This is very very true, but there are positives just as there are negatives to its nature. With this type of sale and the incoming QBC's we'll be seeing posterior to the sale, it will only prove and show how much more valuable the directories that are well maintained and taken care of really are. So it's a give and take deal imho of course.
Define expenses. Expenses are your time also right ? Lets say a minimum $25 each hour you are working.
Taking the auction's information - It's a PR4 site. Correct me if I am wrong - 9 x $995 is $8,955. So if the cost is $20/month, where does the other $8,935 went? If we follow the links provided within the advertisement, he made the money by selling "links" one for $310, and one for $395. Let's say $400. With 9 customers that is still $3,600. So where is the rest of the money? Also, with that Alexa reach, where can I get a host for $20? The traffic must be enormous compared to normal $20 hosting... Right about there, I would have stopped, and wondered about the bidding price...
- hosting - links - ads - labour ($25 hour ok if you are USA, Canada, or Europe if you are at India could be $2 hour) If you are UK count $50/hour
Not bad price but with 700 per month I don't think I would sell it-unless I have another website with same earnings and bigger potential.
Well the answer is clear cut really from a business point of view if for example you have a quality product, then markets will dictate that there is always a point in time that the owner will decide to realise cash for the product, sell out and move onto their next project. If for example this saleof Directorydelux has realised a price higher than market expectations Then I would expect to see quite a few Directories being put up sale in the near future Why simple because Sellers sell out when similar products are realizing top valuations when sold
An item is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Who knows, if all of us put our best directories up for sale on ebay, some of us will get a lot more than 8k. Who knows what potential the buyer sees in a site. Yes, sometimes buyers simply goof, but I have seen sites sold and a year later it all made sense looking at it and the other sites within the same network.
Other perspective on the sale, the replication value, how much will cost to replicate this PR6 Directory. Probably less than $8,600 but then you will have to wait for around 1 year or more and time is money.
Now all folks who look at this thread need to look at this link posted by Blogmaster This link is the key to the whole thread
Ok, the post is from "Nov 5th 2005, 5:06 pm" more than 1 year ago. And i think the site was sold for $8,600 by "coolweb" (nice guy with very high quality directories) good for him .
Even though I do not like the design of the site I do think that it is worth the price. It has good page rank and some nice google backlinks, plus it does look like a nice amount of revenue comes through the site. For the buyer, it was a good move also, think about it this way, just from this thread alone he may have tripled his traffic and I am sure has gotten quite a few submissions. And I am sure people are blogging about this purchase, so he is gaining even more goolge backlinks. If the new owner touches up the design and maybe drop a little more in some advertising then things just may work out.
What's shocking is how much he was selling the links for. Sitewide link on a PR6 site: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180049508833 Almost $200 per month! Sitewide link on a PR6 sit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180043965569 $155 per month OMG!