality, and won't be expiring.

 

[tnc123]

Well settle for 5 years if the domain is really something that means business for you.

Jamal

 

[Jacksplat]

Is paying for Ten years in advance concrete if the prices do happen to go up soon ?

 

[H2FC]

Thanks for all the good info, I appreciate it. However there is one area nobody has touched on yet and that is domains that have yet to mature. For instance, domains in the alternate energy sector. When our new hydrogen economy begins to take shape (and that won't be long in my opinion) I believe names in that area will soar. I have a lot of those names that are not very valuable now but I believe will be in a few years.

Those are the names I was considering renewing longer term but after thinking about cayars's input, "Prices on domains have been coming down over the years. It's not unconceivable that 2 years from now a domain renewal could cost $2-$4 dollars"......I'm having second thoughts.

When I first started registrating domains the best price I could find was $70 for a 2 year minimum. They've come down a lot since then (because of competition) and they may come down some more. I'm now looking at maybe 2 years renewals instead of 10.....especially since apparently no one will lower their renewal prices for the longer terms. I really think that's a mistake on the registrar's part but time will tell.

Thanks again for the good info and to answer Jacksplat's question, .....Yes, It's my understanding that if one renews for a certain period of time that renewal is good no matter where future prices go....up or down.