discuss Is it worth my time to go after domains appraised over $1,500 on GoDaddy?

[Outsomniac]

I know that some of you don't believe in the appraisal tools, and I know that some of you do.

I'm in the middle- not completely sure how to feel about them.

Am I wasting my time honing in on names that are appraised at or above $1,500 through the GoDaddy appraisal tool?

It doesn't really feel right to me to leave any names on the table if the appraisal is high.

What do you all think?

 

[Bob Hawkes]

All these appraisal tools should legally be enforced to have a giant disclaimer regarding accuracy.

They do actually have pretty strong statements already if you read the fine print. I do believe at registration/drop catch/auction there should be a disclaimer like financial products have. Most domains do not sell. There is no guarantee a domain will sell for a profit. Past results do not guarantee future performance. Etc.

GD would point out that about 90% of time sales price is within $2000 of GV valuation, and about 60% of time within $1000 (Paul N presented this in keynote at NamesCon Global 2019). I don't doubt that is right, but it is not as impressive as first seems. Most domains that sell are less than $1000. Most appraisals are about $1000.

What I think would be more realistic would be for them to give a range that reflects an uncertainty. That is, instead of $515 say $0 to $1000 and instead of $2100 say $1000 to $3000. Instead of $340 say less than $500,

Bob

 

[lock]

I wouldn't use a valuation tool to decide for me. If you appraise a name and they validate your speculation then you may see it as a contributing factor. I would ignore a bots valuation on its own as everything I type in says it has value anyway.

 

[branding]

Share that data with GD and the valuation jumps to 100k, it's irresponsible. All these appraisal tools should legally be enforced to have a giant disclaimer regarding accuracy.

I guess you're right. That's the issue with private sales. I like data being available but at the same time I hardly ever report a sale. I use a opt-in model to disclose sales and most clients don't opt-in.

I like it this way as usually it's not in a buyers best interest to have it publicly available. It's unfortunate for the aftermarket, but I value their privacy above everything else.

It's hard to get good insight in private sales. Ultra premium names won't go unnoticed but there's a lot of trade going on that remains undocumented.

 

[Josytal]

I know that some of you don't believe in the appraisal tools, and I know that some of you do.

I'm in the middle- not completely sure how to feel about them.

Am I wasting my time honing in on names that are appraised at or above $1,500 through the GoDaddy appraisal tool?

It doesn't really feel right to me to leave any names on the table if the appraisal is high.

What do you all think?

I think basing your decision (to register or not) just on appraisal value ALONE is wrong. Of course, there may be exceptions.

 

[biggie]

what did domainers do, before there were any appraisal sites?

they sold domains based on prices they conceived themselves or by consulting with peers who could give some insight.

nowadays, bot and algo's, have replaced thinking, and many have become the "end-users" of these tools.

the more you rely on them, increases the control they will have on pricing.

imo...

 

[wwwweb]

GoDaddy values a domain at $223 for a deal I recently brokered at nearly 100K. Just saying...

$223 would be alt extension outside .com, because even jargon .com names bottom out around $8xx. Congrats on your sale.

 

[lock]

doapoo.com $1.100 https://au.godaddy.com/domain-value...checkAvail=1&tmskey=&domainToCheck=doapoo.com
do-a-poo.com $140 https://au.godaddy.com/domain-value...eckAvail=1&tmskey=&domainToCheck=do-a-poo.com
See every name makes you rich lol

 

[DomainRecap]

I think basing your decision (to register or not) just on appraisal value ALONE is wrong.

Exactly, and it's just one tool in your arsenal - personally, I totally disregard the specific dollar value of the appraisal and instead concentrate on its relative positioning against others.

For example, if you take 10 random domains valued at $1500 and 10 random domains valued at $5000, I can guarantee that the majority from the $5K group will be preferable and more marketable than the majority from the $1.5K group.

It's really just a sorting tool prior to the "eye test" and other factors. The dollar amount doesn't matter in the least.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Some time ago I did a little analysis on how well GoValue did estimating prices for a set of 5N (com) domain names (arguably one of the easier to predict prices for). I did it within hours of the sales reported on NameBio, so supposedly the prices did not affect the predictions. GoValue didn't do a bad job on average, slightly over valuing them, and was a bit better than random in predicting which were more valuable (but didn't do very well at all). You can read the full details here.

I also did a similar analysis for a bunch of (mainly) single word.co sales. Here the differences were greater, but it actually did better (but by no means perfect) in predicting which words would sell for more. You can read the full details of that analysis here.

Of course both studies are based on too few sales to really be significant. As noted earlier, Afternic/GoDaddy do track the overall accuracy of their predictions. I suspect that feedback is why GoValue estimates change so substantially from month to month.

Bob

ps One advantage of using GoValue is that you occasionally learn interesting things. For example last night I discovered when it came up as a comparator a 5 figure APP aftermarket sale that is not in NameBio. If it was, it would be at least the second highest sale value. I wrote about it on NameTalent just now. I wasn't even searching an .app domain name when the comparator came up..

 

[biggie]

I did a little analysis

I also did similar analysis

I wrote about it

seems like you spend lot of time reading past sales and analyzing robot results.

do you ever get a chance to go outside and smell the fresh air?


imo....

 

[Bob Hawkes]

do you ever get a chance to go outside and smell the fresh air?

It is very good advice @biggie and yes I do indeed. Just last week went tenting in a truly wonderful location, no internet, no cell service, no domain analysis. And I am fortunate to live where it is easy to walk in truly beautiful settings right in our urban area.

But we should all keep in mind the advice that you indirectly offer. Get outside, find balance in your life. Thank you for the reminder, and have a wonderful day.

Bob

 

[Outsomniac]

I wouldn't use a valuation tool to decide for me. If you appraise a name and they validate your speculation then you may see it as a contributing factor. I would ignore a bots valuation on its own as everything I type in says it has value anyway.

Great point- same here, I find that almost any name I type in shows at least a $1k or higher appraisal.

 

[Outsomniac]

I think basing your decision (to register or not) just on appraisal value ALONE is wrong. Of course, there may be exceptions.

I agree. I've come to fully realize now that it's definitely unwise to do that. Thankfully I haven't just registered name after name because of a high appraisal (though I was tempted to). I'm now focusing on other factors outside of a robo-appraisal.

 

[Outsomniac]

what did domainers do, before there were any appraisal sites?

they sold domains based on prices they conceived themselves or by consulting with peers who could give some insight.

nowadays, bot and algo's, have replaced thinking, and many have become the "end-users" of these tools.

the more you rely on them, increases the control they will have on pricing.

imo...

Good point- if we buy into these appraisal bots then we're basically validating them, and saying that they're okay to use- which is not the best idea.

 

[Outsomniac]

Exactly, and it's just one tool in your arsenal - personally, I totally disregard the specific dollar value of the appraisal and instead concentrate on its relative positioning against others.

For example, if you take 10 random domains valued at $1500 and 10 random domains valued at $5000, I can guarantee that the majority from the $5K group will be preferable and more marketable than the majority from the $1.5K group.

It's really just a sorting tool prior to the "eye test" and other factors. The dollar amount doesn't matter in the least.

Yeah, honestly that's how I have recently been looking at it. 9 times out of 10, a name that is robo-appraised at $5,000 will probably be more sought after than a name appraised at $500. But like you said, it's at least a way to sort through potential decent and potential terrible domains before evaluating and researching more in-depth.

 

[branding]

It is very good advice @biggie and yes I do indeed. Just last week went tenting in a truly wonderful location, no internet, no cell service, no domain analysis. And I am fortunate to live where it is easy to walk in truly beautiful settings right in our urban area.

But we should all keep in mind the advice that you indirectly offer. Get outside, find balance in your life. Thank you for the reminder, and have a wonderful day.

Bob

I can second that. I take the occasional break but once a year I rent out a place in a remote location for a couple of weeks. No wifi, no cell, no tv. Just 100% quality time with my family. Got a couple of acres around the property so my dog has the time of his life as well.

I personally wouldn't even mind going off the grid indefinitely but I'd never be able to talk my significant other into moving away from the city she grew up in

 

[DomainRecap]

But like you said, it's at least a way to sort through potential decent and potential terrible domains before evaluating and researching more in-depth.

Perfect way to sum it up.

 

[trelgor]

This.

first decide how worthwhile a domain name is based on criteria such as the value it would have to an end user, the potential pool of end users, past similar sales, the aesthetics of the name, etc. Do that before you ask for or get an appraisal - i.e. first make up your own mind after analytical work.


Bob

 

[Jonathan Beadle]

Why would the registrar benefit? It is a free tool... I would understand benefits if it was a paid tool.

Simply because; if you use the tool at gd then you are more than likely to register there, especially if the appraisal suggests the name to be of high value. Its just indirect marketing.

 

[Dnj]

The issue is, how do you actually determine a domain name that will attract buyers attention?

 

[imadoer]

Why would the registrar benefit? It is a free tool... I would understand benefits if it was a paid tool.

The reason behind this tool was to keep people from selling their domains to domainers for reasonable prices. Godaddy wants to sell everything. Screw the little guy.

 

[BarryDavis]

I bought 0dn dot com for $395 years ago. It's appraised on go daddy for around $2100. I bought the name to generate leads for real estate agents and lenders. 0 dn is short for zero down. At one point the site generated 400 to 1000 leads a day and I was offered $7 per lead.

I own adsandclassifieds dot com. I paid around $800 for the name.The name is appraised at only $1540 on go daddy. This site has well over 200 thousand advertisers. The name autoclassifieds dot com sold for $110,000 in 2008 it has no traffic and no site. Estibot values the name at $117,000 and go daddy values the name at $12,666. The range in value is dramatic. What's it really worth?

In my opinion both of my names are undervalued. And that is fine by me. It helped me get a better price. I find it difficult to appraise most domains. The reason is I like only 1 out of every 1000 names. Even though I know each name has a value I really do not know how they would be put to good use.

Homeless dot com was for sale on go daddy. Estibot values it at $197,000 and go daddy valued the name at over $25,000. I believe it is valuable but I have no idea how I would put it to good use. I offered $12,000 and the counter was something like $200,000. I would've paid more but nothing close to $200,000 so I lost interest. Later go daddy posted it sold for $25,000.

I bought fwb dot net for $800 and was offer $2,500 shortly there after. Go Daddy values the name at $3242. I registered the name superapp dot co for less than $9 and was offered $5,000 for the name two months later by an ex twitter VP. Go Daddy values the name at $874. I never sold fwb dot net or superapp dot co I still own both names.

Bottom line I value appraisals or any other tool I can get my hands on to evaluate or do my research. But I rely on my own instincts, skills and hunches.

I had a chance to exchange emails with Rick Schwartz "The Domain King". He didn't agree with my line of reason. I don't blame him he's doing much better with his own approach. The difference between the two of us is he deals in gems. I have to look for diamonds in the rough. Maybe some day I will sell adsandclassifieds for millions and I will be able to write him and say I told you so. And I truly believe Rick is the kind of person to say congratulation. I have a lot of respect for Rick and his huge success.

 

[Kai W.]

You must understand the purpose of your own investment domain name.
I used to express my opinion in multiple threads. The future of .COMs is the Brand value! Brand Value! Brand Value!
If the standard for buying a domain name is GoValue or Estibot, then I think many of my beautiful 4L.com may not be worth it for you.

 

[DomainRecap]

I bought fwb dot net for $800 and was offer $2,500 shortly there after. Go Daddy values the name at $3242. I registered the name superapp dot co for less than $9 and was offered $5,000 for the name two months later by an ex twitter VP. Go Daddy values the name at $874. I never sold fwb dot net or superapp dot co I still own both names.

Sorry, but I would have sold superapp dot co for $5K in a minute, and then reinvested that into improving the portfolio. Come on, it was a $9 hand-reg on .CO - what did you expect to get offered, a million?

I assume the "ex-Twitter VP" part influenced your decision, but these people can be mercurial, and one minute they're hot after your domain, and the next, it's like "who are you again?".

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Yeah I'm definitely constantly finding names in the high $1xxx with the GD appraisal tool- but just like you said- maybe 1% are worth the reg, and the real job is to figure out if it is worth the reg.

Thanks, much appreciated.

Better hire Mike Mann or my old neighbor Mike Mikels to evaluate them.