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Thoughts on improving the appraisals forum?

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by timter51, Mar 26, 2014.

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  1. timter51

    timter51 Well-Known Member

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    It seems as though threads in the appraisals forum only really get decent responses if a) the domain is great or b) the domain is laughably bad. The threads which could do with the input of the community the most but go largely ignored are the middle-ground domains, the really tough ones to put a value on. They're not obvious £xx,xxx domains, but they're not junk either. Even if they're hard to value, it's helpful to get advice on potential development / buyer ideas. I am completely guilty of not replying to these threads myself as well.

    I think the appraisals forum could be fantastic if there was a genuinely effective way of encouraging replies and advice. The obvious of course is a "thanks" system which a lot of forums have, which I guess could lead to account bonuses at certain levels or something, like boosts in PM space (I appreciate this is a perk of premium members, but you get the gist).

    That forum has a load of potential, but is woefully underused. Any other ideas?
     
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  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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  3. julian United Kingdom

    julian Banned

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    the problem is you (and many others) are asking for valuations on domains when really in your heart of hearts, you already know what their probably worth e.g. http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/domain-appraisals/124621-physicaleducation-co-uk.html that's why no one can be arsed to reply to these type of appraisals. If it's pretty obvious their not £xx,xxx domains and it's not an £x,xxx domain but it's worth more than £50 you have your answer.


     
  4. timter51

    timter51 Well-Known Member

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    You're just emphasising my point here julian, you "can't be arsed" to reply to my thread (or others) because you think I know what it's worth . Then why did I make the thread in the first place?! I'm asking if people have had experience with selling domains in this particular sector before, and for advice from them. I'm asking if people have a general view on value for this domain, what they think I could reasonably negotiate around with an end user, maybe based on their own experience. I posted that thread because I'm genuinely unsure of the value of my domain and how to approach selling it, and I would be grateful for responses. Aren't we all here as domain investors to buy / sell domains and make a profit?

    I think you're last point about £50 was referencing DomainLore. Selling on DomainLore is my last resort when all else has failed. When actively going out and contacting potential buyers has not worked.

    If you had posted in my thread what you really think of the domain and how much you think it might be worth to either a) a genuine end user or b) sticking it on DomainLore, I would have given you a "Thanks" if the system was in place (or some other system). As it is now, you didn't reply to the thread because you can't be bothered, you think I really know the value of it, and also there's nothing in it for you. The site admins may as well close the Appraisal forum if this is how we all treat it.
     
  5. diablo

    diablo Well-Known Member

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    The real problem with asking for an appraisal is that no domain name has inherent value. No product does.

    Value is entirely in the eye (and mind) of the beholder.

    You might as well use a random number generator than seek prices in a forum.

    Asking for ideas on who potential end-users might be, for example, or potential uses for a domain name that you might not have considered, seems to me a better way forward. Then people with a specific knowledge of a market or industry could chip in. A thanks system or similar would definitely encourage participation.
     
  6. denchomsky United Kingdom

    denchomsky Well-Known Member

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    I think the reason that people don't bother to appraise anymore is because of the scenario below:

    Poster: What do you think this domain is worth?

    Appraiser: Zilch, its worthless, I wouldn't pay reg fee.

    Poster: oh come on it's got to be worth at least £xxx, xxxxxx.co.uk went for £xxx last month

    Appraiser: Yes but xxxxxx.co.uk had some decent keywords in it and it was brand-able, yours is not.

    Poster: oh thats rubbish, I think it's worth at least £xxx

    .............................silence.

    So, it's a waste of time appraising a domain when the person asking for an appraisal doesn't want to listen to the opinion of an experienced domainer who knows the value of domains.
     
  7. atlas Canada

    atlas Well-Known Member

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    I agree with this completely.

    In addition, a lot of people seem to use the appraisal forum as a way to promote their domains for sale. Typically it follows this process: catch domain --> put domain up for appraisal --> put domain up for sale, accepting offers --> list domain for sale at DomainLore.
     
  8. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    Spot on. Appraisals are OPINIONS not fact. That's what you're asking for when you start a thread in the appraisals forum: somebody else's OPINION. So respect the effort they've put into sharing their OPINION by not fighting them!

    If it wasn't so much effort to police, the appraisals forum could do with a "3 strikes and you're out" rule - argue with other people's appraisals of your own name on three separate threads, and your access to the appraisals forum is permanently removed.

    As I say, though, the above is just a "pipe dream" unfortunately as it would be systemically unworkable in practice...
     
  9. timter51

    timter51 Well-Known Member

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    You're all making absolutely valid points. These are issues with trust that can only be ironed out by working together in the community. I would massively appreciate thoughts, feedback and suggestions on any domain I post in that forum, even if you don't / can't include a value, and I post threads in that forum with true sincerity. I think a "thanks" system can really help here, if you reply in a thread and the OP doesn't bother to "thank" you, then don't bother replying in any more of his threads or entering into any overly-precious debate with them.

    I guess ultimately I think the forum can be really powerful and useful to genuine domainers who want to give and receive genuine advice. At the moment, it's a wasteland.
     
  10. websaway United Kingdom

    websaway Well-Known Member

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    There are a lot of buyers at the moment who would not want to talk prices up.
    The general silence in the forum is deafening only a few old timers still posting regularly, but the uk extension is going through it's biggest transition since it was launched so be patient.
     
  11. figleaf007 United Kingdom

    figleaf007 Active Member

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    Would it be a good idea to have a voting system in place for each domain eg

    reg fee
    Up to £100
    £100 to £500
    £500 to £1000
    and a few more iterations....won't take too much effort for people to click on to it and if people want to leave further text opinion they can.

    That technically possible?
     
  12. atlas Canada

    atlas Well-Known Member

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    I like this suggestion.

    Perhaps this can be done through the poll function on vbulletin?
     
  13. scottmccloud

    scottmccloud Well-Known Member

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    I think ideas about end-users would be great, genuinely useful, rather than just throwing random prices as curently happens.

    A while back, when domainer to domainer sales weren't as depressed as they are now, you probably could put a rough 'domainer' value on domains. Now with these sales much reduced, end-users are the only way to go.

    There are loads of domains posted on here that on the face of it are really good, such as single dictionary word domains. But when you look at some of them a bit harder, it's hard to see who would actually buy them. It's domains like this that I think would be really interesting to have some different views on.
     
  14. Edwin

    Edwin Well-Known Member

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    Interesting idea, but can we please banish the concept of "reg fee"?

    There's no such thing as a £3 domain name - not as a viable resale concept, anyway. That's just too low a value to be meaningful. Either it has no value at all (not "reg fee", NONE) or else it has SOME value - where the some has to be a meaningful enough number for somebody to be willing to go to the effort of paying it and processing the domain transfer. £50 - like the DomainLore minimum - for example might be a good non-£0 baseline.

    In other words, if the domain's not even worth 50 quid then just round it down to zero and put the owner out of their misery. False hope benefits nobody...
     
  15. greg2013 United Kingdom

    greg2013 Member

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    Seems that way, usually.

    Issue is likely as with most help and support forums, people get tired of repeating themselves.
    The "middle ground" is frequent, monotonous, and difficult and time consuming to answer, so no-one bothers.
    Whereas answering A and B is easy: "fab domain great luck" and "You'll get 10 bob and a dirty nipper end"

    A potential solution, as with all sorts of repetitive forum stuffs, is to make a sticky.
    However, this only works if users reply to these threads to point users to the sticky, and if the sticky is decent.
    Sticky needs good time spent on it initially, and tweaking now and then to improve, and add more info when additional patterns emerge from new user posts.

    It's impossible to cover all bases, but I'm sure it's possible to cater for 70% or more of the "how much is this worth" posts, only needing a single member to reply to a post pointing the OP who ignored the sticky to read the sticky.

    The sticky, named something apt like "How much your domain might be worth", will have info in which will give a general idea of what constitutes a poor name, decent name, and great name.

    It should mention various clauses, like "this is a guide only" and "sometimes even a domain which is classed as poor and worth £10 might get a lot more from the right buyer, but the right buying finding your domain is needle/haystack, and is why domains labelled as poor often sell for nothing/very little".
    etc etc...

    Have a list of most valuable TLD in most sought after order (.com, then .co.uk, etc)
    Then explaining what domains are poor and likely not sell/get very little, eg "Two unrelated dictionary words that clash", etc.
    Which are worth a lot, eg "single dictionary word .com" etc.
    It'll be a bit of work to come up with a guide, but if done with love will probs be better than the crappy/pointless auto evaluate sites out there (sorry julian..)

    It should also state (near top to hopefully make people read on) that even asking in the forum isn't going to bring you a 100% accurate appraisal, as domains are valued based on many factors - the words used, tld, other similar domains, marketability, potential buyer base, site rank, inbound links, SERP rank, visitors, etc etc.

    And have a few examples of domain sales. Such as some sold for >100K, >50k, etc, then some which sold for £50.
    Domain examples chosen carefully to give people a good overall impression of what domains get them the mega bucks they think they're going to get for the domain they have which will actually get them £5.
    And vice versa, and stuffs in between.


    This isn't to replace domain evaluations, but to sort the wheat from the chaff and avoid constantly telling noobs (*raises hand*) their domain is worth bugger all.


    Perhaps a combination of the sticky, and voting would work well:
    a) Giving users feedback/replies without much work needed from those with knowledge
    b) Build up useful stats for future users to get an idea of domain values
    c) Sticky could give even non-noobs some reminders
    c) Voting will be fun..

    The only issue I have with voting is it's not as accurate as someone explaining why the domain is worth a tenner, or ten grand.
    Anyone can vote whatever they wish, e.g.
    "How much is better-than-facebook.com worth?"
    And people vote "between £25,000 and £50,000" for a laugh...

    So perhaps voting should require criteria. The usual requirements:
    X total posts
    member for Y months
    etc
    I know blanket policy is never ideal, and seasoned forum users can still vote nonsense, but it helps weed some of the bollocks.
     
  16. sdsinc Iceland

    sdsinc Active Member

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    The best way to improve the section would be to post good names. But people usually know when they have good names, they don't need appraisals :)
     
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