Rethinking Domain Name Valuation

Pete Prestipino
by Pete Prestipino 16 Jan, 2023
Rethinking Domain Name Valuation
As long as I have been a Web professional (closing in on 20 years), domain name valuations have always been, well, insane. 

In my book Domains 360: The Fundamentals of Buying & Selling Domain Names, I address what I believe is the true secret to valuations: they are worth what someone is willing to pay for them. If you want it bad enough, you're going to pay whatever it takes to acquire it. 

That time may be coming to an end however as it looks as though GoDaddy is introducing a whole new approach to the practice of valuing domain names and it could be a real shake up for the industry. 

Domain Name Wire is reporting that GoDaddy is rolling out its new valuation system for bidders on expired domain auctions at GoDaddy Auctions. The company apparently began using the valuation tool internally last year but should start displaying it next to all expiring domains this week - its first public use of the new system. 

The valuations reportedly use a variety of data including actual sales data and historical data and will show a wholesale valuation, predicted sales price and predicted list price. 

Domain names with valuations under $1,000 will be denoted as merely < $1,000. Valuations over $25,000 will be denoted as > $25,000.
Pete Prestipino
Pete Prestipino
Digital marketing executive with proven experience in all aspects of search engine optimization (SEO), performance-based advertising, consumer-generated/social media, email marketing, lead generation, Web design, usability, and analytics. - 20-year Internet marketing veteran, currently serving as the Digital Marketing Campaign Manager at Antenna Group (formerly Chicago Digital). - Former Editor-In-Chief of Website Magazine, and a regular speaker on Web technology digital marketing strategy - Author of several books on digital marketing Including Web 360: The Fundamentals of Web Success; Affiliate 360: The Fundamentals of Performance Marketing; Domains 360: The Fundamentals of Buying & Selling Domain Names, and SEO 360: The Fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization.