I'm sure it's happened to all of us. We get intrigued by a thread that says something like "I've got some premium domain names I'm looking to get rid of....blah blah blah" and we all ask for the list only to find most of the names on the list will most likely be available for reg fee in a couple of months let alone even come close to being premium name(s).
So, with the input of others I hope we can all come to an agreement on what defines a premium domain name.
I personally would define a premium domain as a single generic word or 2 great generic keywords together. Examples are earth.com and MortgageCalculator.com . Mortgage-Calculator.com would NOT be a premium domain name in my opinion simply because of the hyphen. That domain would ONLY do well developed in my opinion because there would be zero type in traffic. Also, in my opinion MortgageCalculator.net would NOT be a premium domain because of the .net extension. It would be a great domain, but not a premium domain. I won't even discuss CalculatorMortgage.com . : )
A premium domain name in my opinion will always end in .com. Toys.net would not fetch anywhere near the price toys.com did. However, if the owner of toys.com also owned toys.net , that only makes toys.com worth more if toys.net were included in the sale.
.com is definitely the premium extension with .net second....not a close second....but second. Then probably ccTLD's in no particular order like .ca, .de, co.uk , etc. The less the chances of type in traffic, lowers the value of the domain.
Plural and singular versions matter as well. PromDresses.com is better than PromDress.com . Type in traffic will drive the value here on these 2 domains. Most people want to select from PromDresses vs. PromDress.
3 letter domains that end in .com would also be considered premium names.
Looking forward to everyone's responses.
Brian