Have you tried Appraiso?

[DomainingCom]

Responding to Katherine,

Appraisals are sometimes required:
- To estimate domain assets value for taxes.
- To estimate value when they are the collateral of a loan.
...
So its' not always a story between a seller and a buyer.

Automatic appraisal tools are also largely used when the amount of domains is significant (analyze portfolio, dropping names, ...)

Now, they deliver an estimated value, not the sale price, it's different.

And yes, they can only appraise generics and not brandable domains.

Personally I think that except when the metrics are not accurate (this may happens) they give a first quick value that must after be rounded by each one according his experience and needs.

...

In a side note it was very funny few years ago when the people of WhyPark.com launched GroupValuation.com to observe that most of the valuations given by domainers where issued from Estibot/Valuate, outlining the fact that when a domain is not from a niche one know, most domainers use such tools to start their appraisal process.

 

[brian1234]

I don't see the point of these 'tools'. The ultimate purpose is to sell you a 'service' otherwise it's a waste of time.
Nobody needs to tell you how to price your domains and websites, only you and the potential buyer hold the cards.

Very true. My concern, over services like this, is that people who
are starting out as 'domainers', or indeed those who are just naive,
will credit such services with some kind of validity and waste their
money on them.

The truth is, none of these services (and they all attempt to gain
some kind of reputation as an "authority") have any real credibility.

In fact, I would run a mile from a 'domainer' who operates a service
like this, and genuinely tries to claim that this type of service has any
value...

Complete crapio!

 

[brian1234]

Appraisals are sometimes required:
- To estimate domain assets value for taxes.
- To estimate value when they are the collateral of a loan.

Manual appraisals, yes, however here we are talking about a
service that claims to automate the valuation process entirely.

Automatic appraisal tools are also largely used when the amount of domains is significant (analyze portfolio, dropping names, ...) Now, they deliver an estimated value, not the sale price, it's different.

What?!

The only people who use automatic appraisal 'tools' are ill
-informed, incompetent, 'domainers' who try and use the
'valuations' they offer to bargain on a name.

And, trying to justify the existence of such tools, by citing
the difference between an estimated value and a sale value
is about the daftest thing i've heard in a long time!

No one doubts that sites and names need to be appraised,
for various reasons, but automated appraisals are not the
way to go and to offer such services shows either an abysmal
lack of domain/web knowledge or a complete lack of regard
for the customer... OR BOTH.

Cheers,

 

[katherine]

Brian, you're perfectly right.
I doubt that a lender or the IRS would accept an automated appraisal lol !

 

[dmyre]

I have absolutely no desire to use Appraiso. Automated appraisals have their place, but there's others out there that allow more than one lookup prior to registering. In no way will I rely on an automated appraisal for a true market value.

 

[brian1234]

I have absolutely no desire to use Appraiso. Automated appraisals have their place, but there's others out there that allow more than one lookup prior to registering. In no way will I rely on an automated appraisal for a true market value.

I don't wear a hat, but if I did, i'd say "hat's off to you",
for showing some common sense... And, well done and
a big thanks to Katherine for being the first to effectively
'highlight' this sorry affair.

No one ever wants to condemn the earnest attempts of a
guy, to make an honest buck. But services like Appraiso,
do more harm than good and the real danger is when (or
if) these services are taken seriously....

Regards,

 

[Bill F.]

The real question to ask is: what are the qualifications of the people who wrote the program? I don't believe there is any automated appraisal that is worth anything out there today. not for domains and certainly not for websites.

That said, if one wants to attempt a website appraisal system, I would expect it to be someone with a well established history of success in buying and selling websites. There are plenty such people, and they are making small to large fortunes doing it. So here's the question to ask, in the correct order:

1- Is the software designed by someone who is in the top of his/her field - with a proven record of consistent success?
2- If not, stop thinking about it. If it is, then ask yourself if that person's in-depth knowledge can be emulated by a computer program.

If Warren Buffet created such a program, you might give it a look. But if your cousin Vinnie who made $200K last year created one, would you trust it?

 

[brian1234]

The real question to ask is: what are the qualifications of the people who wrote the program?

I certainly respect your opinion Bill, but do you really think that
a person's qualifications count here?

There are two aspects to the automated 'valuation', the domain
name value and the (trading business) website value.

While it may be true that you can create software that will factor
in various metrics relating to an industry, and a possible sale value
based on turnover, the info it produces will (in practice) be so 'wide
of the mark' that it isn't worth bothering with.

And, as for the domain name valuation aspect, you have even less
chance of it being correct.

So, it's not likely its info can even be used as a guideline!

Two wrongs don't make a 'right', they only make the 'wrong' worse..

 

[katherine]

It's not a question of programming skills or computing power (BTW I'm a programmer). Even with all the parameters and metrics you can think of, an automated appraisal cannot be accurate by definition. Because each domain name is 'unique' many sales are one of a kind. The price does not depend just on the product but also the circumstances like negotiation skills and motivation of the buyer etc.

Note that the more 'advanced' tools use a database of reported sales.
The reported sales are probably the best benchmark available to gauge market value.

So I agree with the above, these tools do more harm than good because too many people take them seriously (and take a wrong start in domaining).
No offense to the developers but I wonder if they actually buy or sell domain names based on the appraisals delivered by their software.

Using bots to get objective metrics like CPC or search volume is not a problem, as long as they are accurate.
The problem is when the bots attempt to derive appraisal figures. The end result is often zany but always unscientific.

 

[Bill F.]

Brian, I basically agree with you. Any such software is pointless.

What I meant by qualifications referred not to programming skills, but to appraisal skills. That, even if an effective form of such software could be produced, it would have to produced under the guidance of someone with unchallenged and proven skills in appraisal. That's not say the programming skills needed are slight. This is an attempt to automate a decision that most humans find very difficult.

There are so many factors in appraisal, and as far as I can see, this software doesn't even address the obvious ones. Then there are all the other factors, what we call "gut feelings," that are crucial to evaluating a website and domain.

 

[INFORG]

I am waiting for the automated appraisal service that is so confident in it's accuracy that it generates an instant cash offer for the domain/website in question, so I can just one click sell my domains to them.

 

[brian1234]

I am waiting for the automated appraisal service that is so confident in it's accuracy that it generates an instant cash offer for the domain/website in question, so I can just one click sell my domains to them.

Now you're talkin'... ;-)

 

[Seraphim]

Put a domain or website up for sale. The highest legitimate offer is your appraisal. The longer your domain or website is up for sale the more "appraisals" you receive. No automated scripts required. Any questions?

 

[Johnn]

The Domain business is a funny business and I never believe in appraisal as such thing does not exist.

You bought a $50 name and there may be 2 end-users: mom-and-pop end user may pay $500 and corporate end-user may pay $500,000 for your name.

So what is the appraisal: $50, $500 or $500,000?

Believe in appraisal will get you into scamming scheme from appraisal companies.

"The price of a name is what a buyer willing pay"

 

[EM @MAJ.com]

I don't see the point of these 'tools'. The ultimate purpose is to sell you a 'service' otherwise it's a waste of time.
Nobody needs to tell you how to price your domains and websites, only you and the potential buyer hold the cards.

Nail in the head.

You don't need appraisal to sell your domain. Don't be fool by this service or any related appraisal services.

If you want an estimate use google Adwords.

 

[gr8names]

The price does not depend just on the product but also the circumstances like negotiation skills and motivation of the buyer etc.

Are you talking about an appraisal being the value of the value of the domain, or the predicted price one can sell it for? These are not the same thing. The bank can appraise the value of my home without knowing how badly I want to sell it, how good my real estate agent is, or whether or not there is someone that absolutely has to have the property at 46 Walnut St. There will be outliers in home sales transactions, but ultimately the value and sale price across all home sales will be statistically correlated but probably not equal.

It seems that what we are all complaining about is the appraisal tools' inability to accurately predict a sales price for us. (And I think that's what they are actually trying to do. They are not actually appraising a domain's value.)

It's interesting that end user sales are all over the map, yet we can all *generally* agree on a relatively narrow range of "reseller prices" for many domains. I would argue that a domain's value is the reseller price.

- The reseller price is relatively objective. It is not influenced by the particular seller's capabilities or a specific end user's qualities.

- The reseller market is liquid and stable compared to the end user market.

When I have to report the value of my stock portfolio to the IRS they don't care about how much I might get for a particular stock at some arbitrary point in the future. Its value is how much I could get for selling it today. The stock market is liquid. The value of my stock is its current market price. The end user market for domains is not liquid. If I have to sell a domain today, its value is the reseller price.

I know I am being idealistic about reseller prices, but they are certainly more predictable than end user sales. We may have not all agreed on them but there is a vector of objective attributes, however large, that determine reseller prices. These factors can be dynamic but they should be definable. Esoteric factors like "gut feelings" get averaged out in the aggregate.

 

[A D]

Appraiso.com is the newest website appraisal tool. Launched by popular domainer Morgan Linton, Appraiso uses a complex algorithm he and his partner have been working on for some time now to appraise websites. Appraiso uses estibot for the 'domain value' aspect of the appraisal.

I don't have tons of sites to appraise so I am wondering what members here think of the accuracy of the site appraisals? The free version lets you appraise one website each day.

All appraisal tools have no value except to pump up your ego, domainers don't set prices, buyers do.

A domains value is only what the buyer is willing to pay.

I am not knocking the tool, I haven't even seen the tool yet, just appraisals in general.

Adam

 

[JuniperPark]

I'll take an appraisal tool seriously when it has a "SELL NOW" and "BUY NOW" button on it, and they author of the tool coughs up the funds to make it happen.

"Shoes.com" is appraised at $500? I click "BUY NOW", and the appraiser gets me the domain for $500. Heck, I'll throw in a 20% commission.

My domain "Ez-Biz4u.biz" is worth $10,000? I click "SELL NOW" and the appraiser sends me a check for $10,000.

Until this happens, the appraisals are worth less than my seat cushion after a long night of Taco Tuesday specials with extra chili.

 

[DomainingCom]

My feeling is most confound value and sell price.
These tools use to provide a statistically fair estimation of value of generic domains.
The sale price is not the same, it depends of the value, seller, buyer, time and circumstances.

If the domain value was what a buyer is willing to pay then a domain value may value $50 or $500 or $50K as the moderator outlined. No specific value!

There is a real need to can quickly estimate the value of domains, this is why such tools have so much success and this should continue.
The debate is no longer to use them or no but how to continue improving them so the results are each time more accurate.
I know new appraisals tools not powered by Estibot should be live this year, competition should be profitable.

 

[brian1234]

There is a real need to can quickly estimate the value of domains, this is why such tools have so much success and this should continue.

Please explain the "need", you are referring to.

The debate is no longer to use them or no

When was this 'debate', and when exactly did people become
more enlightened, about automated appraisal services? (as your
comment appears to infer).