What about buying expired domains?

[Hannah]

I was wondering what the general consensus was about buying expired domains.

It's appealing to think that there may be backlinks to the site already out there instead of starting from scratch, that it already has some traffic from them and a decent page rank too if you're lucky.

Anyone had any experience with these, good or bad, or feelings either way on pros and cons?

 

[ANMMark]

Sometimes, expired domains are quite a bit more expensive. For example, to register or renew a domain may cost you $8, but to register it while in expiration status may cost you $80, at least until it's completely removed from the registrar's database.

I think using an expired domain for this reason can be beneficial, but at the same time, may get you all the wrong traffic, and possibly a lawsuit if the domain expired accidentally.