Domain Valuation Service

[cardine]

I'm looking to buy a high quality two syllable brandable domain name for a website I'm starting. I think the domain name is great for the site, but the buyer is asking a lot more than I thought the domain name would be worth. I thought the domain name would be worth around $3,000, and the lowest he'll sell the domain name for is appx. $12,000. I then have a less desirable (but still very good and very brandable) domain name that I can buy for around $1,000.

If what I'm doing flops I want to recoup most of the money I spent purchasing the domain name. So if the domain name is valued somewhere around $12,000 I would feel a lot more comfortable buying the domain name. If the domain name is worth much less in the open market I would be much more inclined to buy the other $1,000 domain name.

So does anybody know a good/reliable/not scammy service that can give me a good ballpark estimate as to how much this domain is worth?

Usually I can make a good guess myself, but its a lot harder to do that for domains which are valuable due solely to their branding ability.

 

[utterdomain]

Moniker has the best appraisal service in the business.

If you want a ballpark for free, then just estibot.com/valuate.com but while this automated service is helpful, it's really not good enough for serious investment decisions.

Edit: In case you don't want to use moniker or if you want a valid second opinion, then I would recommend Sedo.com.

 

[cardine]

Moniker has the best appraisal service in the business.

If you want a ballpark for free, then just estibot.com/valuate.com but while this automated service is helpful, it's really not good enough for serious investment decisions.

Edit: In case you don't want to use moniker or if you want a valid second opinion, then I would recommend Sedo.com.

Estibot had the domain valued at $2,300, but its really difficult for a machine to put a value on brandability (from my experience its a much better indicator for keyword based domains).

I'm trying to buy the site through Sedo so I don't want to use their appraisal service. I'll take a look at Moniker.

 

[hectic]

Brandable, non-generic keyword domains are worth whatever you think they are.

If you think the domain would make a great brand, I'd spend more time trying to quantify what it would be worth to you from a marketing perspective vs. your other options -- would it be easier for people to remember, would it drive more traffic, does your lawyer think they could get the trademark to go through, etc. etc.

Of course, a lot of that value might depend on your target market (consumer vs. b2b), and how much budget you have to promote the name, etc.

I had Moniker appraise a brandable domain at $700 which I had multiple unsolicited purchase offers on in the $2-$5k range, and which we ended up getting a trademark registered for. They provide a good service, but they can only really price domains by keyword value or traffic, not brand potential.