I asked Rick Shcwartz, AKA Domain King, AKA Webfather, for his opinion on this discussion, here’s his take.I’ll keep this short. I have yet to see anyone reputable or qualified actually give an appraisal. There is really no such thing. The closest is Moniker who has been recognized by the IRS as qualified. But it does not change my view.
Let’s start here…….EVERY appraisal service I have ever seen is little more than a scam. Sorry if you appraise domains, but why are YOU qualified. I would say there are less than 10 people on the planet that “I” would consider qualified to give appraisals and NONE of them go around giving appraisals and they don’t sit there and charge folks $20 for SMOKE! Most wouldn’t know a worthless domain from one worth $1 million if it smacked them upside the head. btw, this is one of the reasons you hear a lot of negative stuff about me. I am not afraid to call them as I see them and I just made enemies with every appraisal service out there. Sorry guys, I agree with Sahar, you are just a bunch of scams. Can we be friends now? Didn’t think so. I just don’t think any of you are actually qualified to give an appraisal. There is only one appraisal and we all know what that is.
There are too many factors. There are many questions to ask. When someone emails me waving an appraisal in my face, I look at them as tainted, gullible, silly and unrealistic.
So if you have an appraisal, IT IS WORTHLESS and you are a fool to believe anything else. But hey, knock your socks off when you get a $20k appraisal for your worthless domain or get the same $20k number for a domains worth hundreds of thousands.
Appraisal service = scam = don’t be fooled = 100 less friends for Rick.
And 100 less for Sahar 
Well said, thanks Rick!
“..There is only one appraisal and we all know what that is…”
The check from the buyer, that clears.
I agree with Dave.. and Rick.. The people who can give qualified appraisals are those that work in this industry and have an intimate understanding of the machinations relating to type-in-traffic/direct navigation and paid-search. Domain values transcend the resale or “buy it now” price. In 2000/2001, domain names were regarded as worthless by all but a handful of wildcatters .. You had stock brokers jumping out of buildings like it was 1929.. checks stopped clearing, the market crashed and burned but a few faithful took huge risks and soldiered forward. Flash to December 2003 when Google rolled out “Adsense for Domains” to the masses and all of a sudden the optic changed on ‘main street’. Worthless became valuable. The future is uncharted but any industry that can suvive the tech-crash and live to thrive is one I want to be a part of. As time moves on and more people come in to backfill the work done by early folks like Rick, there will be a new generation of qualified appraisers who ‘get it’.. they’re coming
Hey Rick, who are the 10 ?