Christopher_C - 6:00 am on May 10, 2004 (gmt 0)

>>How would you guess which ones would be most likely to sell?<<
Simple answer here is to put yourself in the shoes of your buyer and evaluate the domain in terms of the potential (or current) profit. As webwork has mentioned, the domain buyer is sophisticated and this greatly increases with the true value of the domain.

With a great domain, i.e. use widget.com as an example, the domain is better than SEO. No work, no algorithm changes, and consistent traffic from people who type in "widgets.com" rather than going to a search engine. In this way, a domain is no different than any other kind of investment and you should consider its value based upon ROI and opportunity cost.

I agree entirely with webwork that you set a value on a domain because domains have tangible value. If you're entering this game, you should know yourself what the domain is worth because you can be sure that your buyer will. I say tangible because type-in traffic is all about people who are coming to your site because they are looking for the keyword in your domain name.

Now that said, not all domains have type-in traffic and are therefore more intangible in terms of their value. How do you value widgetplanet, cheapwidget, widgetworld, wigetmaster, etc.? You do it by knowing what the others are selling for (or have sold for), and by thinking to yourself how the development of the domain itself is worth. Sure play the negotiating game to get the most you can, but play set a price that's within the appropriate ballpark. The shakers in the domain market are really years ahead of you (and probably $$ as well) but it's a huge market, it's fun, and there is certainly money to be made.

In terms of choosing which one to put on afternic, look at the market and feature the ones that are "hot". i.e. If the media (offline and online) is focusing on a great new american car engine technology, feature a domain related to american cars.