discuss When Did a “Comparable” Sale Stop Being Comparable?

[tricknguyen]

Comparable sales are often treated as the strongest evidence in domain valuation, but two domains can look similar on the surface and still belong to very different markets.

Think about the last time you found a reported sale that initially looked relevant to a domain you were evaluating.

What, if anything, made you decide that it was not a useful comparable after looking more closely?

Possible differences might include:

- the meaning or likely business use
- the extension
- word order or linguistic quality
- the sale date
- auction versus end-user context
- an existing brand or buyer-specific reason
- previous sales history
- a buyer pool that was much larger or smaller

It is also fine if you did not use comparable sales, did not investigate beyond the headline, or have not repeated this process.

I’m interested in the rejection test: which detail most often turns an apparently relevant sale into a misleading comparison?

 

[biggie]

Hi

if every domain is unique, then comparables are contradictions

what do you know about a relevant sale, other than price?

imo…

 

[tricknguyen]

Hi

if every domain is unique, then comparables are contradictions

what do you know about a relevant sale, other than price?

imo…

That is the tension I’m trying to explore. A comparable is not a duplicate of the subject domain, and it cannot prove what another unique domain is worth.

Beyond the reported price, we may know the sale date, venue, extension, word structure, likely use, and whether it appears to have been a wholesale or end-user transaction. But buyer motivation, negotiation history, traffic, and business circumstances are often unknown. If all we have is the domain and headline price, confidence should be low.

Do you disregard comparable sales entirely when pricing a domain, or use them only to establish a broad range before considering the buyer pool and intended use?

 

[biggie]

That is the tension I’m trying to explore.

Do you disregard comparable sales entirely when pricing a domain, or use them only to establish a broad range before considering the buyer pool and intended use?

Hi

to me, you create your own tension by analyzing the “why’s “

too much time and money is spent reviewing past sales, # of tlds, etc to the point where you’ve become an enduser of the business

I try to keep it as simple as possible

imo…