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A Brief Review on Free Domain Name Appraisal Engines
Why do we suggest these links? Because they’re free, for one. Also, we, like many others out there, are grateful that several enterprising souls have taken upon themselves the arduous task of working up a (free) indexer with at least the intent of suggesting value. All free domain name appraisal engines have at least one thing in common – they tend to produce a wide variety of “money values” based on different modes of analysis using a fixed and limited set of criteria. Values that pop up on the free appraisal websites do not purport to be actual indicators of true market value and rightly so. However the values are at least interesting, albeit oftentimes arbitrary, and at most may assist in developing an overall strategy of determining potential market value or establishing a working minimum-maximum sell price for those sellers with limited funds or who are unwilling to “invest” in paying substantially large amounts of money for a “certified” appraisal. It seems to be a general consensus that market demand determines and drives the value of every commodity, including domain names. It appears that the innate attraction of particular domain name seems to be initiated primarily within the subconscious level and radiates its way outward into the form of a purchase. It is a reasonable expectation that top level domain names will continue to rise in value and as such, the search for attractive domain names should continue to be a rewarding venture.
Legal Implications: Just What IS a Domain Name?
Although the United States appellate authority suggests that a domain name is a form of intangible intellectual property, it has also been suggested, although this suggestion is not judicially clear or consistent, that a domain name is not property but rather a contractual right. The jury is still out on this point which instills hope that even greater values, similar to real estate, may be attributed to domain names as the law continues to work through cases and hone its view as to their legal substance.
Several Free Appraisal Engines Worth Looking At
NameBoy : NameBoy used to charge $10 per appraisal. Currently they’re offering unlimited free appraisals, so we suggest that if you want your ego supercharged, that you jump on the bandwagon and bulk load your names up for what promises to be a very “healthy” list of appraisals you will immediately wish could be cashed in like currency. Our experience with NameBoy valuations is that they tend to the very high side and we would like to understand further the indexing criteria they use in order to arrive at these figures. Hats off to NameBoy for offering the public free appraisals with the additional benefit of bulk-name uploading and prompt individual appraisal responses. Even if their numbers can be superficially high based on current market value, it’s still a pleasant experience to see it in writing.
Estibot in certain circles is considered the “bible” of free appraisal engines and the engine that most closely simulates true market value. The good news is that Estibot currently touts a “new and improved” upcoming release which they claim will ‘revolutionize’ the appraisal system which may lead to even more realistic results. Currently, Estibot offers unlimited free appraisals which, in our opinion, have historically drifted in consistency, possibly in part because they seem to be tied into Overture for some of their indexing, whereas Estibot tells us on their website that Overture has currently been “down” and admits their results may not be as “accurate” as a result. Our experience with Estibot values is, like all free appraisal systems, they seem to rely solely on automated limited indexers and tend toward the low or medium range. A strange phenomenon occurs often with users of Estibot which seldom occurs with the others – that of reliance. Estibot seems to be more conservative in their indexing but at the same time their indexers appear to be broader in scope which lends credence to the common-place conclusion that Estibot appraisals can quite often hit the mark right on relative to predicting true market value. This ability to more closely predict sales results in the real world of auctions or buy-it-now scenarios in our opinion gives Estibot an extra dimension of credibility based on performance although this is not to imply one should entirely rely on the Estibot numbers alone, for like all free automated searchers, none of them can truly predict what the free human spirit will deem of value and up-bid on and this is the most exciting part.
Summarily, we feel that any free appraisal system is prone to arbitrary production of arbitrary values spanning the low to high and should never be relied upon as the final judge of market value of a domain name, ESPECIALLY with arbitrary domain names which possess their own “secretive” value based on unknown appeal factors which are virtually measureless and therefore impossible to predict, to wit: who would have placed a value of THREE HUNDRED TWENTY SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS (considering traffic) on an arbitrary name such as Google, twenty years ago? Estibot just appraised Google for me several seconds ago and provided this amount. Minus the traffic of Google, Estibot places the value of the domain name alone (keep in mind the name is arbitrary) at $730,000.00. What’s the moral of this story? It’s twofold. Traffic is one index used by free search engines to determine value and so an arbitrary domain name void of traffic, although generating 0 traffic, may ultimately rise fast in value if it finds, of course, the right “home” and is market-groomed correctly to draw traffic.
I like LeapFish and I really don’t know why. I like the format and the occasional surprises in value that lead me to suspect there may be more to a name than the other engines are telling me. Leapfish offers unlimited free appraisals which predominantly tend toward the much lower side which we feel is based on limited indexers. It has been our experience that Leapfish and Estibot agree within reason about 10-20% percent of time, depending on the type of the name, however they disagree 80-90%. This inconsistency seems to be one of indexing features. Nevertheless we enjoy the dual rides and are quick to not hang our hat on either.
Conclusion About Free Appraisal Systems and Determining Market Values
As with all the FREE APPRAISAL systems out there, (and there are not that many) our best advice is just enjoy them for what they are but do not rely on them as indicators of “true market value”. Real sale prices are the general indictor of immediate worth. Do your own serious homework based on what the market is actually paying. One way to gain perspective on true market value is applying the basic common-sense fundamentals and checking out sales prices at auctions and names that create frenzy bidding. Also, keep in mind that even application of common-sense fundamentals can NOT predict the value of arbitrary domain names and that not all auction-end prices and/or “public sales” reflect “true market value” as both may be misleading and inflated for a number of reasons including but not limited to the integrity of the bidding, false rises due to irrational bidding frenzies and the like.
Final Word: Hold or Sell?
For those who demonstrate patience and diligent watch of the market, time may be on the side of increased domain name values. If you’re in a hurry to make a big profit on domain names, perhaps its time to relax and re-examine your game plan. You may want to consider holding on to your domain names for a period of time, even years, as you monitor market values and (likely) witness values rise. Write off the bad names and dump them for a song, absorbing the lesson of not buying anything that sounds like that again! Don’t be in a big hurry to sell your best names, because given time and the depleted market choice, exponential returns may be looming on the horizon for a few smart investors who can think ahead to meet the changing times and choose their names accordingly. In conclusion, don’t be anxious or unrealistic and stay in sync with the market trends.
More Coming Soon on Solutions to Determing Price and Auctions…
