“What Do You Think About GoDaddy’s Appraisals?”

Elliot Silver
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10

I was chatting with a prospective buyer about domain names and domain name valuations. This topic is a bit murky, especially when my rationale for pricing is based on select comps, my knowledge of domain names, and “my gut feel.” Although I am not willing to move on my valuation, I can commiserate with the prospect a bit because of the lack of clarity involving domain name valuations.

On a phone call yesterday, he asked me, “what do you think about GoDaddy’s appraisals?” I immediately knew why he was asking – my domain name is priced substantially higher than the GoDaddy automated appraisal. In fact, someone else had submitted an offer to me within the last year and the message field simply had a link to the GoDaddy appraisal for the name (sidenote: don’t do that). I briefly explained the automated nature of their appraisals, but I thought it would be more effective to illustrate the discrepancy of valuation vs. pricing by GoDaddy itself.

I explained how GoDaddy has acquired some domain portfolios over the past few years, and the company operates a portfolio company called NameFind. I then shared a domain name owned by GoDaddy / NameFind. For the sake of keeping the name I shared private for a couple of reasons, I will use a different but similar example. Cliche.com, for example, is priced at $49,999

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I Am Going to Miss Google Plus

Elliot Silver
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5

Yesterday, Google announced that it will be shutting down its Google Plus social platform. After reading reactions to the news on Twitter and elsewhere, it doesn’t seem like this closure is going to cause much sadness. Part of the issue Google had with Google+ is that not many people seemed to use the platform on a regular basis.

This might seem a bit strange considering I hardly use my Google Plus account to share or learn, but I am going to miss Google Plus.

Whenever I receive an inbound offer or inquiry from someone with a Gmail account, I immediately do a Google Plus search for that email address. Although getting information has been a bit hit or miss, it has been helpful on occasion. I will share a few examples of when Google Plus has helped:

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Pitch.com Acquired “to take on Powerpoint”

Elliot Silver
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3

In a tweet in late September, Andrew Rosener mentioned that the Pitch.com domain name had apparently been sold over the Summer:

Sedo broker Dave Evanson responded to Andrew’s tweet to confirm that the domain name was sold for an undisclosed price:

I reached out to Dave this morning, and he

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Make Sure the Offer is Firm

Elliot Silver
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8

As a domain investor, there are few things that are more annoying / frustrating / angering than agreeing to a deal with a buyer and having the deal fall through to no fault of your own. Deals fall through all the time and for many different reasons.

When I am negotiating with a prospective buyer, I regularly learn that the domain name we are discussing is one of the domain names they are considering. Oftentimes, when faced with an inquiry or offer form that requires an offer to be submitted, a prospective will enter a tentative offer. This may be the amount they would be willing to pay if they choose this domain name. They may not have finalized their domain name choice and they may be negotiating to buy several domain names when they just need one.

On one hand, I understand what they are doing. They like a few names and need to buy just one. Because many domain owners won’t negotiate with someone who isn’t a serious buyer, they need to negotiate as if they are actually buying a domain name before a decision is made. As a domain investor,

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My Price Reduction Offer

Elliot Silver
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7

I have a substantial portion of my domain portfolio listed for sale via GoDaddy / Afternic. I tend to price this inventory a bit on the high side because I am always able to reduce my price if necessary but obviously can’t increase it once someone agrees to purchase it. This isn’t the case with every domain name listed with a BIN price, but I do tend have a bit of wiggle room on my names.

When someone inquires about the price of a domain name via my Embrace.com landing page, I quote the price I have listed at GoDaddy (if there is a BIN price listed). I give the buyer the option of buying directly via GoDaddy or closing a deal privately via Escrow.com. Yes, I would need to pay a commission if the deal closes via GoDaddy, but there are several advantages to selling via GoDaddy, including:

  • Not having to worry about collecting funds (ie fraudulent payments or stop payments on checks or claims of fraud / not receiving products at PayPal)
  • Fewer worries about the domain transfer
  • People know GoDaddy and understand it is a huge company, so fewer issues sending payment
  • Many people already have a GoDaddy account
  • No KYC verification delays

All that being said, sometimes the prospective buyer thinks the price is too high or is thinking about buying other domain names. Oftentimes, they don’t even respond to my response even when my price is fair or the price is somewhat close to their offer. The later situation is especially frustrating.

If a buyer makes an opening offer of $4,000 on a domain name I have priced at $12,000 (assuming a purchase price of

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Farmers Business Network Upgrades to FBN.com

Elliot Silver
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4

In one of my morning alert emails from DomainTools, I noticed that NameFind appears to have sold the FBN.com domain name. When I visited FBN.com this morning, I saw that it appears to have been acquired by an organization called Farmers Business Network. A message on top of the landing page says, “Farmers Business Network will be moving from www.farmersbusinessnetwork.com to www.fbn.com soon! To visit our current website, please click here.”

I think this is a smart upgrade for Farmers Business Network. Although the organization owns its exact match domain name, it is quite lengthy. Shortening the website url to a three letter .com domain name (LLL.com) will be much easier for marketing and should also be easier for email.

From what I can see on its Twitter profile (@FBNFarmers) it looks like the group already abbreviates its name as FBN. Having the FBN.com domain name to match

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