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news New Domain Name Appraisal Instrument Fills Void

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Do we need another automated domain name appraisal instrument? While automated domain name appraisals have their critics, and are certainly not precise instruments, some find them useful in certain circumstances.

While some instruments like Estibot, have been around for a very long time, and the GoDaddy appraisal instrument is the most accessed, neither is perfect for all situations.

This past week Saw announced the beta release of a new domain name appraisal instrument. In this article I take you through some of the features of that instrument, along with an indication of the sort of names that are best suited to each of the main domain name appraisal systems.

Do We Need Another Instrument?

It seems to me that there are limitations in the existing automated appraisal options, providing an opportunity for a new appraisal instrument.
  1. The GoDaddy and Alter instruments both max out at $25,000, making them of limited value for high-worth single-word legacy domain names.
  2. The existing instruments each focus on certain factors. I think there is room for an instrument to take into account a larger number of variables.
  3. None of the existing instruments do a good job at the “match across the dot” critical to evaluating most new gTLDs. Some don’t even appraise new extensions. The GoDaddy valuation tool will appraise any extension, as will Estibot, but GoDaddy values most new extensions at the same value, irrespective of the match across dot.
  4. Existing instruments seem not to have adapted to the recent rise in value of .xyz.
  5. Some sellers do, occasionally, use appraisals in negotiations. A documented appraisal can be helpful.
In this article I will make mention of the appraisal instruments listed in the following table. I did not consider instruments primarily intended to appraise operating website worth, as opposed to just the domain name.

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I only considered instruments that had some sort of free option. Keep in mind that the paid option may provide additional information and tools – for example Estibot Essential Tools, available on the paid plans, include things like a lead generator, backlink checker and trademark analyzer.

To use Alter appraisal you need a free Alter account. At time of writing they are not accepting new users, but if you already have an account, even if you don’t have domain names listed there, the appraisal tool is still fully working.

The Saw Appraisal Instrument

The Saw Automated Appraisal tool is a beta release, so improvements are still being made. I gave the instrument a spin, looking at how it valued names that had recently sold for high prices, and also for a variety of types of other names from my own portfolio.

Using the Saw instrument is free and easy. Just enter the name, and a few seconds later get the appraised value, along with a set of bullet points.

At the time of writing the instrument will appraise domain names with .com, .net, .org, .co, .io, .xyz and .ca extensions. Other extensions will be added at a later time. You can perform 8 free appraisals per day.

For each appraisal, if you leave your email address, you receive a two-page appraisal certificate. The certificate includes the domain name, appraised amount, and bullet points supporting the valuation. It arrives promptly as a pdf file, and looks nice.

Saw, founded by Jeffrey Gabriel and Amanda Waltz, has done more than 1000 domain transactions totalling more than $500 million in combined value. Saw offers a variety of services, including both buy and sell domain brokerage.

The Saw appraisal instrument, wisely, does not try to give a precise value for domain names it deems of limited value, simply indicating <$700.

The Saw appraisal instrument rounds valuations. Clearly the precision of any automated domain name appraisal instrument is not at the dollar level, so the Saw instrument handles this better than some of the competitors that suggest valuations like $3048 rather than saying $3000.

Saw also offer, for a cost, professional appraisals by their staff.

What Factors Does Saw Appraisal Consider?

The Saw instrument takes into account 216 factors for each appraisal. They provide this overview of some of the factors:
Comparable domain sales, search volume, length, domain name extension, word popularity, and our confidential sales data.

Their background of working with many clients, and the private sales data they have, helps the instrument, particularly in high-value sales in legacy extensions.

The bullet points are an indication of the factors they consider important. I tried out their instrument with the name floor.com that has a listed NameBio recent $3.144 million sale. The Saw appraisal instrument suggested a current worth of $5.06 million. Other high-value names in legacy extensions with recent sales history generally showed a higher valuation than the sales price, but in same range.

Shown below are the bullet points for that particular domain name in the Saw instrument. This provides an indication of the factors related to the strong valuation price.

floorCOM.png

I also checked valuations for the same domain name in the other appraisal instruments considered here: Estibot suggested $3.22 million, while NameWorth appraised at $4.0 million. Alter and GoDaddy both maxed at >$25,000. Estibot seems to reset appraised prices approximately to sale prices after an announced sale, which is logical.

If the domain is a common and sought dictionary word in one of the legacy extensions, particularly if registered in many extensions and aged, as a seller you probably will be pleased with the Saw appraisal. Generally the appraised values for this type of domain name are higher in Saw than in GoDaddy or Estibot, at least for the limited number of domains I tested.

XYZ

As mentioned, there is a problem with existing instruments regarding .xyz names. The GoDaddy instrument does not seem to have taken into account the changes in the market over the past couple of years. Estibot does a reasonable job on certain .xyz names, while NameWorth does not appraise anything other than .com. Alter tends to be on the low side for the .xyz extension, since they seem to inadequately value the difference between .xyz and most other new gTLDs in the current market.

I first tried the Saw appraisal instrument with some high-value recent publicly-announced .xyz sales. In all cases, Saw appraised at significantly less than the sale amount, but generally not as low as Estibot or Alter, and in most cases much higher than GoDaddy appraisal.

As an example, momentum.xyz recently sold for $69,888. The Saw instrument suggested $5000, Estibot $1700, Alter $953, and GoDaddy $711 for this name.

I also tried Saw appraisal for a number of less exclusive .xyz, some single-word and 4-letter domain names. Most of the time, these were appraised by Saw in a range around $2000 to $2500, that I considered reasonable retail valuations for the names appraised.

Some comments in the Saw bullet points will be concerning if you plan to use the appraisal certificate to support the worth of an .xyz name, however. After pointing out that new gTLDs offer additional options, the Saw appraisal instrument goes on to add that “site visitors might be wary of visiting sites that support them.” There is research that suggests some users are hesitant of most extensions outside the main legacy and their own country code. The statement is perhaps fair, but not balanced by aspects such as the recent adoption of the extension by many web3 and other businesses.

The Saw adds to all .xyz appraisals the statement “This is one of the newest Top-Level Domains.” Perhaps the intention was to say that it is a new gTLD, but I think most would read this as, of all the new extensions, this is one of the newest. That is not true, since .xyz went into general availability in June 2014, well before the majority of other new extensions currently available.

While Saw does a better job on .xyz appraisal values, I think the beta version of the appraisal instrument needs to fine tune the supporting bullet point comments. Interestingly, the appraisal also adds “little or no value” as a bullet to domain names that it values in $2000 range, the range where most aftermarket retail sales actually fall.

Brandable Names

I tried a number of names of the type commonly found in brandable marketplaces – creative spellings, word merges, two-word combinations, speakable non-dictionary terms. In most cases Saw appraisal valued these well below NameWorth and Alter, and brandable marketplace listings, supposedly because the terms are not registered in other extensions, may not be aged, and don’t have search data.

Other Extensions

I tried the Saw instrument with a few other extensions. The domain availability check seems to have a bug, and a few .io and many .ca that I tried were indicated unregistered, but clearly that was in error.

Based on a limited number of appraisals, it seems to me that Saw appraisals of .ca are about right most of the time. GoDaddy appraisal also does a good job on .ca, while Alter tends to weigh the extension inappropriately low.

In the bullet points, Saw point out that .ca is a national extension and one needs a Canadian presence to be a registrant.

They add to all country code appraisals the bullet point “Being a CCTLD the regulations and restrictions can change at anytime with minimal notice.” I think worded that way it will scare most potential buyers. While I understand the point that these are not under ICANN regulation, it seems it should be reworded. For example, in the Canadian case, the first .ca registration was in January 1988, and I know of no significant change with minimal notice in the subsequent 34 years. There is a robust and trustworthy administration of the extension, at arms length from government. To imply any day a sudden change, without prior notice, might happen is simply not correct.

My overall impression of Saw appraisal is positive. I think they provide a service in providing evaluations for high-value legacy names, and do a better job than existing instruments for .xyz. The free certificate is well implemented and will be helpful to some. The instrument seems to consider more parameters than most of the existing instruments.

I think the main thing Saw needs to improve is to fix the bug with respect to saying domains are available when they are not, and to reword some of the bullet points to make them more balanced and less alarmist.

So Which Appraisal Instrument Is Best?

I don’t think there is a clear best overall appraisal instrument. The type of name will determine which appraisal instrument is best. The following are my personal opinions on instruments suited to some of the main types of domain names. Others may well come to different conclusions.

Estibot does a good job on single word names and on multi-word phrases where the reference is to a product or service. While ranking other factors, like prior sales, they place a lot of emphasis on search volume, both broad and exact, and cost-per-click and advertiser information. Saw and GoDaddy are also good choices in this category.

For a two-word or three-word domain, I think GoDaddy does the best job, for both legacy and the major country code extensions. They split up terms flawlessly, better than Estibot or NameWorth. GoDaddy appraisal indicates the worth of each term separately, have a large database of comparable sales, and give you great comparator data. GoDaddy Appraisal tends to overvalue worthless domain names, and undervalue great names.

If you have a brandable type name, that isn’t also a dictionary word, then your best bets are either NameWorth, but it only works at the current time for .com, or Alter. The emphasis on search volume, make Estibot a far from optimum choice for many brandable names.

If you have a high-value name in a legacy extension, probably a single-word name, Saw may be your best option. If the term has great search statistics, also check Estibot, and if a .com NameWorth. The $25,000 maximum means GoDaddy and Alter are not the instrument for 6-figure or 7-figure names.

For .XYZ Saw is probably best for valuations, but I am troubled by what I view as lack of balanced perspective in the bullet points for extensions other than the big three legacy. You can ignore these bullet points, but if using the appraisal certificate, one advantage of Saw, they will be front and center. GoDaddy seems not to have adjusted adequately for the rise in .xyz, and almost always their appraisals for this extension are too low for retail.

If you are into across-the-dot match type names, particularly with new extensions, none of the instruments work well. While GoDaddy appraise every extension, GoDaddy appraise on the SLD, and all new gTLD extensions get roughly the same appraisal value for that SLD. This leads to ridiculous valuations in some cases. Estibot handle such names in a more nuanced way, although still not handling across the dot adequately.

For .CO and .IO, it depends on the type of name, but all of GoDaddy, Alter, Estibot, and Saw may be helpful.

The narrow sales base data for many make national country codes difficult, and none of the instruments are particularly good. Probably GoDaddy is the best for country code names overall. Saw is useful for .ca, if you can live with the comment about rules can change at short notice. Estibot handles a number of country codes well.

A Brief Look At Alter Appraisal

Since I did not consider Alter in my previous article on automated appraisals., I wanted to share a bit more about it. First of all, it is incredibly fast. The appraisal is essentially instantaneous.

Another nice feature of Alter appraisal is the 6-dimensional graphical representation of the basis of the appraisal. I show below the representation for one of my names. The appraised value is too high, in my opinion, but it demonstrates the factors the appraisal views as strong and weak for this name.
biomesNET.png

For TLD, Alter give .com top ranking, .net and .org a step lower, then .co and .io another step down, and most new and country code extensions yet one more step lower.

For length, they rank 2, 3 and 4 characters at highest worth level. Characters simply refers to whether alphanumeric, hyphen, etc.

Alter don’t define precisely the factors, but it seems to me from many appraisals that memorable is simply an indication of how easy the term would be to remember and write correctly.

Appeal takes into account how valued the term seems to be, probably looking at factors like search and use in corporate names, and perhaps registered extensions.

The most interesting parameter is sentiment, which is, I believe, their attempt to rate the emotional feel of the name – positive descriptors, terms like love or best or help, get high sentiment rankings.

So wonder what sort of name scores perfection in the Alter appraisal? A name like love.com.
loveCOM.png

The NameWorth Approach

NameWorth excels for business brand names, although at the moment only appraises .com domain names. NameWorth does two things that none of the other automated appraisals implement.

One of them is found in the demand section of appraisal, part of which is shown below for the floor.com domain name. On the left, it lists 126 similar websites, including their Majestic ratings. This is a handy way to gauge how many existing sites might consider an upgrade. On the right, registrations of similar domain names are given. While dotDB would provide similar information, it is handy to have it right in the appraisal.

floorCOM-NW-demand-sites.png


NameWorth provides 6 different valuations for each domain, ranging from what NameWorth call the RetailLevel®, the price if someone came wanting this specific name, to LiquidationLevel®, the price if the seller needed to liquidate the same domain name within a few days. I show the information from NameWorth for one of my domain names below.

radiotaCOM-NW-H.png


radiotaCOM-NW-L.png


They provide a chance of selling at each price. For example, they estimate that the chance of selling at RetailLevel for this domain name would be about 18% sometime during the next 20 years. On the other hand, if I price at IndustryLevel®, about 10% of the retail price, the chance of selling goes up to 50% in the next year. One can quibble with the figures, but this way of examining how sales probability and price are related is valuable for domain investors to consider.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that automated appraisals are far from precise and perfect instruments. You should not base any acquisition or pricing decision solely on an automated appraisal.

Sometimes an automated appraisal can be helpful as a second opinion, it may be a wakeup call to reconsider a name you were planning to acquire, or to rethink your price for a domain name.

Just over a year ago the NamePros Blog considered this topic: Taking A Close Look At Domain Name Appraisals..

Please share your views.
  • Have your tried the Saw appraisal instrument? If so, please share your experience.
  • Do you use automated appraisals at all? If so, how do you use them?
  • Do prospective buyers ever ask about appraisal values?
  • What are your own recommendations for which systems are best for which type of names?

Thanks to Saw, and co-founder Jeff Gabriel, for the new appraisal instrument, and to all of the services noted in this article.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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Brandpa.com also offers a free domain name appraisal (automated), you need to create a free seller account, then submit a domain name (free), and it will tell you its value (automated appraisal).
 
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I do use some automated appraisals like GoDaddy and Estibot(very rarely for EB), but more towards helping me to add into a formula I read about many years ago, so it helps me figure out how much I want to buy a domain for, how much I want to sell it for as a BIN, and how low I will accept an offer. I'll also use Google Ads PPC Forecast for keywords to see how much people could potentially spend on advertising and could let me know if there is a trademark I never heard of for brandables.

Other than that, automated appraisals aren't going to get it right, but it can be helpful. I'll add SAW to the list to lean pricing more in my favor.
 
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Thanks Bob for this detailed piece.

I don't think there will ever be a perfect appraisal tool. Reason being that the tools do what they are programmed to do. What they are programmed to do however doesn't always produce the accurate result because even the inventors of these tools do not always have the correct answer.

Take the daily sales report for example, some good names sell low while some bad names sell high. There are stories behind these sales many of us don't know talkless of appraisals that use these sales as comps.

I think domainers should only take the appraisals seriously when it favours them and ditch it if otherwise. Good appraisal reports in some cases can be used to convince end-users to pay what you are asking.
 
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Thank you Bob. This gives one more option to check a domain's worth. I think most appraisal tools give domains idea if a domain is worth renewing but none can provide quite accurate figure as it finally depends on the buyer, demand, market and upcoming trends and many other factors. Also most important factor for a huge sale is Patience!
 
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These all tools generate different results.

Any suggestions on which is best or really needs a different tool.

Huge appraisal different (Website: nob6.com)

NameWorth
: Under 500$
Godaddy: 1308$
Alter: 4359$
Estibot: Less than 100$
Saw: 15000$

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These automated appraisals are actually not good, don't use them.

The only exception is the GoDaddy appraisal tool, for two reasons:
- it will display some related sales when you enter a domain, so it is worth checking out those comparable sales
- you can use these GoDaddy appraisal values to quickly sort a huge list of domains by their GD appraisal value, for example if you use expireddomains.net, then you can browse their GoDaddy clouseout list and then you can sort the list there by GoDaddy appraisal value. Then don't rely on those values, but still it is a great tool to quickly sort a large list of domains by the automated appraisal value. So you can quickly see the valuable domains.
 
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Billions of dollars were lost to domainers because of these automated appraisal systems. Any benefits, outweigh the positives.

End users lose even more because of these automated appraisals. They end up not buying a great name because the asking price was way higher than the appraisal and end up with a name that turns their great idea into the same pile of shit the appraisal systems are.

Most domains selling every week for 5-6 figures will appraise at low 4 figures (before those shitty appraisal systems update).

If you are looking to buy a name and ended up at this thread this message is for you:

IN MY HONEST OPINION: ALL DOMAIN APPRAISALS ARE JUNK!

Avoid them like the plague. You plan on starting a business that is important to you, and the domain appraisal bs might be what destroys your idea before you even start.

Each domain is unique, you should focus on making sure the domain is memorable, easy to spell, has no trademark and know the history of prior use before buying, for example see if it's on any blacklists etc. and what the process is to remove. Look up what it was used for in the past and see if it will matter for your project.

Appraisals regardless what they claim, regardless who they are, should be avoided and should play no role whatsoever in your decision.

The motivation for these appraisal systems vary, and even out of curiosity don't check them, they can make you think you are getting a great price on a POS name or they can make you avoid buying a great name because the system said the value is way less than the asking.

I cannot stress this enough, IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO IS BEHIND THE SYSTEM!

Need more proof? Go to NamePros appraisal section, watch how names are being appraised from 50 - 25k. More proof? Check to see what these "amazing AI driven machine learning" appraisal system priced the names that ended up selling for 30x the appraisal.

You are seconds away from turning your great idea into trash. If you don't listen and you end up choosing a name based on appraisals (high or low) just remember this post the day you cancel your hosting and close shop.
 
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Another useless bougie tool imo. Most domainers won’t have the type of names that they deem worthy. They obviously only value dictionary single words because that is their bread and butter. I put a few in and had a good laugh.

GoDaddy similar sales, keyword insights are helpful but I don’t rely on their valuation tool for pricing. Estibot is no better as far as accurate pricing.
 
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A 6th application is required that will collect the data from these 5 valuation tools and divide it by 5.
 
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Yesterday I was given two values for one of my name's. One from a guy on twitter saying 47k and one by one of the biggest names in the domaining world putting it at between 10/25k. Appraisal tool, less than a hundred bucks. Time will tell but the vast difference in valuation is staggering and not helpful to anyone
 
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Thank You Bob for one more excellent detailed article. Pricing a Domain Name has always been an enigma for Domainers. Appraisal Tools just give some rough estimate about your Domains to start with rest depends on Domainers.
Peerideas .com is also worth considering in terms of appraisal. It gives 3 options of Appraisal in the form of Poll, namely 1. Valuation, 2. Like/Dislike and 3. Star Rating. Also it has additional options for Domainers to set Buy Now Price, Make offer and also one can opt for Google to index your poll

Thank You.
 
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Yesterday I was given two values for one of my name's. One from a guy on twitter saying 47k and one by one of the biggest names in the domaining world putting it at between 10/25k. Appraisal tool, less than a hundred bucks. Time will tell but the vast difference in valuation is staggering and not helpful to anyone
would not surprise me if the guy that appraised it for 10k wouldn't give u 5 quid for it
 
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Yesterday I was given two values for one of my name's. One from a guy on twitter saying 47k and one by one of the biggest names in the domaining world putting it at between 10/25k. Appraisal tool, less than a hundred bucks. Time will tell but the vast difference in valuation is staggering and not helpful to anyone

would not surprise me if the guy that appraised it for 10k wouldn't give u 5 quid for it
You have no idea who that person was or indeed know what the name is. So why chime in with stupid remarks ? Just another keyboard worrior with nothing better to do ?
 
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You have no idea who that person was or indeed know what the name is. So why chime in with stupid remarks ? Just another keyboard worrior with nothing better to do ?
You need to chill out. I don't need to know the name, I don't need to know the person that gave it a 10-25k appraisal, I just need to have decades of experience dealing in this. So calm down, I am sure your name is worth 47k possibly with inflation 98k, however, my point stands, that the same people that appraise names high, will not give you a small fraction.

PS The keyboard warrior term has been outdated for over 10 years, try something more creative.
 
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These all tools generate different results.

Any suggestions on which is best or really needs a different tool.
For most domains the various appraisals will generate very different results, further evidence that appraisals are far from precise instruments.

Some types of names are easier to appraise - e.g. single word names in extensions with a fairly large database of sales records.

Others are much harder. I did not include a number of types of names in my section on which works best (domain hacks, numeric, alphanumeric, phrases), and I think your domain name, alphanumeric, is in a category not handled well by most (all?) appraisal systems.

The sales record also shows a lot of variability. For example, here is a link to NameBio listed sales from the past 5 years for alphanumeric names with structure LLLN, the .com extension, and only including venues where most sales are retail (such as private and Sedo).

https://namebio.com/?s==cTNwIjNxczM

You see a huge range, $50,000 for NFT3 down to just $112. The worth depends on how valued the 3L term is and whether the number has some special meaning – like web3 would be worth a huge amount. You might find it helpful to go through a sales list like this ordered by price and see where you would rank your name, in terms of position where half the names below are less valuable in your opinion. An automated appraisal, if consulted at all, should just be considered one data point.

Re your question which is best, I am not sure any are well suited. Maybe GoDaddy is best, since it considers sales of similar structure names. Estibot with a strong emphasis on search volume and advertiser stats is not well suited to a 4 character alphanumeric. I am surprised by how high Saw appraisal was for that name.

Best wishes for the domain name.

Bob
 
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Thanks for your impassioned, and well argued, case that startup owners should ignore appraisals, @AEProgram . Really the essential question is whether the name would work well for the business, and whether appraised very high, or very low, should, as you say, not influence the decision.

This is a nice summary of some important factors.
Each domain is unique, you should focus on making sure the domain is memorable, easy to spell, has no trademark and know the history of prior use before buying, for example see if it's on any blacklists etc. and what the process is to remove. Look up what it was used for in the past and see if it will matter for your project.

I would not go as far as you in saying all appraisals are garbage. Some of the factors that are relevant, e.g. is this word of a length, use and structure that could be remembered easily are potentially automated rather well. Also, to the degree there is a record of sales of very similar names, it is possible to suggest what might be a competitive price range for the name. Factors like how widely used in business names can influence that through measures of competition.

I think if appraisals could get better than at present, and if we only use them for names for which they are suited (which was one of the points I was trying to stress), they could help to show that quality domain names do justify strong pricing. I think the Saw tool might help this, but only for names that it handles well (mainly single common word names in the main 3 legacy extensions, in my opinion).

Thanks for your posts which add an important view to the discussion.

Bob
 
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A 6th application is required that will collect the data from these 5 valuation tools and divide it by 5.
I would not make it quite that simple, but agree with the sentiment! In that sense, having more appraisal instruments can be helpful.

For example, for a one word .net or .org or .com I think if you took the average of Saw, Alter, NameWorth, GoDaddy and Estibot you probably would over a large basket of names have a more valid estimate than any of the tools alone. In that sense it is good that they stress different things.

For some time I have toyed with idea of an open source, community generated, and evolutionary, hybrid appraisal system that would include factors many consider valid - Is it a dictionary word? Is it used in many businesses? Is it registered and in use in many other TLDs? Is search volume significant? Is word trending up or down? etc. Various factors would have different ratings. As part of that, I would include at modest weighting the estimates from appraisal instruments that are relevant for that type of name. The result would be reported as a range of values, rather than a specific value, with some names having a much bigger range.

Open source projects have produced some amazing software. I think an open source project, even though would have to deal with differing opinions and attempts to hijack to favour contributors names, could quickly be better than the individual automated instruments.

Anyway, this is a long way to say your idea is spot on.

Bob
 
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Hi

the routine blah, blah, is an endless discussion and we've read it all before

however...
i'd like to know why the author has decided to use the term "instrument"
rather than "tool" to describe this promotion of a new service.


maybe the boost in traffic to their sites will be like "music" to their ears?

imo...
 
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Hi

the routine blah, blah, is an endless discussion and we've read it all before
Well, since a new appraisal instrument is now available, maybe it's worth exploring this addition.
There are newbies always joining the forum and asking questions about appraisals and what to buy. Revisiting the issue in a comprehensive post may be very helpful here. And, the discussion afterwards likewise may help them put their choices in focus.
Finally, I doubt the kindly author of the original post has chosen "instrument" over "tool" to increase traffic sales for his domains. Wouldn't "tool" have more potential traffic compared to "instrument" anyhow?
The bottom line, thanks, Bob, for summarizing the options and current state of appraisals.
 
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however...
i'd like to know why the author has decided to use the term "instrument"
rather than "tool" to describe this promotion of a new service.
Hi @biggie

I think you imply too much credit in me carefully thinking about wording selection at that precision.

But spurred by your query, let me try to give an answer. The definition of instrument first meaning is that it is a "tool" (so words interchangeable). The second is that it is "a measuring device". The combination makes instrument seems appropriate to me for things like Estibot, GoDaddy or Saw appraisal.

It is also relevant that "appraisal instrument" is fairly widely used in appraisal of various things other than domain names from human performance to businesses to certain types of property and more.

Probably from my home improvement days, I always associate tools with things like hammers, drills, screwdrivers that seem to me rather different. For example, I don't say I use automated instruments like Google Maps as a directions tool, even though I could I guess.

But short answer, appraisal instrument seems better wording than value tool, but I did not really think much on what term I would use.

Bob

PS I just now checked what the article from a year and a bit ago used. It did use tool in one place, but also used terms appraisal algorithm, appraisal system.
 
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Well, since a new appraisal instrument is now available, maybe it's worth exploring this addition.
There are newbies always joining the forum and asking questions about appraisals and what to buy. Revisiting the issue in a comprehensive post may be very helpful here. And, the discussion afterwards likewise may help them put their choices in focus.
Finally, I doubt the kindly author of the original post has chosen "instrument" over "tool" to increase traffic sales for his domains. Wouldn't "tool" have more potential traffic compared to "instrument" anyhow?
The bottom line, thanks, Bob, for summarizing the options and current state of appraisals.
Hi

since you didn't pose the question,
and you adopted the term, while trying to defend.
then to me, you missed the point as well.

imo...
 
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Hi @biggie

I think you imply too much credit in me carefully thinking about wording selection at that precision.

But spurred by your query, let me try to give an answer. The definition of instrument first meaning is that it is a "tool". The second is that it is "a measuring device". That seems appropriate to me.

It is also relevant that "appraisal instrument" is fairly widely used in appraisal of various things from human performance to businesses to certain types of property and more.

Probably from my home improvement days, I always associate tools with things like hammers, drills, screwdrivers that seem to me rather different. For example, I don't say I use automated instruments like Google Maps as a directions tool, even though I could I guess.

But short answer, appraisal instrument seems better wording than value tool, but I did not really think much on what term I would use.

Bob
Hi
Thanks for the reply

as a writer, i think one would choose the words that best describe what they are trying to convey.

in just about every post on the forum that relates to appraisal bots, the word "tool" has been associated with it.

so, from that perspective and with the introduction from you about a new service that "fills the void", you decide to call it an "instrument" rather than a tool, like the rest of them have been labeled as.

to me, an instrument is something you play, like a guitar, a trumpet, a piano, or a surgical instrument like a scalpel, one of precision.

so again, from that perspective, is why the question was raised

is this new service a precision instrument or something you play?
if the definition is vague, then it's questionable.

just saying...


imo...
 
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