Estibot vs DNJournal

[Stockford Dev.]

So everyone says that appraisal services are worthless and not good for anything, but if you compare Estibot's valuation against lists of large domain sales, it is usually quite accurate. I mean there is a margin of error, but its say always within $10000 and if you're dealing in tens of thousands that's not so far off. So my question is (help us newbies here) if it seems to play out as accurate for large domain sales why wouldn't it be somewhat accurate with smaller sales. I mean if I could get even one tenth of what Estibot appraisals say I could, I would be doing fine, I wouldn't be rich but my investment would certainly not have been worthless. I'm not expecting buyers overnight or knocking down my door, but if I park them, list them and do a little promotion through my own sites, is it so hard to believe that maybe for every XXXX that Estibot gives me I could actually earn a low to mid XXX at least? Thanks for any advice anyone offers, I know I'm asking a lot of questions today but that's why this section is here right?

 

[Kate]

AFAIK the sales data are loaded into estibot and used along other criteria.

So if a domain has been sold for 10K in the past, da bot will spit out an appraisal of 10K or somewhere near that amount to make you believe it's not a copy-paste of the information, but the algorithm is so good :red:
So much for accuracy :lol:
Hindsight is 20/20 right ?
Automated appraisals are a joke and for entertainment purposes only.

There are millions of domains on sale right now, but not enough buyers.
It's not a question of 'promotion' either, if nobody needs or wants your domains they won't sell. End of the story. Remember, you are not alone, you have competition and the end users have plenty of choice.

An appraisal is always theory, a best-case scenario. It doesn't mean the domain will EVER sell.
But with experience you'll understand what kinds of domains have a reasonable chance of selling, and which ones will most likely not sell. The market for domain names is not liquid and predictable, there is a bit of luck involved too but again the vast majority of domains are junk and will never sell. Domaining is more art than science.

If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
Sorry, there is no magic trick but this business is full of traps. Estibot is just one of those traps. But it can't teach you what makes a domain valuable, you have to learn it for yourself.

 

[Name Trader]

As sdsinc has said, Estibot loads sales data for any domains into it's database. So if you are looking at a domain which has been sold, then it will spit out that price, even if the buyer paid too much/little for the domain. Domains which haven't been sold, they rely of the own metrics. These are not accurate because it is extremely difficult to judge what a willing buyer/seller will agree at a specific date in time for any given domain. Which might be entirely different on another date in time.