I Think Valuations are Giving a Big Boost at GoDaddy Auctions

Several months ago, GoDaddy Auctions added an “Estimated Value” column to its auction pages. Based on my own observations, I think this addition has considerably boosted auction revenue for the company.

I have two saved searches I use just about every morning at GoDaddy Auctions. One of the searches has nothing to do with the number of bids placed. I used the advanced search functionality to create a specialized search based on a variety of parameters I set. I would guesstimate there are between 150 – 300 domain names that come up each day in this particular search. Typically, only a handful of domain names would have bids, but it appears to me that there are many more auctions with bids these days and I attribute it to the Estimated Value column.

I find myself using the Estimated Value column when I am searching for names to bid on at auction. It is a quick way to highlight the better domain names in a search result. I don’t really rely on the tool to tell me what a domain name is actually worth or how much I could get by selling it, but it seems to be a pretty good way to search based on what GoDaddy says is more valuable.

When doing a sort based on the Estimated Value (from high to low), it is pretty obvious that the higher valued names tend to have more bids. This could be because those are obviously better names, but I would guess it is also because people are using this column in the same way I use it.

I could be wrong about my observation, but I would bet that this Estimated Value column has likely given a big boost to GoDaddy Auctions. I think the same can be said about NameJet, as I regularly observe the Estibot value when bidding on auctions. The auction marketplaces have been pretty strong these last couple of years, and I think the valuation tools have been helpful to the auction houses.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. I personally disregard any automated domain appraisal.
    If anything, automated domain appraisals would be the most you should pay for a domain wholesale, but not what you would buy or sell, at retail. IMO

  2. Without accurate before/after data, it might as well be your perception, seasonal increase, or due to the quality of the particular domains in auction.

    The valuation tool itself is far from accurate, and while it’s being tweaked to suit the intricacies of the domain aftermarket, it’s not a tool that end user buyers would depend on – if anything, it undervalues many domains and gives a generic answer for the truly valuable ones.

  3. HugeDomains is a heavy player thru bot default at godaddy, they tend to jump on anything with bids, and have an auto min set, and basically take everything up over $100 with even an inkling of interest by someonelse.

  4. yep, hugedomains has ruined godaddy auctions. they won’t be the last either. eventually domaining will become a game only BIG players will be able to afford if this continues.

    • It’s already there, I mean you can spend a few grand over the course of 2-3 days at godaddy, and it is inventory that basically half sits, and the other half gets lowball offers, no real traction. The risk factor has made it a not so attractive commodity anymore. Also if there is ever a high profile name to come up, it goes for more than most end users would pay, like gradient.com which the end user was keen enough to buy, but it cost them $125K, because someone else was on it also, say it was two investors paying upto $125K, that is a long shot in any type of return.

      If Litecoin can get to $400, domains with decent keywords should have infinite value.

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