discuss Domain Evaluations

Commerce said:

What do you think accounts for the disparity in value?

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1st Reason - The fact that automated valuations are garbage when looking at single domains!
2nd Reason - The fact that automated valuations are garbage when looking at single domains!
3rd Reason - The fact that automated valuations are garbage when looking at single domains!

That being said .. in this specific case, I don't think Estibot is too far off. With automation, just about the only results that aren't too complex to not be reliable are the liquid value of liquid domains (but even then who wants realiable liquid values when you should be targeting retail pricing) and one word (and single term/exact-match) domains.

Also note that I *AM* a happy paying customer of Estibot .. but I'll be the first to tell you to NEVER EVER EVER rely on an automated evaluation for individual domains. For the next 20+ years (and possibly forever) it's simply way too complex to to program all the variables and less scientific (human artistic appreciation) scoring values for domains with any degree of accuracy.

Yes you'd probably think in this specific case with a one word domain it would be easier, and thus expect to see similar results .. but domain pricing is as much art as it is science.

The final CRUCIAL factor involved is that they don't give you probability of sale. The fact is that almost ANY number is accurate when you ignore probability of sale. Meaning that if you price it at $5,694 you might have a 50% chance of selling it within a year .. while if you price it at $24,000 you'll have a 10% chance of selling it within a year. Neither is necessarily right .. and neither is necessarily wrong.

Bottom line .. never rely on automated valuations for single domains. What automated valuations are good for is when you're looking at larger volumes of domains and playing the numbers game based on volume and probabilities and looking for stand-outs. Or in the case of Estibot specifically, it's also all the other tools and metrics they give you that can be very valuable to you as a domainer.


PS .. Care to guess the 4th reason? lol

Aetgy - thank you for that well thought out and reasoned answer. Agree with your points, though even in estibot there are variations which seem hard to explain, but your points about volume and probability make it a easier to understand.

Thank you for your insights.

Hi

I think these appraisal tools, will be the death of your ability, to set your own prices.

as the more they get used to evaluate, the more their evaluation results become legitimized

once that happens, then they will control pricing

you can see the evidence of this happening, in domains wanted threads

where some of these "buyers", are requiring appraisal tool values for name submissions, along with exp. date and registrar.

just shows what some folks believe in.

imo….

Agreed.

I can understand wanting a deal, but hopefully those who ask about appraisals are end business buyers. A domainer who insists on such things, probably isn't a very good one. They may make a great number of sales, but have left a huge amount on the table.

biggie said:

Hi

I think these appraisal tools, will be the death of your ability, to set your own prices.

as the more they get used to evaluate, the more their evaluation results become legitimized

once that happens, then they will control pricing

you can see the evidence of this happening, in domains wanted threads

where some of these "buyers", are requiring appraisal tool values for name submissions, along with exp. date and registrar.

just shows what some folks believe in.

imo….

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biggie said:

where some of these "buyers", are requiring appraisal tool values for name submissions, along with exp. date and registrar.

Click to expand...

Yep...today I spotted a 'domain wanted' ad and a name I have that would be awesome for their project had one of those automated appraisal limitations on it (had to be valued at over 3 grand or so). Penalty for submitting a name not having that value would be reported to mods...I just giggled to myself and moved on. They could have had a name for one half of wholesale today but as luck would have it another sale came in...oh well, back up to full retail.

Add a plural to anything and register i. I still wouldn't register any of those with appraisal or not unless I had somewhere to send the traffic as it isn't going to be a first choice site name or have real resale value. As soon as human intervention comes to play it will be likely discarded.

Mister Funsky said:

Yep...today I spotted a 'domain wanted' ad and a name I have that would be awesome for their project had one of those automated appraisal limitations on it (had to be valued at over 3 grand or so). Penalty for submitting a name not having that value would be reported to mods...I just giggled to myself and moved on.

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It may have been the same ad, where i posted a comment about their budget

doesn't make much sense when posters are threatening to report members to mods, while their budgets don't even equal the level to obtain the quality names that they are looking for.

to me, it's a dumb trend, which shows lacking ability to spot quality with the eye

imo...