Domain Name Valuation

Domain name valuation is such a gray area. Anybody know any sites that give you realistic honest valuation? I don't want to pay a bunch of money for it, but the numbers are all over the board. I want to make a fair offer to someone for a good domain. I found this little tool and am wondering if it can be used to form a basis for an offer: www.urlbuyers.com/valuation.cfm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Domain name valuation is such a gray area. Anybody know any sites that give you realistic honest valuation? I don't want to pay a bunch of money for it, but the numbers are all over the board. I want to make a fair offer to someone for a good domain. I found this little tool and am wondering if it can be used to form a basis for an offer: www.urlbuyers.com/valuation.cfm.

I tried out the program and it said, "Google.com" wasn't worth much so I don't know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WobblyBox

I tried out the program and it said, "Google.com" wasn't worth much so I don't know.

Good point, but Google was not a good name before they branded themselves with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Good point, but Google was not a good name before they branded themselves with it.

So do those results seem like a "realistic honest valuation" of a domain name?

It is hard to get big money out of most names even if they are great names, one of the main rules is that it has to be generic and short and a .com if you have hope of getting big money!

I own about 350 domains www.internetnamebank.com shows a few of them, but you can get more by building the site out and selling it as a working business versus just the name!

If you have a fantastic name that a giant company has to have then you are in luck Business.com sold for millions of dollars, I think Men.com went for 3 million a while back also!

I work mostly to develop the domains out with small developers that want to partner in a joint venture to build the sites out on a concept and business plan!

It takes money to make money just like in any other business though!

I already have the business, but I want this domain name because it is clearly the best for my market niche. How would you suggest I go about making an offer?

Are all the other TLD's gone already?

.net .org .us .info .biz ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthonycea

Are all the other TLD's gone already?

.net .org .us .info .biz ?

Don't know. Don't care. Dot com is the only one I want.

Go to www.moniker.com, run a search on the name and it will show if it is taken or not, if it is taken it will show a "BIG RED X".

Click on the "whois" tab and that will take you to the "who owns the name" search function, run the search and print out the owners information and fire him off a letter asking if the name is for sale!

If the guy will not sell it you can always just register the name with an additional word on it: Land, World, Zone, Store, Portal, you get the idea!

If it is a trademark you can register it but the trademark owner can win it back in a dispute.

If it is a generic name I would just add the words above to it and get the .com version of it!

For example someone may have TABLE.com already but maybe TABLEZONE.com is available

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthonycea

Go to www.moniker.com, run a search on the name and it will show if it is taken or not, if it is taken it will show a "BIG RED X".

Click on the "whois" tab and that will take you to the "who owns the name" search function, run the search and print out the owners information and fire him off a letter asking if the name is for sale!

If the guy will not sell it you can always just register the name with an additional word on it: Land, World, Zone, Store, Portal, you get the idea!

If it is a trademark you can register it but the trademark owner can win it back in a dispute.

If it is a generic name I would just add the words above to it and get the .com version of it!

For example someone may have TABLE.com already but maybe TABLEZONE.com is available

I have already begun a dialogue with the owner of this generic name because he is no longer using the name (his site has been down for a while). I already have a dot com variation of the name that adds only three letters. I want to make an offer on his name and am trying to find a reasonable way to place a fair value on it without insulting him or indulging him in wild superfluous expectations.

Domain Name Valuation

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