I think it’s time to appraise the value of domain name appraisals. Let’s use some recent real world figures here.

I received an email inquiry last week on one of my domain names.

It went something like this:

Hi, would you be interested in selling [name intentionally left out].com?

Thanks,
[name removed]

I did the normal checks to see if it was a “credible” inquiry. Google searches, etc. It helped that the potential buyer also took the time to actually make a phone call also inquiring about the domain name.

This particular domain name was one that I had recently started developing. I had a nice “how to” article on the site that ranked well in all the major search engines. I wasn’t actively trying to sell this domain/site. My plan was to hold on to it and build.

As part of the negotiation, the buyer suggested a domain name appraisal to help determine a reasonable asking price for the domain.

I didn’t really have a solid figure in mind, so I figured, why not. I even decided to pay for the appraisals myself. I figured, even if the domain sale didn’t go through, it would be interesting to see how close two different services valued the same exact domain name.

I ordered a domain name appraisal from SEDO and from Moniker. Both leaders in domain name aftermarket sales.

Both companies offered an “expedited” appraisal for a few dollars more, so I selected that option. Moniker ($39.99) says their appraisals will be done in 4 business days, SEDO ($49) says theres would be done within 3 business days.

SEDO Appraisal Review:

I ordered the SEDO Premium Domain Name Appraisal on Wednesday, April 30th at 9:49am and I got the appraisal back on Thursday, May 1st at 2:24pm. A little over 24 hours and they delivered a 6 page PDF formatted appraisal that said their valuation of the domain was for $1400.

The appraisal was broken down into 12 points, including a section that contained 3 comparable past domain sales.

Most of the text in the appraisal was from a pre-written template, however it was clear that they took the time to look at the industry and the keywords in the domain name.

Although I didn’t agree with some of their valuations (they didn’t take into account the current site traffic), it was definitely a professional appraisal.

MONIKER Appraisal Review:

I ordered the Moniker Expedited Domain Appraisal Service on Wednesday, April 30th at 10:22am and I got their appraisal back on Monday, May 5th at 10:22pm. A little over 3 business days (but still within their promised turnaround time), and I received a notification via email that I could view my appraisal report online.

I thought the online viewing was a nice feature because it’s so much quicker to view an HTML webpage than to fire up the latest Adobe acrobat reader to read a simple text file. Moniker also offered the option of “publishing” the appraisal so I could just send a link to the buyer.

Moniker’s appraisal was based on 18 different factors and they included over 5700 comparable sales to come to a valuation of $6,365.76 for the domain.

The appraisal again included a lot of default template type text, however, by looking at the reports they ran and the categorization of the domain name, it was clear that they took the time to try to get some good background on the domain name.

I thought my domain name was “pretty darn good” for the industry it was in, but a $6300+ valuation seemed high even to me :) Maybe with the right convergence of timing, motivated buyer with the right budget, but for a general sale, I was a bit leery.

The Actual Sale Price:

Luckily for me, after a very short period of haggling, the sale of the domain name went through! I’m not sure if I was more excited about closing the sale, or the fact that I got to report back on how close to the mark the appraisals were.

I know it’s probably bad salesmanship to say your domain name isn’t worth as much as an appraisal said it was, but I’m all for being realistic.

The buyer and I both agreed that the appraisal valuation of Moniker was a bit high, and I felt that due to the domain keyword value and ability to recoup the sales amount with a few leads from the existing domain traffic, that the SEDO appraisal was a bit low.

So I took the two figures, and came up with an average. I put my asking price of $3500 below that average.

The buyer countered with an offer of $3000 and the deal was sealed.

So when you get an unsolicited offer for one of your domain names and you aren’t sure what to ask, instead of relying on one domain name appraisal service, it might be worth it get 2 appraisals of the domain and find a nice middle ground.

This is the second appraisal I’ve ordered from Sedo and my first appraisal I’ve ordered from Moniker and I’d definitely order from both companies again.

PS. As a side note, it was nice dealing with a buyer I could “trust”. He didn’t try to hide behind a throw away hotmail address, he didn’t try to hide his place in the industry. He didn’t try to lowball the offer and he remained professional even when offering reasons why the domain may not hold as much value. So when it came to closing the sale, we were both comfortable enough with each other to forego the lengthy escrow.com process. We opted for a quick PayPal transaction with an eNom push. The entire sale and transfer took all of 5-7 minutes. It’s always a pleasure dealing with professionals in this business.

Here’s an interesting gem I found today on eBay.

QBAY.COM is for sale, current high bid is just over $2000.

What’s more interesting than the domain is the mini blog/twitterlike updates that the seller is making within the auction listing.

4 days after he started the auction, he posted this call for help:

4/12/2008 3:22PM MT
uhhh… no takers? I’ve both increased and lowered the starting price to various levels even starting at 1 cent. But still… Why no bidders? We are on day 6. Or what is there to think about? The domain obviously has a value as far as your imagination can take you. For some reason, I’m afraid to get the domain appraised, while I can barely afford to get it appraised in the first place. Honestly, I’m just some Joe-shmo having a hard time in life and I’m ready to cash it in for much less than its worth just so I can get my life back together. At the same time the buyer and myself would be a blessing to each other. I had big dreams and plans with this domain. But I’m ready to move on. So, I’m just wondering if ya’ll are trying to wait until the last couple days to start bidding or something… Or I’m wondering if it does not sell at all. Honestly, I wouldn’t feel to bad if it does not sell as I would take it as a sign to peruse a business with it or to at least hang on to the domain for another 5 or 10 years…

It seems the call was answered and the bidding activity sharply increased. He must have gotten some feedback from other domainers, because 3 days later, he posted this savekarynish update:

4/15/2008 2:54AM PDT
I received numerous comments and advice about this auction. And I’m not sure what to say or think really. For some reason I felt to address the visitors of this auction before I go to sleep. The previous post I can’t delete after the first bid and I guess I spoke too soon. The activity and response is much higher than I had expected. Some people think that I’m making a mistake selling this domain. And one e-commerce expert has urged me to cancel the auction and go about another method of selling this or doing something commercial with the domain. Yes its sounds fine and dandy, but I’m just going to let it all hang out and be honest. The Auction is already in progress and it comes down to this. I can’t wait for “down the road”. I need the money now. My car is about to be re-possessed. I’m in debt, my bank account is in the negative, I need to get my teeth fixed, and my cousin is letting me sleep in the basement of her apartment this month, my cell phone was disconnected, and the list goes on… But, at the same time I envision a bright future despite my situation now. It’s a long story of what I’ve been through. So the way I look at it. I have no choice but to sell this domain now at this exact point in time. Regarding the reserve price, all I will say is that it’s reasonable and it’s less than ten grand. Let me know if you have anymore questions. Kind regards, Adam

So whaddaya say? Grab a nice domain and bail a guy out who’s down on his luck in the progress?

I just love this new domainer tool from Richard Kershaw of Quality Nonsense!

It’s basically a quick way of looking up domain names from any text you see on a webpage using Firefox.

First step is to install the Firefox extension.
Then, say you’re reading a breaking news story today about a new tech discovery and you want to get the jump on registering the generic keywords that may be related to this new discovery.

You just highlight the example phrase with your mouse, right click (or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + SHIFT + D), and click the new menu option that says “domain lookup for “examplephrase.com”.

Within seconds, the domain is looked up at your registrar of choice so you are clicks away from securing the domain name.

Here’s a quickie video I made showing how it works. As of this writing, the domain example used in this video is unregistered ;)

This may or may not be a big domainer secret, but registering URLs based off breaking news stories is one way to find unregistered domains that could turn into treasures. I’ve sold at least 2 domains in the aftermarket that I registered after hearing about the phrase from a news story.

In fact, as I was typing this blog post, looking for examples to show in my video, I found 2 or 3 other cool generic phrases in other CNN articles that were register worthy.

If you are a domainjunkie like me and you haven’t installed this tool yet, stop reading this blog post right now and head over to QualityNonsense and get the new Firefox extension Richard Kershaw created.

What’s in it for him? I asked Richard which of the registrars used his affiliate links when the domain names were registered. He responded back very quickly with this list:

“At the moment, the affiliate links are: Moniker, GoDaddy, Melbourne IT, Dotster, 123reg, uk2 and NetSol. Others ma become affiliate links in future.

IF there’s any volume of demand, I’ll offer an affiliate opt-out.”

eNom is my registrar of choice, so it really didn’t matter to me, but I thought that might be a bit of useful information for you domainjunkies out there. I think a tipjar would be appropriate for Richard’s site. I personally would rather give a PayPal tip than have my domain registrations tracked by an affiliate link.

Either way, this is definitely a must have tool for domainers. Well worth the download!

The sale closed on my first domain sale of 2008 this week. $3200 from an original $10 purchase.

The interesting point about this particular sale is that I had submitted it a previous domaintools.com auction and they passed on it.

One thing that is very clear with aftermarket domain name sales is:

“Good domain names sell themselves”

A good domain name doesn’t need a listing in the latest domain auction, a premium spot at sedo, a super qualified appraisal, or even a parking page listing it for sale.

This is not to discount any of those services. I’ve used them all and I’ve sold domain names through sedo and other venues.

My point is that the right buyer will find a good domain name and they will figure out a way to contact you to buy it.

I have several domains that I’m fully aware are not “top notch” domains. Most of the domains I buy are for later development. I have a lot of site ideas, and when I think of a domain that could match a good site, I register it. I don’t think any of these names will sell for millions, thousands or even hundreds.
A great site can make a crappy name worth millions :)

At the same time, I’m keenly aware that some of my names are pretty darn desirable. These are names that over the years have had several “suitors”. People who search whois records and find a phone number or email address to make an offer. When this becomes a common occurrence, it’s easy to filter out which names have resale potential and which are ones only a mother could love :)

It seems that in the domainer aftermarket, too many people think that their neatphraseindustry.com domain is going to net them millions if they only had the right audience.

Good names don’t need no stinkin’ auction.

Bidding is now open in the domaintools.com premium domain name auction. Bidders can now register their bids for any of the 170+ domain names listed for auction by visiting the following website address:

http://www.domaintools.com/live-auction/bid.html

To bid, visit the above link, and if you’re not already a domaintools verified member, you may be asked to enter your credit card details to verify your indentity.

Placing a bid on a domain name is an easy 2 step process!

Once verified, you’ll see a page that looks like this (click thumbnail for larger image):

Just click on the domain you want to bid, enter your bid amount for that domain and click “Place Bid”.

You can place your bids now and the auction will close on January 10, 2007 at 11am PST.