Appraisal notes: methodology, evidence, and limits
A written note that shows its reasoning is more useful than a number that arrives alone. Ours explains what we weighed and what we could not know.
People ask what a name is worth as if a single figure exists somewhere and just needs to be looked up. It does not. A name is worth what a specific buyer will pay on a specific day under specific conditions, and the honest version of a valuation is a range plus the reasoning that produced it. Our appraisal notes are built that way. They state a range, they state the evidence, they state the assumptions, and they state the limits in a section that is not buried.
Where do domain name values come from? Mostly from three things: what the name would let a buyer do, what comparable names have actually changed hands for, and how many buyers could realistically act. Everything else is decoration. A note that skips those three and leads with adjectives is not doing analysis, it is doing sales.
The inputs we weigh
- Extension strength. How the terminal extension is used in the relevant market, how well it is understood by ordinary buyers, and how transferable a name is across extensions.
- Term quality. Length, pronounceability, spelling risk, ambiguity in speech, and whether the term is a category word, a brandable coinage, or a personal name.
- Comparable evidence. Sales of names with similar characteristics that we can describe. Where a comparable is from a private transaction, we describe the characteristics without inventing a figure.
- Buyer set size. How many organisations plausibly could and would transact, and how concentrated that set is.
- Carrying cost. Renewal cost and holding period, which set a floor under patient sellers.
- Negative factors. Existing trademarks, past use that confuses search, prior listings that anchor expectations low, and any dispute history.
Weights are not fixed. A name in a crowded extension can still command a serious price when the buyer set is small but wealthy. A short name with spelling ambiguity may underperform a longer, plainer one. The note shows which factors dominated and why, so a reader can disagree with the conclusion and still follow the argument.
What the note contains
Every note opens with the identification of the name as registered, the date of the analysis, and the purpose. It then sets out the market context for the extension, the term-level analysis, the comparable evidence with a short comment on each item, a range with a discussion of the middle, and a closing section on assumptions and limits. Notes run from a few pages upward depending on how much evidence exists. Where evidence is thin, the note says so rather than padding the file.
What an appraisal note is not
It is not a promise. It is not a price at which we undertake to buy, and it is not a figure we can compel a third party to accept. It is not legal advice about trademarks, and it is not tax advice about the treatment of a sale. It is not a formal instrument for a lender, an auditor, or a court unless the reader chooses to treat it as one, and we do not present it as such. It is a professional opinion about a market that is thin, private, and slow to reveal itself.
Nor does a note create any obligation to transact. A client can commission a note, read it, and do nothing else. We accept that outcome without complaint, because a note that tells a client not to pay a particular price has saved them more than the note cost.
| Note type | Scope | Typical turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Single name | One registration, one extension, full reasoning | 5 to 8 business days |
| Portfolio review | Up to ten names, comparative table included | 10 to 15 business days |
| Pre-mandate read | Fast opinion to inform a buying or selling brief | 3 to 5 business days |
| Supplement | Update to an earlier note with new evidence | 3 to 5 business days |
We accept appraisal work on its own, separate from any representation mandate. A client who wants a second opinion before entering a negotiation can commission a note and stop there. Equally, where a client is already in a negotiation and wants a read on whether to hold or move, we will say what the evidence supports even when the answer is uncomfortable.
Method transparency
If a reader disagrees with a conclusion, the note is written so the disagreement can be located precisely. That is deliberate. Valuations in this market are frequently presented as authorities when they are opinions, and a note that hides its working cannot be argued with, only accepted or ignored. Ours can be argued with, which is the only thing that makes it worth commissioning.