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sedo@maximumhost.net

Kristofor Wiese
391 Adams apt 17

06040 Manchester
United States

Cologne, 2004-02-02

Domain "version.org"

Dear Mr. Wiese,

Thank you for ordering a domain appraisal from SEDO. This report should give you a fair estimation of
the value of your domain name, its search engine friendliness, advertising and marketing potential.

Great care and attention has been taken in creating this document. Please bear in mind that we do not
guarantee that the domain name can be sold for the estimated price if placed on the market. There is
ultimately no “right” price as this is subject to market conditions and demand at the time of auction or
sale. If you would like to place your domain on the market, then you may do so for free at
www.sedo.co.uk.

If you already have a potential buyer for your domain, then we can help you with the negotiation process
and domain transfer. Simply contact us by e-mail at info@sedo.co.uk and we will gladly answer any
questions or queries you may have.

Yours Faithfully,

Tim Schumacher

Sedo GmbH ⋅ Make a name for yourself! ⋅ www.sedo.us ⋅ info@sedo.us 1

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APPRAISAL FOR VERSION.ORG

1. Top Level Domain:

The Top Level Domain (TLD), i.e., the domain extension (eg., .com, .net, .uk), has considerable influence
on the value of a domain name. However, not every TLD suits every term.

The domain name version.org has the .org domain as the TLD. This tends to have a relatively neutral
influence on the domain name because while the .org TLD can be used internationally, it has not
achieved the same popularity as .com domains and thus has a relatively low market value (around 5% of
a comparable .com name). Furthermore, the .org TLD is best suited for use by a non-profit organization
or association. This has a negative impact on the domain's valuation as organizations are inherently less
able to pay a lot for a domain name than a commercially-oriented business.

2. Length and Retention:

The domain name version.org is relatively short (7 Letters). Our research has shown that shorter domain
names (from 2-7 letters) tend to be the most valuable, while domain names over 10 letters long are
worth slightly less. Long names of more than 20 letters become unwieldy and are worth only a fraction of
the value of a shorter name. With a name of 7 letters, however, you are unlikely to see a large positive
or negative impact in the domain’s value due to the length factor.

The term is easy to remember. The easiest domain names to remember tend to be those that consist of
a single real word or a popularly used expression. Since „version“ is a common real world that describes
effectively the likely contents of the site, this domain has the potential to effectively capture user
mindshare with only minimal marketing support.

3. Linguistic and phonological suitability

From a linguistic point of view the domain name version.org is considered valuable as it is a meaningful
two-word phrase in the English language. Due to a general interest in these names, they tend to be more
valuable than domain names in other categories (with the exception of single-word English language
domains). A domain’s value is inversely related to the number of words it contains—thus "version.org"
will generally be worth less than "vision.com", but more than "versiononline.com". Because each of the
words in your domain are short, common words, the name is not too unwieldy to spell or pronounce.
This will mitigate the negative impact on the valuation that comes from having two words.

4. Typing Error Sensitivity

A company has generally a whole range of domain names, and this is known as a domain portfolio. The
company should try to derive all possible variations, spellings and combinations of its name and its
product´s names. In many cases this has not been the case and there are holes in the domain portfolio.
These holes can cause traffic diversion. Through our experience and empirical studies we have
discovered that companies which only register one variation of a name as opposed to registering every
variation possible experience losses of visits due to users being lead to incorrect domain names.

The domain name version.org is not affected by traffic diversion as it is not so susceptible to typing
errors and it has one of the best TLDs.

5. Legal Situation

Legal requirements and jurisdiction have a deciding influence on the registration and sale of domain
names. Normally there are no problems with company name, variations of a company name or company
product names as long as there are no disputes over a trademark, or descriptive names.

The domain name version.org can be categorised as a generic or descriptive name. Normally the

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registration and sale of such domain names is not problematic. However, problems have arisen in certain
cases. Because of this, you should in any case keep up to date on the legal situation concerning domain
names on Sedo.co.uk, and consider consulting a qualified trademark attorney.

6. International Usage

Suitability for international usage is an asset for any domain. This is not a must, but it increases the
value of a domain considerably. Both language and TLD influence the suitability for international usage.

Due to the .net/org ending the domain "version.org" is suitable for international use. This has a positive
effect on the domain appraisal. However, the .net/.org image is not as powerful or well developed as that
of the.com ending. Thus it is worth less than the .com ending.

7. Search Engine Friendliness

The appearance of popular search terms in domain names allows them to achieve higher positioning in
search engine results. Search engine algorithms give higher placements to domain names which contain
the searched keyword. For example upon entering "version" into the search engine, the results will
contain many domains which have this term.

Search engine "methods" vary from engine to engine. Keyword presence plays an important role in
results for engines like Google, but for example is not important in an engine like Altavista. In search
engines where the domain name has a large influence on the positioning in the results, the web sites
version.com and version.co.uk will tend to be positioned towards the top of the search results for
"version".

Your domain name contains a keyword which is not a very relevant search engine term, according to our
database analysis. On Overture.com for example, this term was only searched 7089 times in the last
month. We can conclude that search engine compatibility is limited. Thus, version.org is most likely
relevant only to a focused target group, or it could be used effectively in some type of branding effort
(see next point).

8. Branding and Advertising Potential:

The domain name is identical to the brand or company name in purely Internet based businesses. A
strong brand identity along with other factors like quality of the product on the Internet site itself helps
in building a successful web site. The sound and the image of the domain name are also important in
developing a brand name.

The use of domain names by conventionally established companies results in a positive image transfer to
the company and its products. The domain name should be the company name and it should not be a
compound formed from words such as "online" with the company name and should not be hyphenated.

We have tested your domain name for its suitability for both types of businesses, and have determined
that this domain name has limited advertising or branding potential. Both the phonological characteristics
and the international suitability are weak.

9. Market Chances:

This describes the estimated probability that a buyer will be found for the domain. This is based on our
experience in the domain trade and with the following five tips you can increase the chances that the
domain will be sold.

• Place the domain for sale on all the important domain markets, where actual purchase
and sale of domain names takes place. Entering the domain into your favourite domain list
won´t do that much for you. Domains should be placed on a market where their name is actively
being advertised, through banner advertising, press releases or adverts.

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• Position your domains carefully, so that it can be found again. Pay attention when choosing
the category and adding extra information, and remember to set a fixed price.

• Do not set any unrealistic prices as this will deter potential buyers. You should base the price
on our estimated value and ask yourself if you would be prepared to pay that amount for the
domain name.

• Advertise the domain: Just like in every market, where offers exceed demand advertising is
essential. This also applies to your domain name which you want to sell. You should enter the
domain into our data base at sedo.co.uk. Our experience has shown that domains which are for
sale and have this link on their page are sold 3-4 times more quickly. The link for the forwarding
of the domain version.org is as follows: http://www.sedo.co.uk/parking/version.org

• Always reply to offers: You will definitely receive some offers through the contact form about
sedo.co.uk. You should always answer these e-mails even when the price may be too low, as
there may be some chance of negotiations. Make sure that your e-mail address is correct in the
Sedo data bank so that you can be contacted.

Unfortunately you do not own a very high quality domain name and we feel that despite the quite low
estimated value, it could only be sold after a substantial investment in marketing. You should accept a
low offer for the domain.

In the case presented we feel that the overall market situation is fair to poor. This could result in sales
values that are depressed relative to those of the boom times of a few years back. Nonetheless, the
uncertain future impact of the new TLDs and other major developments on the domain name market
mean that you are generally well-advised to follow-up on any serious buyer, even if their offering price is
not at the same level of prices a few years ago. Time and again, we have seen that sellers who make
many moderate-value sales fare better than those who hold out for "the big one" that never comes.

10. Comparable Transactions:

Here we have domain sales which fall into a similar domain name category and could be placed in the
same price bracket as your domain name. These domain names were chosen because they share one or
more of the following characteristics in common with your domain: 1) Extension; 2) Number of words; 3)
Comparable commercial potential.

Pill.org US$ 2,730

Karte.org US$1,800
Sportsbet.org US$1001

The fact that domains similar to yours have been sold is generally positive for your domain appraisal and
the chances of making a sale are greatly improved. However it may be that at the time of sale there was
a special interest in these domains and we may not be able to generalize from this.

11. Estimated Value

Based on our analysis of your domain name we conclude the following: The estimated value of your
domain name is:

2,500 US$

The estimated figure is based on factor analysis, and it is the value which we consider to be a fair price
for both buyers and sellers. This price is subject to market conditions, negotiations and legal issues like
trademark rights. You may increase the value of the domain name and its market chances by following
the guidelines for a positive domain appraisal as specified in this report.

Sedo GmbH ⋅ Make a name for yourself! ⋅ www.sedo.us ⋅ info@sedo.us 4

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Sedo GmbH ⋅ Make a name for yourself! ⋅ www.sedo.us ⋅ info@sedo.us 5