seeds going bad???

Does anyone know of seeds going bad? to dry? to old? never had a problem germinating till now.

not that i know of. sometimes there is a chance that it just wont sprout.

they say seeds go bad after a long time but i've had no problems germinating some that were 4 years old. if the seeds are dark and mature than they could either be too fresh, too old, or the shell is too hard and damping off.

There are many factors determining germination rates. How you handle and store the seeds accounts for a lot.
How viable were the seeds when they were harvested matters aswell.
Some varieties have better germination rates.
Most seeds are near 100 percent the first year, then gradually start to degrade depending on storage technique.
Tempiture and moisture content seem to be the most critical.
Good luck.