Potential Bias of Domain Price Guides
Domain Values, DNJournal February 22nd, 2008
I don’t know think I personally know anyone who operates any of the various niche domain price guides, and I don’t think I’ve visited one in a couple of years, but do the owners/publishers own names in that niche? If they do, wouldn’t it be a bit biased to publish pricing material, where their financial holdings would be impacted by a change in price?
For example, if I own a whole bunch of names that begin with 123, and I start a price guide called “123Name Prices,” wouldn’t it be silly for others to read my price guide and consider it an authoritative source, when the value of my names could be impacted by what I publish? When it comes to domain values, I trust my gut and my own personal instinct. When I really need to look for comps, I look at the DNJournal Sales Report as well as DNSalePrice.com, which has an archive of most public sales dating back several years.
I am all for people building websites about smaller niches within the domain industry, but I think people should ask questions when looking at a niche price guide to ensure there is no bias whatsoever. Do the publishers own names in this niche? Do the publishers review all reported sales (looking at escrow/bank statements)? Are ALL public sales taken into consideration - even those that aren’t reported but occur on a public platform (forum, auction, aftermarket site)?
If there is any way a domain price guide could be biased, the person who is relying on it for accurate information should ask those questions before quoting the source.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I’ve seen this trend with a few of the “LLLL.com Price Guides” lately.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I think it’s pretty optimistic to be able to offer guidelines for a type of name, when there are many variables for each.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I have always thought this too, and newbies to the domain industry looking to make a quick buck would be especially susceptible.
February 22nd, 2008 at 6:27 pm
It’s better to run the numbers on a domain name rather than rely on some domain guide.
Even sales numbers can be suspect; sometimes buyers base their bids on their emotion and gut, rather than Keyword and Google stats.
Ms Domainer
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 pm
When anyone one gives me stats or “facts”, the first question i always ask is “what is your source”?
February 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Might this be about the LLLL price guide on 4letternoob? I’m pretty sure all those prices are based on actual sales.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I don’t know that site, but this was really just in general rather than anywhere specific. The questions I would ask would be 1) Who publishes it? 2) Does the publisher own this type of name? 3) Where is all the information compiled? 4) Is everything verified?
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 am
The best “price guide” is your gut intuition.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
“The best “price guide” is your gut intuition.”
Not so sure about that. As a newbie your gut could easily tell that “celebritybuttsex.com” is an absolute gem.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I think people that are new to the industry should study as many sources as possible, but not limit themselves to the price guides. When they do read a price guide (or any source for that matter), they should know who is posting the information and know if there is any ulterior motive. If I registered a bunch of .md names and blogged about how valuable they are and how much they are increasing, wouldn’t it seem fishy if I was also selling these names? If I was so bullish on them, a person should ask, why would I be selling them?
February 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
No problem with informing oneself as much as possible before buying, i agree. But in the case of LLLL.coms theres so much documented sales and way more undocumented ones so i dont see people getting mislead by these guides since they’re based on actual sales and not what an author feels they should be worth.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
So are you saying, that if I sell 500 LLLL.com names for $20/each and email the person who owns the guide, the person is going to use my sales numbers, which will certainly lower the average price? If I email any of these guides and tell them I sold a name, what verification would they require? Do they just trust me if I tell them I sold a name for $5,000? I am merely asking as I don’t know where they get their data, although I do know that Ron and Richard ensure their data is accurate and verified before posting.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I cant speak for every writer of a price guide. As for the one that i follow its based on a variety of accurate sources like dnjournal and namepros/digitalpoint/dnforum sales.
***UPDATED BY ELLIOT***
I don’t follow any of them, but I’ve seen them quoted in sales threads, and I wanted people to think about the source before assuming.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I think LLLL.com market is incetious market, where each price guide feeds on the previous high price point, which results in higher sale price point, then that sales high points used in a guide to sell it at even higher price. For the most part it is sale from domainer to domainer. I tried to post on DomainMagnate.com my views on LLLL.nets which he is hyping so much , and he just deleted my comment. So much for LLLL hypes.