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 GoDaddy’s 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
