I just wrapped up some work and spent a few minutes playing with some domain name generators. It’s always fun to spend a short amount and see what they come up with. I recently cancelled my subscription to Estibot which I had for years. I love the tool but anyone who has bought or sold a domain knows that any valuation tool is really not very accurate. It can only factor in so many things. There are an infinite amount of elements to consider.
Regardless, as I was popping available names out of these generator tools faster than I could think of them, I started to miss my Estibot subscription. It would have been nice to see what sort of appraisal these names would get. Then I decided to pump them through the GoDaddy appraiser which is still listed as “beta.” Literally every name but one that I dropped in showed a value of over $1,000. These are names that I would never pay close to $1,000 for on my happiest day. This is when I discovered the one thing missing from any domain appraisal tool… The offer to buy the name you are appraising at the value they are providing.
Think about it. Lets say there is a solid formula that could really tell you what any domain was worth. Wouldn’t be in the interest of the appraiser to make an offer on the name? If I enter a domain and the tool thinks it’s worth $1,000 then why not offer to buy it from me at $750, or whatever number you want to set and still leave room for your own profitability. You’ll never see that from an automated tool because it just can’t be done. The companies backing the tools don’t trust them enough because the tools can’t determine if a domain can be sold. It can have all the formulaic qualities to put a dollar value next to it, but it just can’t tell you if the domain is good or not.
Here are a few of the available names generated and the values GoDaddy tossed at me.
Actually, this first one is not a bad name for a gun holster site.
I Googled this and there is actually a magic trick called “Fire Wallet” or “Flame Wallet”.
I could see some use for this one if you spend some time in the water, I guess?
Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?
You never know when it comes to diets. There is a active site at thedietseed.com.
Not sure what anyone would do with this one.
Enjoy your favorite estimator / appraisal / valuation tool but just remember it’s for entertainment value only. If you do come across a tool that will buy the names you are feeding into it, let me know. I could play that game all day.
5 comments
i pretty much agree here. i think there is a force that pulls all godaddy valuations toward $1500. whether it’s worth $7 or $17,000 it will usually be pulled closer to $1500.
a willingness to LEND against the name at some percentage of it’s value at a fixed rate would be the only meaningful valuation for a domain.
@Rathead, that would be a good indication as well.