Buying a Clickbank eBook Site

I found someone who is looking to sell their Clickbank eBook, domain, & site.

He says he wants "quick sale" and he wants me to make him an offer. I like the product and, while I feel the site and product need some work, I think I can do a lot with it.

The problem is I have no idea how much to offer for the site. I don't know how to place a fair value on the site.

He says he'll let me make an offer for the site and book... he'd like to see it go to someone who can do something with it. If he doesn't like the offer or if I don't make an offer, he'll post the book/site for sale and he'll also send out a notice to his affiliate list and mailing list.

Wondering if someone can give me a ballpark estimate of what to offer...

April-- 4253 unique visiotrs

Clickbank income -- Approx $600 per month

A few active affiliates, including PPC affiliates.

A few good backlinks, though it's only a PR2 homepage with a couple of PR3 internal pages.

Condition-- I'd have to take his name off the book.

What I'd probably do: The site has professional graphics and is designed well... but I think I'd redesign the site from scratch and rename the book to make it seem like a new product.

Any idea what a fair price would be?

Many thanks for any and all replies.

 

600/month is not a bad income.

does that take into account refunds?
whats the niche? is it something that will sell at this level for years?
He should really through out a ball park figure.

usually sites sell for 10 months revenue

buying the site - giving it a makeover then emailing your list of affiliates could boost the earnings quite a bit.

 

Thanks for the pricing formula, Swerd. I wish he DID give me a ballpark figure, but he seems pretty open-minded and I think he's lost interest/focus on the niche and just wants to get rid of it.

The site would definitely need a makeover and the product would definitely need some touching up. With some work, I think it might be a good investment for some time to come.

Have you ever renamed and re-branded a product? One of the condtions is that his name comes off the product. This means new graphics, etc. If I were to do that, I might as well rename the whole product, new graphics, etc. But I think I'd needto keep the current title in there someplace to keep old curstomers from accidentally re-buying the product.


Thanks again for the helpful advice. +rep for you.

I appreciate any other thoughts/advice people may have. I've never purchased a website before and the process seems like a decent opportunity, but also makes me nervous.

 

Why not upgrade the product and offer it to existing customers . As for pricing sites... I never sell for less than 18 months worth of revenue. That's the way it is offline, and I took that rule online.

Rebranding the product *may* decrease your sales in the short term, but if you do a good job it will boost them long term

 

I've seen them sell for that on DP , but a 10 month return on an investment is unheard-of in the real world. A more realistic return would be 18-36 months and would be considered a great investment, by most!

 

36 months.. nah.. that means i have a site worth ~ (edit - oops not 1.4 mil lol..) I mean $288k


its worth as much as somebody would pay and I wouldnt offer more then $6000 for the site..

You could make a similar site/product for under 1k.. send a shout out to affiliates and you could be making the 600/m in 3 months with a much smaller investment.

 

Its an ebook and domain. I wouldn't pay more than $2000 for it. And make him sell you his clickbank ID that way you get the OLD email addresses of purchasers so you can Upsell them etc..

 

Swerd is right. The market rate for selling of sites is 10 months of its current revenue. and that's provided it has factor in the net profits after refunds.

 

Sorry, fireboat. I wasn't trying to spin this topic into a different direction. I agree, I wouldn't pay anything for an e-book site or very little, but there are sites on our web that wouldn't go for less than 18 months revenue and they sell! I guess it depends on where one sells...

...I'm going to leave this thread alone.

 

I appreciate hte input and the different points of view.

I realize you can build an ebook site cheaply. I wrote 2 semi-successful eBooks and they sell quite well. My investment: $100 per site. $50 for Clickbank registration and $50 for graphics. I did all the web work and writing and everything else myself.

But I see a couple of benefits to purchasing this site & book --
1. Proven income.
2. I can't write an ebook on this particular topic myself, even though it's in my niche
3. I can compete with the new buyer or I can BE the new buyer. If I buy the book & site, I have no competition.

Still, it's an expensive investment. I'd want to redesign the site, so I'd really just be paying for the book and the domain.

I haven't made him an offer yet. I am still undecided, though it is tempting. I need one more night to sleep on it.

Thanks for the honest and informative discussion on the topic -- Let's keep it going!