I was looking at NamePros this morning when I saw a thread started by Raymond Hackney that discussed changing GoDaddy Appraisals. You should have a look at Raymond’s article and the entire NamePros thread to get some background. Personally, I think automated appraisals should regularly change as comparable sales are indexed. Domain name values are dynamic in nature.
Shortly after launching its GoValue Appraisal tool, GoDaddy added an Estimated Value figure on each auction it runs. NameJet does the same thing, although it shows the Estibot value, which is operated by a third party automated appraisal tool. Observationally, adding this estimated value figure has increased the number of auctions that receive bids, and I believe auctions have also been achieving higher results.
I can’t say that the addition of the Estimated Value has been the reason for increased sale prices, but I believe it does influence the bidding. In fact, I use the Estimated Value as a filter when I search for auctions myself.
NamePros member Silentptnr published a post on NamePros about a specific domain name in auction today at GoDaddy. According to him (and double checked by me), DamIt.com is in auction at GoDaddy Auctions today and is listed with an “Estimated Value” of $11,188. If you look at the GoDaddy Appraisal tool, the GoValue appraisal is $7,887.
I wanted to dig in a bit further, and I compared the Estimated Value shown on auctions with the GoValue Appraisal for the top 10 names on my primary search filter at GoDaddy Auctions:
- DamIt.com – Estimated Value: $11,188 GoValue Appraisal: $7,887
- BlockchainBroker.com – Estimated Value: $8,791 GoValue Appraisal: $7,241
- ZBAY.com – Estimated Value: $8,162 GoValue Appraisal: $7,702
- Alcore.com – Estimated Value: $5,964 GoValue Appraisal: $5,493
- BlockchainCommunity.com – Estimated Value: $5,882 GoValue Appraisal: $3,907
- BlockchainProject.com – Estimated Value: $5,606 GoValue Appraisal: $3,061
- CoinSurge.com – Estimated Value: $5,198 GoValue Appraisal: $4,679
- CapitalP.com – Estimated Value: $5,182 GoValue Appraisal: $5,546
- YAlert.com – Estimated Value: $4,999 GoValue Appraisal: $2,411
- Turel.com – Estimated Value: $4,938 GoValue Appraisal: $4,111
With the exception of CapitalP.com, the other 9 domain names have a higher Estimated Value than the value shown on the GoDaddy GoValue Appraisal page. A couple are substantially higher. I trust that GoDaddy is not “juicing” the Estimated Value on the auction pages, but it’s peculiar that the Estimated Value differs from the GoValue figure on nearly all.
I believe this is an issue of timing, and I believe the Estimated Value is from when the auction starts and the GoValue is more real time. To confirm this, I looked up 5 domain names from the Most Active list with 9+ days remaining in the auction to see if the Estimated Value aligns with the GoValue figure. Here’s what I found:
- 59990.com – Estimated Value: $3,880 GoValue Appraisal: $3,880
- 13391.com – Estimated Value: $2,730 GoValue Appraisal: $2,730
- 19128.com – Estimated Value: $5,782 GoValue Appraisal: $5,782
- CouponDepot.com – Estimated Value: $5,286 GoValue Appraisal: $5,286
- GLX.net – Estimated Value: $5,814 GoValue Appraisal: $3,513
It looks like 4 of the 5 domain names had the same Estimated Value and GoValue figures. The exception was GLX.net, which had a pretty big gap between the two.
If people use the Estimated Value as a measurement against what they might expect to achieve from a subsequent sale, they may be in for a surprise if the value has changed. This is amplified if the GoValue figure went down by a considerable amount. As you may know, the GoValue value is shown when GoDaddy customers search for domain names to register.
In my opinion, assuming it is an issue of timing, GoDaddy needs to do a better job of ensuring these two numbers align throughout the auction process.
I reached out to a GoDaddy representative to ask for a comment about this issue, and I will share an update if/when I receive a comment.
Good thing real domain investors know how to MANUALLY appraise a domain name.
If bidders were not influenced by the Estimated Value in some way, I doubt GoDaddy and NameJet would share automated appraisals.
I use it as a filtering tool.
I think no appraisals should be shown at all.
Also all appraisals suck, doesn’t matter which tool.
All the domain appraisal tools are fake and I hope someone sue them for false information.
Software engineering wise- what are they base on? what the comparison baselines and variables? Show me the codes….
Unlike houses, they are base on properties in your neighborhood and they are lots of transparency.
Domain– it is all virtual and all subjective.
Timing issue? If the value of domains is fluctuating that much from when they start the auction and the end, that doesn’t give me much faith in the value of the appraisals.
I have ZERO faith in any and all domain appraisal tools, we should call then domain appraisal fools 🙂
Perhaps they can tell 10% correct value of common English keywords but they can’t even tell any other language keywords correctly 1% of the time. Additionally how about city and other names worldwide. We own 900 India/Asian related town names and all domain tools have no idea how to value those, even cities with hundreds of thousands population.
When buyers tell me that as per GoDaddy the domain is valued at this much, I tell them to ask GoDaddy to buy it for them 🙂
All domain appraisal tools are appraisal fools, they should be avoided like plague imo.
There are two ways I find value:
1) So many names come up for auction every day, and using the appraised value can eliminate a lot of the junk.
2) Appraisals are shown to prospects, so on inventory types of names I manage to buy for under $100 that are appraising at $1,500 – $2,000, I can price at $988 or $999, and a prospective buyer may assume it is a great deal.
Yes, for your specific uses it can make sense.
I have never played the drop/expired game so don’t find that value.
yahushi.com $1857 auction estimated valuation, $1065 govalue appraisal
maocq.com $1787 auction estimated valuation, $1282 govalue appraisal (Real Value: Close to $0)
etc…
Just to be clear, this “Observer” is sharing the same alias as me.
Looked into this a bit deeper, as it is not expected behavior. Our data science team has been adding new data sources in order to re-train the algorithm and improve accuracy. We released the new algorithm pre-maturely last week and have since rolled it back.