Appraising a Domain

No one can give you a definitive price that a domain is worth. As with most any merchandise, I domain is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Domain Name International offers an Appraisal Service for a fee of $20US per domain, which will give a range of prices for which a domain could feasibly be sold. This service evaluates the domain for a series of variables that contribute to a domains worth. You also get a certified stamp of appraised value on your free webpage, so potential buyers know that the domain has been evaluated at that price. If you are interested in a domain appraisal, please email us at appraisals@domainnameintl.com.

Listed below is an explanation of these variables, which should help you determine the domain's relative value, should you wish to assess it on your own:

Commercial Marketability: Probably the most difficult variable to assess is the commercial marketability of the domain's subject matter. Essentially, you have to assess the potential profit and the demand for the subject matter of the domain. As an example, names related to big business and ecommerce would be potentially more profitable that those related to door hinges or something obscure such as that.

Also falling into this category are general terms that have high trademark potential, such as Jeff Bezos' popular "amazon.com". The name itself does not fall into a big business type category, but marketed as a memorable trademark, and it works just as well, and assures name recognition.

Number of Characters: The shorter the name, the better. Shorter names offer a lot more value to a company, simply because they are easy to remember and harder to get confused with other domains. Even a domain related to the most demanding subject matter will be greatly weakened if the name is too long.

Number of Words: Likewise, the fewer distinct words or acronyms, the less confusing, more memorable, and therefore more valuable the domain will be.

Readability: In a similar argument, the readability of a domain is important to a domain's worth. A good example is relating this to personalized license plates. Think about it: you have only a 7-8 characters to come up with something cool, so you truncate words, get rid of vowels, replace words with numbers, etc. All in all, it makes for a cute license plate, but not necessarily for a valuable domain name, even if the number of characters is small. Every alteration made is a potential point of confusion where the public will forget the domain, or worse yet, confuse it with a competitor. The harder the domain is to read, the less valuable it is.

Uniqueness: Related to readability, the originality of a domain is an important consideration with regards to how easy it could be copied without purchasing the domain in question. Consider "bank37.com": Good commercial product, 6 characters, easy to read... but why would someone pay top dollar for this domain if they can simply go to Network Solutions and register "bank38.com" or "bank39.com". This also applies to the same tricks discussed in "Readability": Every cute little trick used to come up with a new domain name offers a place for someone else to "tweak" the name to register a new and equally good domain name. If the domain is easy to copy, it's value will almost entirely be diminished.

Hyphens: In general, domains with hyphens in them are less favorable than those without. That is not to say they are detrimental to a domain, because they can actually be more beneficial with regards to search engines, but the current trend in domain sales prefers domains without hyphens.

Domain Availability: How many similar domains are available, either for sale or unregistered? Just like any other commodity, competition plays a very important role in effecting a products value. If a similar domain is quite easy to get, then the price someone is willing to pay for it will undoubtedly fall.

Time Limited: If your domain is related to a certain one-time event (Y2K or Year 2000, for example), then its overall value will be diminished in light of the domain's future potential for generating public interest. While these domains can be quite valuable within their time frame, it is recommended to reduce the selling cost to assist in a fast sale and to avoid being stuck with a worthless domain after the associated event.

Current Traffic: Showing that a current domain creates traffic on its own (i.e. direct type-ins) is powerful for increasing a domain's overall value. In some eyes, direct type-ins are the raw assessment of a domains value, since it shows some level of demand and/or memorability. However, this is also difficult to prove and/or be trusted by the potential buyer.

Furthermore, other forms of traffic are a double-edged sword. Some people like to see that a domain is already getting traffic from search engines and links; others prefer a completely fresh marketing approach untainted by previous marketing efforts

Extension: Without a doubt, the ".com" extension is far more valuable that any other. This it true for a lot of reasons: (1) The general public is more familiar with ".com" and will generally assume that extension with writing the address in their browser. (2) Browsers themselves default to the ".com" extension if none is included. (3) ".com represents a global market rather than a designation of a particular country.

".net" is ".com's" closest competitor, but it is still far less valuable given the first two reasons above.

Country specific extensions such as ".co.uk", ".au", etc. are becoming more popular and thus valuable, but they have a long way to go before they could even stand beside ".net", mainly because of their assumed limited market (i.e. representative of only a single country). It should be noted, however, that within the country of their representation, a country specific domain's value greatly increases. "shops.co.uk" is not as valuable as a global commodity, but for a London based mall catering to only UK citizens, it would be outstanding, possibly even more recognizable than "shops.com" within the UK.