domain Need advice on how to value a $50K+ domain - a/p/p/h/u/b.[com]

[bluesky7]

I have an domain I have owned since April 2004. It's a .com, 6 characters long, brandable and related to a broad trendy topic. The domain is a/p/p/h/u/b.[com]

I have an offer on the table for $50K but after reviewing recent transactions on namebio.com in that range, I'm starting to think the domain may be worth much more.

I'd greatly appreciate advice on the on how experienced domainers value domains. I'm not necessarily asking for your opinion on the domain's value (although that'd be great too!) but I'm more asking about _how_ one goes about valuing a domain. How an I determine it's fair market value prior to setting a price?

 

[jhm]

Online appraisals are unreliable, even asking opinions from "experts" can be equally unreliable sometimes

It is a good domain, 5 figure territory. An offer of $50k is pretty respectable

(In my opinion)

Welcome to NamePros

 

[jhm]

As a side note, the right price is the price "you're" happy with, regardless of what anyone thinks. You'll see people waiting for big offers on things, that are often overpriced ...sometimes they don't need the money, or want to rush in selling ...whatever it may be. Your level of satisfaction and your overall situation is what counts

 

[zomainhacks]

I have an domain I have owned since April 2004. It's a .com, 6 characters long, brandable and related to a broad trendy topic. The domain is a/p/p/h/u/b.[com]

I have an offer on the table for $50K but after reviewing recent transactions on namebio.com in that range, I'm starting to think the domain may be worth much more.

I'd greatly appreciate advice on the on how experienced domainers value domains. I'm not necessarily asking for your opinion on the domain's value (although that'd be great too!) but I'm more asking about _how_ one goes about valuing a domain. How an I determine it's fair market value prior to setting a price?

Valuable domain. You make the price but the more you raise it, the less potential available buyers.

Personally I would price it $150K and willing to settle for everything $70K+

 

[AEProgram]

hire a good broker asap

 

[biggie]

Hi

did you negotiate up to that amount or was that the initial offer?
was offer thru marketplace or via email/phone contact?
was it an incoming offer or one that you solicited?

recent or past transactions, don't tell you who owner was or how long they own it or whether the name had traffic, or give any details of negotiation details prior to selling price, or the number of prior offers, etc, etc

also, if you don't check to see what was done with those names after purchase, then you'll never know if another domainer bought it or end-user.

you'll have to find out more about potential buyer, if you want to push the envelope to swelling point.

will you risk losing what's on the table, for more
or
take the cash and reinvest in portfolio?

imo....

 

[bluesky7]

As a side note, the right price is the price "you're" happy with, regardless of what anyone thinks. You'll see people waiting for big offers on things, that are often overpriced ...sometimes they don't need the money, or want to rush in selling ...whatever it may be. Your level of satisfaction and your overall situation is what counts

JHM - Thanks for your reply and for that very important reminder. I feel like I should be very excited about the offer, but in reality it's been really troubling me. Your words are speaking to me. Thank you.

 

[bluesky7]

Valuable domain. You make the price but the more you raise it, the less potential available buyers.

Personally I would price it $150K and willing to settle for everything $70K+

zomainhacks - Thanks. The limited research of comparable transactions in the last year seem to align with what you are saying. But it really helps to hear it from someone else and not _just_ what I feel like I'm seeing.

 

[bluesky7]

Hi

did you negotiate up to that amount or was that the initial offer?
was offer thru marketplace or via email/phone contact?
was it an incoming offer or one that you solicited?

recent or past transactions, don't tell you who owner was or how long they own it or whether the name had traffic, or give any details of negotiation details prior to selling price, or the number of prior offers, etc, etc

also, if you don't check to see what was done with those names after purchase, then you'll never know if another domainer bought it or end-user.

you'll have to find out more about potential buyer, if you want to push the envelope to swelling point.

will you risk losing what's on the table, for more
or
take the cash and reinvest in portfolio?

imo....

Biggie: Here are some answers to your excellent questions.

I bought the domain back on 2004 to someday build a business on. I'm and entrepreneur and software developer and at that time the word "App" was just starting to be used as an abbreviation for "applications" so I bought it on a hunch. This is well before the era of smart phones and "there's and app for that."

I've never looked to sell the domain since I plan to use it for a future business but I have been approached many many times over the years by buyer hopefuls. No offer until now as been large enough to give much thought even though I have had other 5 figure offers. This particular buyer approached me (found me on LinkedIn) in the first week of June 2021. His opening offer was $5K and required no thought to dismiss. I told him from the get go the offer would need to be an order a magnitude larger for me to even consider it.

The next day the offer was $15K which of course was of no interest and then a few weeks later it was $30K. He is an entrepreneur and would like to use it for a company he is working on. I let him know that I realized $30k was real money but the domain is worth at least $50K to me and so I wasn't interested in putting in the time and effort to figure out it's value unless the offer met at least that bar. He said that was outside of his budget and would need to hunt for another domain. I thanked him for his interest and reassured him that there are _lots_ of good domains to be had for $30K.

About 5 weeks later (earlier this week) he messaged me via LinkedIn that he had figured out some budget to offer $50K. I told him that since he is seriously interested in purchasing it and his offer meets my minimum threshold, I will go ahead and invest the time and money to try to determine its value. We did a skype video call yesterday and he seems like a nice guy. I don't think he is looking to buy it as an investment but would like to use it to build a brand for his current software company.

I have owned the domain since 2004. I bought it when it was dropped. I'm not aware of what it was used for before it was dropped. In all the time I have owned it it has laid dormant. There hasn't been a website on it since 2004 so it's a nice clean slate. It does not come with any inbound links since 2004 either good or bad. It hasn't even had a "parked" page on it. It's not even had a DNS server pointing to it. It's literally a clean slate since 2004.

 

[biggie]

I let him know that I realized $30k was real money but the domain is worth at least $50K to me and so I wasn't interested in putting in the time and effort to figure out it's value unless the offer met at least that bar.

Hi @bluesky7

that was great insight you provided!

the quote above, seems to indicate you already established an acceptable amount, which the potential met.
so, at this point, how much more do you think you can get from this party?
i doubt if a broker could have had better communications, than you've expressed with this potential
so what could they say, that you haven't said or thought of?

perhaps you can get the cash and negotiate for some % of software sales for next couple of years.

the domain certainly has other 'applications" that it can be used for, so you'll have to decide if this is the "right buyer" at the right time, with the right amount of cash, in hand..... or not.

holding a good name for 17 years, is a task in itself
on the other hand, what do you think it would cost you today, to replace that name back in your portfolio?

Good luck!

imo....

 

[VadimK]

I have an domain I have owned since April 2004. It's a .com, 6 characters long, brandable and related to a broad trendy topic. The domain is a/p/p/h/u/b.[com]

I have an offer on the table for $50K but after reviewing recent transactions on namebio.com in that range, I'm starting to think the domain may be worth much more.

I'd greatly appreciate advice on the on how experienced domainers value domains. I'm not necessarily asking for your opinion on the domain's value (although that'd be great too!) but I'm more asking about _how_ one goes about valuing a domain. How an I determine it's fair market value prior to setting a price?

See, here is the thing: what is a ''fair market value'' from one hand, and what would you (or anyone!) would determine as a ''real'' cost from another - are two completely different things.
Fair market value as of today in this case is what you get offered today, which is $50000.
Now, how one would determine the value of a name is normally a complicated set of given conditions: portfolio, history, experience, financial situation, goals, strategy, mentality, even mood.
To sound more simple - one who needs $50000 for a brain surgery next month, or the one who regularly makes $300000 in a year in his main job - would look very much different to this domain pricing.
My point is that no one here could give you an manual how to price it best.
My opinion is that this name cost between 40000 and 100000 euro, depending on who's buying (and who is selling, of course).

 

[bluesky7]

Biggie:

the quote above, seems to indicate you already established an acceptable amount

Sorry if I gave that impression. I only meant to communicate that doing research to value a domain takes considerably time and unless the offer was at least $50K I wasn't willing to put in that time as the domain is worth at least $50K to me.

>>on the other hand, what do you think it would cost you today, to replace that name back in your portfolio?

This my friend is a really good question and maybe cuts to the crux of the pricing issue. Given that I bought the domain to build a future company on, I definitely shouldn't sell it for any less then it'd cost me to buy an equally good name. So that's a dimension I need to give some serious thought and research to.

 

[bluesky7]

See, here is the thing: what is a ''fair market value'' from one hand, and what would you (or anyone!) would determine as a ''real'' cost from another - are two completely different things.
Fair market value as of today in this case is what you get offered today, which is $50000.
Now, how one would determine the value of a name is normally a complicated set of given conditions: portfolio, history, experience, financial situation, goals, strategy, mentality, even mood.
To sound more simple - one who needs $50000 for a brain surgery next month, or the one who regularly makes $300000 in a year in his main job - would look very much different to this domain pricing.
My point is that no one here could give you an manual how to price it best.
My opinion is that this name cost between 40000 and 100000 euro, depending on who's buying (and who is selling, of course).

VadimK Iberica: Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate it. That all makes good sense. I'm much more in the later situation then the former. I have no need to sell this domain, and if I sell it, I have made more work for myself because I need to scout for and eventually purchase an equally good domain for a future business. So while at some price it would make sense to sell it, it doesn't make sense to sell it at the low end of the range it may fetch at auction.

 

[bluesky7]

How do I like a post. I'd like to "like" all of the feedback given but can't figure out how. Is that because I need to upgrade my account first maybe?

 

[yb1313]

Appraising a domain is almost like assessing art, coupled with uncertain guessing, as it depends on many factors and circumstances. Often, you'd do well looking at past sales with similar keywords like you did on namebio; current market trends; and a thorough Google search in which you will search for existing entities with this name, and for instances where it is used in sentences, etc. In your case, the value is mostly in the domain's shortness and keyword quality as well as market situation.

Reading your explanations, it appears you are not treating this potential buyer in a professional manner. He agreed to raise the bar several times per your request, and after finally meeting your requested minimum offer and even videochating with you, you told him to hold and now take more time to decide on the price. You're very lucky he's persistent and has a deep pocket. To me it seems the 50k offer is great in this case, maybe try to milk 10K more from it. A better offer than this may take many years to come, if ever at all (not to mention that sometimes legal/TM or other issues arise). I'd take this offer and be thankful.

 

[bluesky7]

yb1313 - I appreciate your feedback. I don't feel I have ever treated the buyer in an unprofessional manner. I never solicited an offer either before the first offer or after. I let the buyer know early on that an offer would need to be at least $50K before I'd be willing to do the due diligence necessary to know it's value. And I have made it clear to the buyer that the price I'd be willing to sell the domain for is dependent on what that research indicates is fair market value.

The buyer has recently offered the bare minimum amount needed for me to put in the time and money required to determine market value. And frankly if I don't feel I can easily buy another domain name that is somewhat better for the prices offered, then I'm not interested in selling this domain. So the price is going to have to be in a market value range and not on the low low side of that range or I'd have to put in way to much work to replace the domain. Again, I bought it to potentially build a company on someday, not as an investment.

By way of example, if you were out working in the yard in front of your house and someone drove by and said "hey I'd like to buy your house," and you were intrigued and ask "for how much?" and he said $25K. You might respond, (with a laugh), look your offer would need to be at least an order of magnitude larger before I'd even be willing to do some research to figure out the market value for my house. If you aren't at least that interested, have a nice day.

You are clearly not saying you'd sell your house for $250K, you are saying "hey look, your offer isn't even in the wildest ball park of what this house is worth and unless you present an offer that might possibly be a reasonable offer it doesn't make any sense for me to spend time trying to figure out the market value of the house. Remember I'm not trying to sell my house I'm trying to get my yard work completed. I'm not even sure I want to sell the house. But I certainly don't want to sell it below market value." This is closer to my situation then I think you appreciate.

 

[bluesky7]

holding a good name for 17 years, is a task in itself
on the other hand

Biggie: you got that right. And it doesn't happen without turning down a lot of offers along the way, including 5 figure offers.

 

[yb1313]

@bluesky7 - I understand. All I can add to what was already said is that it's normally acceptable (and respectable of everyone's time IMO) that at least some price range (not minimum) is provided ahead of such long negotiations when a strong interest is shown. The "your house" analogy is a bit different because you haven't used the domain for almost two decades and may or may not use it in the future. But I'd agree that unlike real estate, which usually has a clearer price estimate depending on the area, domains names are super tricky. Anyway, hopefully the appraisal tips provided above will be of help, good luck!

 

[The Durfer]

BIN of $75000 and let it go for that. gl.

 

[iAdam]

Since you had plans to develop it, and you are in the same field... why not take the 50k and ask for a % of the business (Joint venture).

 

[bluesky7]

iAdam - It's a good question. Currently I'm devoted full time to another business that I've worked on with a partner for many years and want t see through. If this current business does very well it can help fund the next business, whatever that is. So at the moment I don't really want the distraction of working on another business. Also while the buyer does software development for e-commerce and so do I, the software development languages we use are quite different. Still, your suggestion to sell it for part cash and part equity in the buyer's venture could possibly work if done from a purely investor perspective. Still that likely complicates my life in a way that could be a distraction from my current focus. I appreciate the feedback though.

 

[Jason Baudendistel]

Counter with 70k see if they come up to 60k . 50k is very respectable though. I wouldn't blame you for taking it without a counter.