How Much Is Your Domain Name Worth?

I came across this domain name appraisal service at LeapFish.com. The calculator gives you an estimated value for your domain name based on the name extension (dot com is worth more than dot net), name length, Archive.org score, and search engine score. Entering JohnChow.com produced the following result:

domainjohnchow.jpg

That’s pretty damn good, but I think the pricing is out of whack – it seems very high. Then again, I think this site purposely value any domain name high because directly under the result is an “Expert Appraisal” button, which is an affiliate link to Sedo’s Domain Name Appraisal service.

A Sedo domain name appraisal cost money and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t appraise my name at $97,500.00. However, the fact that LeapFish appraised my name so high might make me want to find out what the real value is. And if I order a paid appraisal from Sedo, LeapFish gets an affiliate commission. Pretty smart marketing if you ask me.

Proof of overpricing from LeapFish came when I entered the domain Sex.com. It gave a value of $69,464,125.00 and this note:

It has been determined based on search results that this name may be extensively valuable beyond the scope of the LeapFish.com domain analysis tool. It is recommended that you seek the services of a complete domain appraisal company rather than rely on this estimate.

LeapFish is saying Sex.com maybe worth more than their estimate. If I was the owner of Sex.com I would be pretty happy with that! However, we know that Sex.com was sold last year for “only” $12 million. Is it worth $69 million now? I doubt it.

While inaccurate, the LeapFish domain name calculator is fun to use. It’s great for impressing family and friends who are not Internet literate. My banker actually believes TheTechZone.com domain name was really worth this much.

domainttz.jpg

Her reaction was, “If that’s just the value for the domain name, how much is the entire site worth?” My reply was, “More than you can afford!” How much is your domain name worth? Enter your domain at LeapFish, get the result and post it in the comments. It should be interesting to see what figure it gives you.