Used domain has its own market, eventhough new domain is cheaper year by year but demand in used domain still high. Used domain have something else that is not offered by a new domain. In fact, a used domain can be sell higher than a new domain.
But there are precautions before buying a used domain, these precautions are made to minimalize your risk:
- Google Flag Status, try to have as much as information on the domain, whether it is banned by Search ENgine (specially Google) or not. Although you can request inclusion from Google Webmaster Tools, it is not funny at all to buy a Banned domain.
- Pagerank, as I write this post, a domain that carry pagerank 4 varies in price, usually between $50-$70. The price must be paid because whe don't need to waste our time to populate links to this domain to get pagerank. I think it's okay to have the PR4 domain on that price, but we must pay attention of the pagerank validity!
Always check the pagerank status before you grab the domain. digpagerank.com is a good source for checking the pagerank's validity. Check the domain you are intended to buy with this tool and make sure it displays pagerank in GREEN instead of RED and ORANGE. - Domain name, you maybe want the shorter domain and the nicest name available, nice name and shorter name usually sell in higher price. Try to get the domain name that have correlation with your future content.
- Google AdSense status, If you plan to have google adsense advertisement inside your domain name, this step is vital. Don't buy domain that is banned by AdSense, check with the Google AdSense preview tool first before you buy! Or you aren't be able to display adsense!