Domain Name Appraisers

Finding the right domain name appraiser can be difficult. There are a lot of web sites around that claim to appraise domain names for a fee. More often than not, they dont disclose exactly how they do this, claiming that its a secret science.

In order to bring some transparency to the practice, here are some questions you can ask a domain name appraiser.

Top 5 Questions To Ask A Domain Name Appraiser

1. Do you have a domain name portfolio yourself? If yes, can I see a partial list of domains? If so, why not?

If the appraiser has a domain name portfolio, check the quality of the domain names provided. If there are 100 names and 95% of them are low quality, then this isn't a good sign.

2. How long have you been in the industry? What did you do beforehand?

3. Are you active on industry forums? eg: dnforum or namepros?

4. Can you provide examples of your work? What names have you appraised? Did they sell? If so, for how much?

If the appraiser says that they can't discuss the names, because they are under non-disclosure (which could be true), then ask if they can contact three of their clients with a view to gaining permission for you to know about the sale of the domain.

5. Tell me about your negotiating skills.

The idea behind this question is to get an understanding as to how good they are when it comes to bargaining. The appraiser must be skilled in the art of negotiation, specifically in the process of making offers and countering offers.