Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US. This week, I have been giving thanks to people, companies, and businesses in the domain name industry that I am grateful for and that I appreciate. Today, I want to thank the companies that operate great domain industry tools that I find helpful as a publisher and as an investor.
The cost of services from the companies below varies (some are expensive and some are free/complementary). All of these services are appreciated and I use many of them regularly:
- DomainTools
- DomainIQ
- Dropping.com
- Estibot
- NameBio
- Whoisology
These tools are super helpful in contacting domain registrants, learning about domain industry sales, performing due diligence, tracking stolen domain names, evaluating domain names that are expiring or coming up for sale, and finding prospective buyers for domain owners.
Without access to these great tools, I would find my job as a publisher and investor much more difficult. Thanks to the companies that operate these great domain industry tools. They make the domain name business better for us all.
Why would you be thankful for DomainTools, they basically spit on everyones grandfathered accounts, and threw them out the window?
I find their tools to be invaluable in my sticker research, especially when it comes to writing about sales and UDRP filings.
Sure Elliot, but why don’t you add how your own “grandfathered” pricing is still great.
At last, someone else mentioned something about this.
I would think he gets a complementary premium account b/c of his blog/advertising.
He may get it free now, but a while ago he mentioned that.
As I mentioned, ” (some are expensive and some are free/complementary)”
Correct. There are hundreds, if not thousands of links to their various tools. I find it especially helpful when writing about industry sales and UDRP filings.
Elliot,
Using percentages, which tools do you use the most?
Thanks
Estibot is a harmful industry abomination re the so-called “appraisals” (don’t know a thing about anything else they do and don’t care to), just as Mann’s new “accurate appraisals” project is a money-grabbing declaration of war on the entire industry at the expense of others.
(P.S. I understand why Elliot uses Estibot which he has said before, however, and his reason makes a little sense for his particular purpose, notwithstanding it being no less an “abomination.”)
Calm down man.
He is just advertising these tools.
You might as well tell Rick Schwartz to calm down a few days ago.
These “appraisal” services cause a lot of people real harm.
I would be interested in seeing some *specific* examples of this “real harm” and not just hyperbole.
That would require me to out myself, which I don’t want to do. However, I did allude to something a while ago. For instance, as a real human being with a real human mind and brain, I and plenty of others knew the two domains I sold for over $20k not long ago were worth that and more, but the Estibot abomination quite predictably was saying only $xxx. I sold another one not long before that for $4k and the buyer first brought up the Estibot figure which was much less.
There is another one I could mention that is a much bigger example I don’t think anyone would hesitate to agree is far beyond ridiculous, but that would require TMI.
I’m in good company too:
“Marchexs Sales Prove It: Estibot Appraisals Are Worthless” (Michael Berkens)
https://www.thedomains.com/2012/11/02/marchexs-sales-prove-it-estibot-appraisals-are-worthless/
First comment there by Rick Schwartz (asterisks added because of filter here):
“Mike,
As I have stated for years .ALL domain appraisals are worthless. Period.
They are based on bulls**t which in my opinion makes them for AMUSEMENT ONLY and should be labeled as such.
I am trying really hard not to use the word SCAM. But it always seems to be the first word that comes to mind whenever I hear somebody say Domain Appraisal. The others include Rookies, and Desperate. I wont even answer an email that MENTIONS an appraisal. The minute ANYONE touts an appraisal, in the garbage it goes. These services do DAMAGE to domineers. they dont help them. These are based on NONSENSE with info fed into them by folks with limited knowledge of what makes domain names valuable to begin with.”
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Here’s the bottom line:
Computers will never have consciousness or a real mind. The best an algorithm can do is an occasional ballpark figure for *some* domains based on available data. They have no ability to assess individual domains as they should be. And as far as human “appraisers” go, they can be even worse, more clueless and biases, and less trustworthy. Mann better hope he doesn’t get sued the day his little project tells someone a domain isn’t worth much when it really is and the domain owner suffers because of it. Zillow may have already been sued for that, as well they should be.
Hmm, seems this from Rick’s quote bears repeating:
“These services do DAMAGE to domineers. they dont help them.”