Do domain name appraisals do more harm than good?

Honest opinion or validation

When it comes to opinions, some people care about everyone’s opinion, others only care about the opinions of those that are more successful and others don’t give a damn what anyone thinks on a certain topic.

When the topic of domain appraisals comes up, things can get spicy and sometimes nasty. I have always believed many just want validation, not an honest opinion.

Of course the quality of names runs the gamut from the very bad to the very good. A lot of times newer domain investors use the appraisal section to list each new hand reg they have made in the past week.

When bad domains are listed for appraisal they usually get $0 or reg fee replies. A lot of the time the person who started the thread gets nasty with the appraiser.

The question you need to ask yourself is “Do I want an honest opinion of my domain?” or “I just really want someone to agree with my valuation so I feel better about the purchase”

Its understandable and human nature to want someone to agree with you and your value of your asset. It is not what an appraisal section should be about.

Appraisal Sections

Lately there has been a call to clean up the domain appraisal section at Namepros.

NickB opined:

I think there is an issue with the appraisal section that needs looking at…..

When giving appraisals can we have a rule that stops people just quoting a figure with no explanation on how they came up with it?

A lot of people that use the appraisal section are new to the industry (I used it a lot when I first started) and I for one still go there to read and try to learn about how to price domains…

When I see what look like random figures being given as an appraisal it really jars with me. In some cases they seem wildly optimistic, in others they are downright misleading.

This can lead to false hope, people registering more domains of a similar ilk which can lead to people spending a lot of money based on a figure someone seemingly has plucked from the air with absolutely no context on why they arrived at that appraisal amount.

Seems wrong to me……

Namepros has the below rule in place already……I would like to see this updated to include all appraisals

5.1. All appraisals below $10 USD must include a unique and constructive explanation to support the assessment.

Would like to see peoples opinion on expanding the above to include ALL appraisals

Any feedback from the community and Mods would be appreciated……

False Hope???

I think the false hope part stands out, as newer investors really do stake their emotional claim to a name based on another new member who likes their name, or an automated appraisal system that is clearly off.

So do domain appraisals do more harm than good? Personally I never cared what another human being thought about a domain name, if they are not the buyer, means nothing to me.

They did not contribute to the purchase price, they are not helping with any shortfalls. Sure people will always comment, but the person that just picked up Blue.com or Niq.com knows they got a good domain name, any commentary to the contrary would just be nonsense.

I think there can be something to be gained when talking about the acquisition price and if one feels it’s a good entry price?

But when most people are asking for appraisals on recent hand regs, the most helpful thing might be no appraisal. It also doesn’t help that inspires anger in some, when they don’t like what they read.