Help Needed - Domain Valuation and Appraisal Methodology

Hi All,

I know this may seem like a closely guarded secret - but - we all want to help each other, hence being on here in the first place?

I need the help of seasoned analysts and domainers. What I would like to know (from as many people as possible) is the following:

1. How do you go about valuing a domain? (Please - if possible don't just say Estibot.com or GoDaddy valuations).

2. If not included above, what is your personal methodology - and what do you place the most value on? (e.g. syllables, length, hyphens, numbers, extension).

3. What data/databases do you use to help with your personal domain valuation?

4. Do grammatical issues/spelling mistakes deter you? Feel free to comment on this.

5. Anything I may have missed - general comments on domain valuation and appraisal that would help.

Let me explain why I am doing this - my company has recently branched out into more virtual property investment etc. I have a background in software development etc for some time. I am wanting to create a valuation tool that is based on human learning to allow people to get very quick / very accurate domain valuation and appraisal based on the merits of each domain. I plan to make use of all manner of data and database to help with this, along with advanced data mining techniques. I want to help people find real treasure in the domaining industry.

We have a few projects that we feel would really benefit domainers. These will be announced firstly on NamePros as I believe in this forum for the Domaining industry.

Anyone who makes a significant contribution to this here (or via PM if you really feel you don't want to share your "secrets") will receive early beta access / future contributor access to the tool.

Looking forward to reading everyone's contributions. Thanks in advance.

 

Anyone wanting to give a stab at this one?

 

Disclaimer: just an opinion

There are about 8 SEO factors that can make-or-break the price of a domain. Of these, traffic and backlinks (and domain ranking and trust factor) are probably the most desirable. So if a domain has any of those SEO factors attached, then it could make an ordinary domain into a high-priced domain.

For brandables, It's based on a lot of different factors that vary from one domainer to the next. DomainMarket for example prices most of their domains in the mid-to-high-5-figure range, while other brandable marketplaces and domainers seem to price the majority of domains in the 1200-2900 range, but are creeping into the mid-5-figure range on some of their domains. A lot of domainers will price in the mid 3 figure range in order to "possibly" increase sell-thru rate. If you price too low, people may think it's a junk domain, and if you price too high, they may not be able to afford it. That's why these automated valuation tools have such a hard time giving an accurate appraisal.

I for one have never sold a domain where I didn't wonder afterwards how much the person would have paid if I had done x,y, or z. So even on sold domains it's hard to give a completely accurate value/price.

 

Thanks a lot for beginning the discussion! SEO factors definitely help the overall valuation, however, there could be times when someone registers a great domain - and never puts a page on it, never creates a backlink, and just sits on it. This could end up meaning that the SEO side of things is on the low side, but shouldn't decrease the value dramatically as the SEO stuff can be built upon a great domain (granted over time). Perhaps pricing wise there should be a base price for a great domain - and then an SEO bonus boost to the overall price which will add to the domain itself.

That being said - perhaps there could be times when a domain (possibly a great domain) has a bit of negative SEO, perhaps its been used for spammy purposes or has very low-quality links. It should then be marked negatively perhaps?

As far as brandable are concerned, that is in and of itself another ball game completely. I think the sound of the domain, whether it's currently trademarked etc, the words used, the extension etc are all important.

Thanks for beginning the discussion - I welcome any more comments to help with this project.

 

I have a tool like this. All I can say to you is that you don't know what you're getting into.

This is not a task for a single person, not for a year. It's for a team and a multiple-year span.

Edit: And a significant budget.

 

Challenge accepted! Any help etc would be graciously appreciated. But if not that's fine too

Thankfully, I have been working in the computer industry (business / system analysis / software development etc) for over 30 years. And I am a complete insomniac! so happy to try and create something that benefits the wider domaining industry.

Would love to hear from other domainers on how they go about doing their valuations etc. See questions at the beginning of this thread.

 

Here is my answer to your questions (this may be totally different from the next person).

1. How do you go about valuing a domain?

First determine if it's a rare domain.. are they all taken.. for example, all the 4-letter dot coms are taken, and one-word .coms are in short supply. If so, then the value is much higher, in its own category. If not, then ask the next question - is it a one-of-a-kind name, like an exact match of a popular category. If so, then the value is much higher. Finally, does it have important SEO characteristics, such as traffic, backlinks, DR, trust factor, alexa, semrush, etc. Other characteristics include: Adwords global searches, adwords competition, adwords CPC, quality of backlinks, number of other extensions registered and which ones, and also recent happenings and how viral you think something is going to be in a couple of months or years.

If it doesn't have any factors, then it would come down to the strength of the name and hoping that someone will find the name special and want to pay over $1000 for it.

Anything below $1000 is people trying to increase their sell-thru rate by making it affordable. I have tried this a number of times, but I have found it doesn't increase the sell-thru rate enough to make it worth the drop in revenue. Then you would be horrified if someone was ready to spend $20k on your name and you sold it to them for $650. If you go $3k and they would have paid $20k, then at least you get something.

2. If not included above, what is your personal methodology - and what do you place the most value on? (e.g. syllables, length, hyphens, numbers, extension).

non-hyphenated .coms with no numbers.

3. What data/databases do you use to help with your personal domain valuation?

Expireddomains.. and whois

4. Do grammatical issues/spelling mistakes deter you? Feel free to comment on this.

Yes, usually. unless it's a really clever misspelling, that could even make it worth more, but thats somewhat rare.

 

Thank you very much for your thorough explanation of your methodology - I appreciate your help. Definitely going to take what you said and put it on the "growing" list of metrics for domain valuation.

Please feel free to comment more if you have any additional thoughts that could add to the spice of the tool I would like to develop and put forward to the community.

Thanks again!

 

3 major factors
meaning
length
extensions

• Domain name evaluation cannot be generalized，We have to be specific to specific domain name specific analysis
  

• In addition to the enumerated sites, I also recently found a new evaluation
  https://www.nameworth.com/

have a good day

 

Thank you for your response. All are appreciated! Will take a look at NameWorth - all homework helps!

 

Would welcome any other thoughts on this Thanks to all who have responded so far.

 

Have a look at the discussion in this other thread: https://www.namepros.com/posts/8124789/

Note:

The valuation would certainly take a serious hit because of it.

 

Thanks for the link! Will take a look at it!