Which factors are most important in a domain appraisals?

[james2002]

There are many domain appraisal companies such as moniker, GoDaddy etc...

For you, which factors do you think are most important to determine a domain value.

Some of the facts I look at are:

1) domain extension (.com best generally, cctld is better in some countries)

2) keywords purely or with numbers, hyphens

3) search volume per month and number of google results

4) previous similar sales

What other facts do you think are important?

thanks

[Adam Dicker]

domain extension is clearly number one.

I would add:

Is the domain brandable for a person or a company.

-=DCG=-

[cbk]

....

[biggedon]

# 1 should be:

who, as in the "actual person" ( within any given domain appraisal company) is "actually" doing the appraisal or analyzing "whatever" they analyze to come up with a value?

if it's automated appraisal then forget it.
since bots don't buy domains, then how can they appraise them?

and # 2 should be:

because it could be any "dominerbie" who just wrote or read an ebook, and who just got hired by one of the many domain appraisal services.


once you get past that, then you can determine the "likelyhood" of credibility, before you give them props


"one who knows most about domains, will or certainly should ...know what criteria to use as value points.

just as one who knows little, may not know all the criteria or how to apply it, with each domain appraisal."

you want a service that can give you an idea, a business model, a slogan, along with an estimated price range which then translates in value....based on a perceived potential.



these are the "notions" that end-users can visualize.




imo...

[Adam Dicker]

who, as in the "actual person" ( within any given domain appraisal company) is "actually" doing the appraisal or analyzing "whatever" they analyze to come up with a value?

Most large companies do them automated, whether they tell you that or not.

-=DCG=-

[tradingnames.org]

Ok so things like the following are important:

* The extension
* Name length (usually the shorter the better)
* The amount of exact searches
* The keywords cpc
* Brandability and Overall Appeal
* Trends
* Any traffic, PR, backlinks and website if developed.
* Revenue being made

But in order to hone your perspective a little bit further can you in a very rough approximate way, say for example keywords and extension will determine %50 of the names value, brandability %30, cpc x searches %10, length %5, ect. Although I appreciate viewing it like this is probably way too simplistic and not appreciating the way in which they interact with each other and fit together as a whole, but can you put a very rough percentage on how much weight each factor can carry, if so what would you put these at? Excuse me if this question appears ignorant or maybe even a little absurd, but I am trying to get down to the nuts and bolts of understanding how to appraise and trying to be as scientific as possible about something which even as a noobie I appreciate is not an “exact” science and probably a much more fluid and intuitive art, even so just out of pure ignorance if nothing else I have to ask.

Many thanks

John

[biggedon]

Ok so things like the following are important:

* The extension
* Name length (usually the shorter the better)
* The amount of exact searches
* The keywords cpc
* Brandability and Overall Appeal
* Trends
* Any traffic, PR, backlinks and website if developed.
* Revenue being made

But in order to hone your perspective a little bit further can you in a very rough approximate way, say for example keywords and extension will determine %50 of the names value, brandability %30, cpc x searches %10, length %5, ect. Although I appreciate viewing it like this is probably way too simplistic and not appreciating the way in which they interact with each other and fit together as a whole, but can you put a very rough percentage on how much weight each factor can carry, if so what would you put these at? Excuse me if this question appears ignorant or maybe even a little absurd, but I am trying to get down to the nuts and bolts of understanding how to appraise and trying to be as scientific as possible about something which even as a noobie I appreciate is not an “exact” science and probably a much more fluid and intuitive art, even so just out of pure ignorance if nothing else I have to ask.

Many thanks

John

trying to quantify a percentage to weigh a value for any given criteria, in an effort to apply it across the board....again is futile


it is waay too much for you to even try and put in a nutshell

and even if you did, that would mean you'd miss all that is "outside" of that nut.


unless you are willing to put in the time to "read", then every spoon-fed answer you get, will only confuse you more.




imo...

[fatter]

extension, traffic, revenue, memmorability, and the most importantant thing how many endusers/domainers would want to own it

[radioz]

trying to quantify a percentage to weigh a value for any given criteria, in an effort to apply it across the board....again is futile

There are things that help determine the value of a name and, yes, extension is very important. The .COM extension is by far the best with some exception for .ORG and the very popular .CO.UK and .DE country code extension where they are appropriate. The terms search popularity is very important as is the demand for the term as in, does anyone actually use the term as a domain or use it frequently with an extra word. There are many other factors as well, many or most of which are also listed here although their order could always be debated (endlessly). Length is one that I always take (some) exception to. Would you rather own 'qzxq.com' or 'Radio.com' despite the fact that the second term is a letter longer!

As to appraisals, exactly how do you appraise something that is truly unique (as every domain is)? If 'Art.org' sells for a lot of money, it does not mean that my domain 'Art.us' is worth a truly related amount. If 'Video.us' sells for $75,000 (which it one did before it was allowed to expire) it does not mean that my name 'Art.us' has a seriously related value. With real estate, you may have X very similar homes that sold in an area for a price range over the past year. With antiques, you might have several items that are nearly identical again. Actually, 'art' may have some relationship but determining actual value is, I believe, impossible till there is an actual sale for either commodity as prices from art auctions vs. pre-sale estimates sometimes show. If you want a 'one button' solution, Estibot.com seems to be useful tool that is a great value for the price (free) but you really are better to do your own research as that is the best if you have been doing this for awhile.

[tradingnames.org]

I see, thanks for the advice folks, learning the art of appraisal is pretty hard for a newbie, what I probably find the hardest is valuing domains that aren’t perhaps worth tens of thousands of dollars but names that are worth say $250, $500, or $1000, could anybody possibly post some examples of names that are worth between say $500 and $1000 and describe the reasons why they have gave them the value they have? I appreciate the way in which you appraise a domain may be unique to that particular name, but I think to see some examples and perhaps even the difference in opinion as to why that name should have that kind of value would help.

Many thanks to all that advise on this issue, it truly is appreciated.

John

[Diabro]

I see, thanks for the advice folks, learning the art of appraisal is pretty hard for a newbie, what I probably find the hardest is valuing domains that aren’t perhaps worth tens of thousands of dollars but names that are worth say $250, $500, or $1000, could anybody possibly post some examples of names that are worth between say $500 and $1000 and describe the reasons why they have gave them the value they have? I appreciate the way in which you appraise a domain may be unique to that particular name, but I think to see some examples and perhaps even the difference in opinion as to why that name should have that kind of value would help.

The most important factor in determining the value of a domain name is what someone is willing to pay for it. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no formula that you can use to register thousands of domains to ensure profit.

It is an art not a science.

Some people also are better at selling which also can affect pricing.

[adamwagner]

I would say that there is not the only one proper appraisal. More over, personally I have never ordered any appraisal so far, neither before domain purchase nor domain sale as well.
I regard every domain transaction's value as a resultant of few factors like:
- seller's expectations and buyer's will of paying concrete value
- seller's and the more buyer's appreciation of a domain name and its business opportunities
- both sides' competence and experience in negotiation, like in every business
...and ofcourse some percentage of all these factors which you already mentioned above