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The worst domain appraiser in the world

March 22, 2019 by Kassey Lee

When I acquire a domain, I do my own research and make my own purchase decision. I have never asked anyone to appraise my domains. So, it puzzles me to see investors requesting for domain appraisal on forums or even in private messages to me.

When it comes to domains, I am probably the worst appraiser in the world because my record of assessing values has been a disaster. At one time I thought the domain extension .mobi was a great investment and so amassed a large portfolio of it. Not even one .mobi domain was sold. Then, there have been several incidents in the past that remind me of the danger of doing appraisal for other investors.

In 2012, the domain JD.com was sold. Namebio reports five similar sales for that year, ranging from the lowest of $125,000 (YG.com) to the highest of $325,000 (BJ.com). Had you asked me to appraise JD.com in 2012, I would have probably said low 6 figures. As it turned out, someone from a Chinese ecommerce site with a very unattractive name 360buy.com paid $5 million for the domain.

What about Nubia.com? According to Merriam-Webster, Nubia is “a member of one of the group of dark-skinned peoples that formed a powerful empire between Egypt and Ethiopia from the 6th to the 14th centuries”. It’s not even a common word! But in 2015, Nubia.com was sold for $2 million to a mobile phone maker in China for their new brand “Nubia”.

Do you see anything special in the name OFO? In 2017, most LLL (letter-letter-letter) domains were sold below $50,000, but OFO.com managed to fetch more than $1 million. Here’s the twist. Several entrepreneurs in China saw OFO as a bicycle with two wheels. They named their startup accordingly and acquired OFO.com as an upgrade for their corporate domain OFO.so (yes, .so is a country extension for Somalia).

These examples show an important lesson in domain investing: do your home work to uncover the potential of each domain you plan to acquire. Research is the key!

—–

Join me on LinkedIn for further discussion.

Originally published on Grandseeds.com

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Filed Under: Coreile, Domaining 101

About Kassey Lee

Kassey Lee is the publisher of Grandseeds.com, a Chinese domain market newsletter containing daily blog, news, and Q&A.

Comments

  1. Ruben Couto says

    March 22, 2019 at 11:51 am

    Great read!

  2. AbdulBasit Makrani says

    March 22, 2019 at 12:04 pm

    Very well said!

    I think no one can appraise all domains perfectly but we have one thing at our hand which is to keep learning and that’s always my focus.

    You never know when someone wants your name how desperately but one should do their own research and according to that set a price.

  3. RAKESH says

    March 23, 2019 at 5:13 am

    GREAT CONTENT SIR
    VERY WELL SAID
    I HAVE TWO DOMAIN NAMES

    NearbyGay.Com and HiLesbo.Com

    I WANT TO BREAK WORLD RECORD OF MOST EXPENSIVE DOMAIN NAME IN THE WORLD WHICH IS CATER BY CarInsurance.Com by selling both these domain name
    I KNOW, I CAN DO THIS BECAUSE $4.6 TRILLION WORLD ECONOMY DEPENDS ON LGBT COMMUNITY. THIS IS VERY BIG MARKET TO INVEST.
    I NEED YOUR HELP

    • burt says

      March 24, 2019 at 4:13 pm

      lol…Rakesh what are you smoking

      • Rakesh says

        March 26, 2019 at 3:33 am

        😂 lol I Think Marijuana

    • Snoopy says

      March 24, 2019 at 6:32 pm

      Worthless names.

      • Rakesh says

        March 26, 2019 at 3:34 am

        I know but I want to make them valuable.

  4. Rakesh says

    March 26, 2019 at 3:34 am

    What you think about WeBuyBit.Com

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