Appraisals Finagles bojangles

[.X.]

I have seen a few threads on Automated Appraisal websites

I remember when when these sites were invented, Automated appraisals were a lot of fun to play with, Although i have never taken the valuations seriously.However many took a liking to the name valuations. I do remember automated appraisal putting a damper on name flippers here at NamePros. As a majority at that time, It was more of the new domainers whom were taking the valuations very seriously.


I am not so sure there is any way possible to estimate what a domain name is worth. No matter the name, If a company or person needs it to launch their product, It is a big piece of web real estate to them, It all starts with their name. An appraisal or valuation of a name is a mere opinion, And that opinion will always vary on an individual basis IMO.

Me not being a domain flipper, I have never been truly effected, I have known a few that have though.

Do you rely on Automated appraisal, Or a site of the like to determine how much you should pay for a name??? Do you not register a name based on the appraisal or valuation of these types of sites???

 

[Name Trader]

I'm a domainer. So I never pay retail. Appraisal sites are not as worthless as they seem. They can be wrong a lot of the time. But provided you recognize when they're wrong, they can give you a reasonable appraisal, of retail value. The trick is knowing when they are wrong. However, all the time I am selling domains at approx 2-10 times Estibot values. But then other domains I cannot sell even below Estibot values. It all depends on the pockets of the buyer, are they deep or not. If the buyer is a domainer, forget getting a reasonable price. An end-user hasn't even heard of Estibot, but a domainer has. So it entirely depends on how much and end-user wants your domain. If it's not a "must have" there are always cheaper alternatives.

 

[.X.]

I'm a domainer. So I never pay retail. Appraisal sites are not as worthless as they seem. They can be wrong a lot of the time. But provided you recognize when they're wrong, they can give you a reasonable appraisal, of retail value. The trick is knowing when they are wrong. However, all the time I am selling domains at approx 2-10 times Estibot values. But then other domains I cannot sell even below Estibot values. It all depends on the pockets of the buyer, are they deep or not. If the buyer is a domainer, forget getting a reasonable price. An end-user hasn't even heard of Estibot, but a domainer has. So it entirely depends on how much and end-user wants your domain. If it's not a "must have" there are always cheaper alternatives.[/QUOTE

Nice post stub, It gives me some insight on the subject.

I was away from here for a while, I do remember when a domainer trend hit, like LLLL.com was a hot domainer trend, there was money to be made, even in the crappiest combination of letters, And then the vcvc 4L.coms were hot sellers from domainer to domainer.

I did get a little action in the domainer to domainer market with NLL.coms and some .us names back in the day. It was a lot of work for a small return back then for me.

Estibot has some great tools with in it's script. I have never been a big fan of the valuation tool though.

Domainer to domainer selling has always been hot around here. I have known many here to do very well at it. Perhaps it is a talent in it's own. It is very interesting, I have just never really had the time to sort it all out and make a decent profit doing it.

I do think that domainer to domainer selling is a very good thing, and productive to the domain name industry as a whole. We have an economy to keep strong as well.

Rock on stub!

 

[Kate]

Automated methods are okay for collecting objective measures, for example to extract metrics, search volume etc.
When you attempt to automatically derive a price based on the data available it becomes a joke. Automated tools should refrain from quoting any dollar figure.

I think the automated tools are doing more harm than good, because many newbies use them to decide on which domains they register. Then they build worthless portfolios that have negative value, always.

You must learn for yourself what makes a domain valuable, a bot will not teach you anything.
Also, only register domains that actually make sense, and that you're willing to keep and develop. Because sales are the exception not the norm. An appraisal is just theory, the likelihood of a sale is something that must be assessed carefully :tri:

 

[johname]

However, all the time I am selling domains at approx 2-10 times Estibot values. But then other domains I cannot sell even below Estibot values.

Thats the definition of EB throwing darts at values.

Domain time best spent on other things than Automated Appraisals in my opinion

 

[.X.]

Automated methods are okay for collecting objective measures, for example to extract metrics, search volume etc.
When you attempt to automatically derive a price based on the data available it becomes a joke. Automated tools should refrain from quoting any dollar figure.

I think the automated tools are doing more harm than good, because many newbies use them to decide on which domains they register. Then they build worthless portfolios that have negative value, always.

You must learn for yourself what makes a domain valuable, a bot will not teach you anything.
Also, only register domains that actually make sense, and that you're willing to keep and develop. Because sales are the exception not the norm. An appraisal is just theory, the likelihood of a sale is something that must be assessed carefully :tri:

I agree, It has always been my personal opinion that estibot and likes of, As far as an appraisal goes, Are simply a waste of time as to putting a dollar figure on a domain name. They should take the dollar figure off the script.

It seems to be influential as to whether a newbie may even consider registering a domain, It is hard enough being new in this industry as it is. Register a bunch of crap names and you not only loose money, But valuable time researching to find names that have development and end user re sale potential. That is precious time wasted IMO.

I see a lot of names for sale that will say "Estibot" $2,200 and ect. I think to myself, wtf are people thinking, that because they have put a $2,200 valuation price tag on it, the name is good. In most causes i see the opposite. The name may have good keywords, but they are backwards and side ways as to how person will search those keywords.

Again, I think folks are wasting valuable time and money, Not so much time i guess, It takes about 20 seconds max to get a valuation dollar figure from these automated systems, But if they reg up a large number of names, they just may have thrown cash in the trash IMO

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:44 PM ----------

Thats the definition of EB throwing darts at values.

Domain time best spent on other things than Automated Appraisals in my opinion

Well said johname, I guess the old saying is true, work hard and reap the benefits. Try and take the easy way out, And loose.

I would rather spend 4 hours researching and spinning names, and be happy with my name purchase than pick a backward a$$ name that an automated valuation will put a decent dollar value on.

That just me, I am sorta of an old school domainer. Research, Keywords in order, At the end of the day i may have 50 or names on my list, but only one fits my criteria as being worthy of registration. some days none at all.

 

[Name Trader]

Estibot is only a tool. So long as you know when it's wrong, it provides a rough and ready guide to a domain name's value. $xx, $xxx, $xxxx, $xxxxx. But if you don't know that already, you shouldn't be domaining. Any satisfactory sale however depends on how much an end-user "must have" your domain. That has nothing to do with Estibot's valuation and Estibot cannot put a price on the "must have" and "depth of pockets" factors because they vary from time-to-time and with different end-users, and as I said before, end-users generally have never heard of Estibot.

What a lot of noobs fail to realize is that estibot is only an estimate and a bot of the price a willing end-user buyer might pay based partly on past sales (which, by definition, are always behind the curve). They read the valuation and all of a sudden the price is cast in stone, even to other domainers. They also don't realize that there are almost no end-users on NamePros. We are all domainers.

I never use Estibot for a basis of valuation for a domain purchase, but I have used it as a basis for a sale, when I've thought it was right. There are way to many varying factors determining the price of a domain at any one point in time, for any automatic valuation software to get it right even 50% of the time. But provided you combine it with your own judgment, I find it better than useless I also like Estibot's other stats and tools.

 

[.X.]

Estibot is only a tool. So long as you know when it's wrong, it provides a rough and ready guide to a domain name's value. $xx, $xxx, $xxxx, $xxxxx. But if you don't know that already, you shouldn't be domaining. Any satisfactory sale however depends on how much an end-user "must have" your domain. That has nothing to do with Estibot's valuation and Estibot cannot put a price on the "must have" and "depth of pockets" factors because they vary from time-to-time and with different end-users, and as I said before, end-users generally have never heard of Estibot.

What a lot of noobs fail to realize is that estibot is only an estimate and a bot of the price a willing end-user buyer might pay based partly on past sales (which, by definition, are always behind the curve). They read the valuation and all of a sudden the price is cast in stone, even to other domainers. They also don't realize that there are almost no end-users on NamePros. We are all domainers.

I never use Estibot for a basis of valuation for a domain purchase, but I have used it as a basis for a sale, when I've thought it was right. There are way to many varying factors determining the price of a domain at any one point in time, for any automatic valuation software to get it right even 50% of the time. But provided you combine it with your own judgment, I find it better than useless I also like Estibot's other stats and tools.

The other tools the script offer are pretty nice, ways to find end users and ect.

The negative part may be putting any dollar figure on a domain. If it clogs and conflicts the domainer economy, I think that might be bad thing for the industry in general.

There are many times we as domainers rely on each other to keep the names moving, Keep our economy up. If estibot's domain name valuation tool itself is counter productive in us achieving that, Then that is negative for domaininers IMO.