Questions and answers
Short answers to the questions people ask before and after their first list. Anything missing? The contact page reaches a person.
What do Pass, Flip and Build mean?
Pass: the engine would not bid. Flip: buy to resell. Build: worth more as a product than as inventory. Every name in a list gets a Score; the top names by Score also get one of these three calls. A name that was scored but not called shows as "not called", which is not a Pass.
Where does the data come from?
Names, prices, bid counts and end times come from GoDaddy's public daily file of expiring auctions, or from the list you import. Every figure carries the time stamp of the file it came from; the live auction is on GoDaddy. Checks name their source: trademark is a famous-brand list (not the trademark office), history is the Internet Archive, links and age come from the file. Comparable sales come from NameBio where they exist. Nothing is invented: a missing value says it is missing.
How does the score work?
How strong the name is on its own, 0 to 100. Same for everyone. Bids and price never count. It weighs the words, the length, the extension, how the name sounds, and the file's CPC, search volume and appraisal when present. Fit, which shows how a name matches your taste answers and marks, sits next to Score and never changes it.
What are Suggested bid, Walk away at, Investors pay and End buyers pay?
Suggested bid is where the engine would open. Walk away at is the price above which it would stop; set it as your maximum and leave it. Investors pay is the resale range to another investor; End buyers pay is the range to a business that wants the name for itself. All four are estimates from the facts and checks on the card, each with its basis shown, not market prices and not promises.
How does bidding work?
Tactical Names never places a bid. You bid on GoDaddy, where the auction runs. The desk gives you the call, a suggested bid and a walk-away price; you log the bid you made so the desk can track it, and later record whether you won. The simplest discipline is to set your maximum at the walk-away price once and let the auction run.
What does the free trial show?
Paste or upload a list once a day for 7 days, no account needed. The engine scores every name on it, calls the top names and opens the real desk with its first 5 Flips and 5 Builds; the other calls stay locked until you choose a plan. Once during the trial you can have the full review emailed to you, and the link in that email signs you in for the rest of the week.
Can I bring my own list, or a list from another registrar?
Yes. Paste names, type a single name on the desk, or upload a CSV, TSV, Excel or zip file from GoDaddy, Dynadot, NameJet, DropCatch, Sedo, Namecheap, or your own spreadsheet. Both the trial and paid plans use the same reader: it finds the domain column, reads prices and end times when present, and lists any notes before importing.
What do the plans include, and how do I cancel?
Scout is $39 a month or $390 a year: the daily GoDaddy list with calls on the top 300, 3 of your own lists with calls on the top 100 names of each, and 20 single-name checks a day. Pro is $129 a month or $1,290 a year: unlimited own lists with calls on the top 300 names of each, and 100 single-name checks a day. Both include Watch and bid tracking, Fit, portfolio, and the morning top five email. Cancel any time from Manage billing on the You page; your plan stays on until the end of the period you paid for.
Is this financial advice?
No. Everything on the desk is an estimate produced by software from the inputs it has. It is not financial, legal or investment advice, and no call is a promise that a name will sell, or sell for any price. You are responsible for your own bids, purchases and renewals.
What do you keep about me?
Your email address, what you do on the desk (marks, lists, logged bids, outcomes, portfolio) and your billing status. We also store a short measurement of the desk: trial starts, the first name you open, interest taps, how long a decision took, and whether a private report was shared or opened. Those records leave out the domain name and the bid amount. A private report link is stored as a hash. The link itself stays in a cookie named tn_share on the browser that created it. No advertising trackers. Page-view analytics, when on, are cookieless and never see the query string of a page or a private report address. To get a copy of your data or have your account deleted, write to support@tacticalnames.com from the address on the account.
Still a question?
Write through the contact page, or try the desk on a list of your own: one list a day, free, no account.