GoDaddy Appraisal....gotta luv it!

[ThatNameGuy]

As most of you know, GoDaddy's appraisals are the biggest joke in the domain industry (any industry) You know it and I know it, but the average business person on the street isn't aware of it. Here's my point, I purchased three Gtld's this morning, and here is what I paid for them and what GoDaddy appraises them for:

My Name My Price .today GoDaddy's .com Appraisal

NextPlay.today 1.99 $7,871

SlamDunk.today 1.99 $10,027

FashionShow.today 1.99 $19,594

Totals: 5.97 $37,492

When selling my domains to retail, I plan on using GoDaddy's appraisal to my advantage. Anyone else do the same? Note, I also plan on telling my buyers that although GoDaddy may be the biggest player in our industry, their appraisals may be a slight bit high. What say you?

Bulloney

 

[Kate]

I doubt that domain appraisals really sway or impress the end users. If they were any effective then we would be seeing a lot more sales in the 4 and 5 figures.
At the end of the day the end users will only offer what they are willing to pay - that is very little most of the time.

I don't think I would send a potential buyer to Godaddy. He is more likely going to get suggestions for alternative domain names and will probably end up buying a domain for regfee. Mission accomplished.
There is nobody here who would use an appraisal for the purpose buying a domain name. Likewise, there is no reason to assume that people who are not domainers need some guide or benchmark. They don't, especially when they have a lot of options.

 

[dordomai]

As most of you know, GoDaddy's appraisals are the biggest joke in the domain industry (any industry) You know it and I know it, but the average business person on the street isn't aware of it. Here's my point, I purchased three Gtld's this morning, and here is what I paid for them and what GoDaddy appraises them for:

My Name My Price .today GoDaddy's .com Appraisal

NextPlay.today 1.99 $7,871

SlamDunk.today 1.99 $10,027

FashionShow.today 1.99 $19,594

Totals: 5.97 $37,492

When selling my domains to retail, I plan on using GoDaddy's appraisal to my advantage. Anyone else do the same? Note, I also plan on telling my buyers that although GoDaddy may be the biggest player in our industry, their appraisals may be a slight bit high. What say you?

Bulloney

I think the appraisals are completely random, prices often unrealistically high and self-serving.

If they are like Sedo appraisals they will overvalue worthless junk and undervalue real premium domains.

High value domains do not need appraisals to sell, the value can be easily justified.

The appraisals are not interested in a realistic valuation what they do is to make worthless or low value domains more valuable so they are more likely to sell.

it is self-serving because Godaddy have tons of worthless domains expiring each day that can look more valuable and people are more likely to list a domain for sale or register one if they are told it is valuable. It is telling people what they want to hear to increase sales and their profits nothing else.

to give an example how ridiculous the valuations are check this:

Insurance.com is valued above $25k.

petinsurance.com $24,552

insuranceeee.com is valued 1,172k

insurancenothello.com $749

insuranceeeebogobogo.com $377

if the valuations were realistic everyone could become a millionaire today with a 10k investment.

 

[xynames]

I’ve used the GD appraisals to close several sales lately. I’m not going to get into in which way but they’ve worked for me depending on how they come in.

I had one buyer counter with a low estibot appraisal and I didn’t even bother to respond because it’s common knowledge by now that estibot is often worthless and that buyer ended up paying something like 19x estibot anyway so he didn’t believe in estibot himself obviously.

 

[xynames]

So I just looked and now the estibot value of that domain is exactly what I just sold it at.

 

[Kate]

it is self-serving because Godaddy have tons of worthless domains expiring each day that can look more valuable and people are more likely to list a domain for sale or register one if they are told it is valuable. It is telling people what they want to hear to increase sales and their profits nothing else.

Exactly right, GD is a registrar, they just want you to buy more domains from them. From their registrar point of view all registrations are equally brilliant. An appraisal will never tell you regfee, the appraised priced is always going to be well above regfee so it's like you are always winning but it's the house that always wins.

Anyway, I think using an appraisal in negotiations is a mistake because the potential buyer can play the same game against you, and counter with another appraisal that is more to their advantage. How would their appraisal be less valid than yours ?
The problem is that if you allow a third party (worse, a stupid algorithm) to dictate the price of your assets, then you have essentially relinquished control over the negotiation.

 

[xynames]

Only a fool eschews what is in the public domain. And this goes for appraisal tools, and both comparable closed sales and for sale listings. It’s all out there and you must assume that your buyer has access to it all same as you do.

How and whether you choose to disclose any of this to the buyer depends on the circumstances and how sophisticated and internet savvy you gauge the buyer to be, but you can’t simply assume that he doesn’t know about them.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

I’ve used the GD appraisals to close several sales lately. I’m not going to get into in which way but they’ve worked for me depending on how they come in.

I had one buyer counter with a low estibot appraisal and I didn’t even bother to respond because it’s common knowledge by now that estibot is often worthless and that buyer ended up paying something like 19x estibot anyway so he didn’t believe in estibot himself obviously.

My sentiments exactly! A smart salesperson always sizes up their buyer. GD appraisals are just another tool by which to help close a deal depending on who you're selling to. A lot of people following this board rarely speak to an end user, but that will be my target audience.....doctors, lawyers, business owners, start-ups and other professionals. Everyone close to this industry already knows what a joke GD is, but the "average" end user buyer is oblivious.

Thanks xynames for sharing your experience.

Bulloney

 

[Fancy.domains]

My own experience is that the longer you are into domaining, the less you pay attention to all these automated appraisal tools. I think Estibot is the best one out there, but personally I mostly use it to analyze the other data that it provides.

No offense, but GD’s tool seems to be useless. I might be conspiratorial, but maybe it will make some people to register more names.

 

[ThatNameGuy]

My own experience is that the longer you are into domaining, the less you pay attention to all these automated appraisal tools. I think Estibot is the best one out there, but personally I mostly use it to analyze the other data that it provides.

No offense, but GD’s tool seems to be useless. I might be conspiratorial, but maybe it will make some people to register more names.

"No offense, but GD’s tool seems to be useless."

No offense taken....I agree, but I'm learning to use it to my advantage. It's sort of like turning a pigs ear into a silk purse