Should I sell my website? Details inside...

Discussion in 'Appraisals' started by bigtime, Mar 8, 2006.

  1. #1
    Hello,

    I was just offered $15,000 for my website and I turned down the offer. They came back and asked me for a price.

    I need some opinions on what a good price would be if I were to sell it.

    The site is http://www.defend.net

    I have an active forum with 10,000 members and have been building the website up since 1996.

    Here are my webstats for January:
    Monthly Statistics for January 2006

    Total Hits 3743739
    Total Files 2636003
    Total Pages 732121
    Total Visits 115989
    Total KBytes 20572500

    Total Unique Sites 38874
    Total Unique URLs 2316
    Total Unique Referrers 3244
    Total Unique Usernames 2
    Total Unique User Agents 2520

    . Avg Max

    Hits per Hour 7090 17803
    Hits per Day 170169 255789
    Files per Day 119818 181589
    Pages per Day 33278 44894
    Visits per Day 5272 6558
    KBytes per Day 935114 1297106


    Any ideas on what would be a good price for the domain, content, forum...everything.

    Thanks,

    Tim
     
    bigtime, Mar 8, 2006 IP
  2. GFX^^

    GFX^^ Well-Known Member

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    #2
    how much are you earning from adsense?
     
    GFX^^, Mar 9, 2006 IP
  3. bigtime

    bigtime Peon

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    #3
    After turning down the $15,000 they came back and offered me $20,000. Am I allowed to state the adsense amount I make? Actually, I just added adsense to my site about 2 months ago.

    Thanks,

    Tim
     
    bigtime, Mar 9, 2006 IP
  4. Roman

    Roman Buffalo Tamer™

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    #4
    If I were you and somewhat considered selling I'd come back with a high amount like $50K. This may scare him off and your descision will be made, but you never know.
     
    Roman, Mar 9, 2006 IP
  5. mcfox

    mcfox Wind Maker

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    #5
    Geeze. That's a premium domain, almost. The caveat of 'almost' is because it's a .net and not a .com but it's still premium.

    Yes, you can safely post your Adsense earnings if you wish. Just make sure not to discuss CTR and other confidential info. As a rough rule of thumb, sites get valued at 10 - 12 times their monthly earnings.

    Try to do a bit of research on the potential buyer if you can. It may give you a better idea of what you can realistically hope to get.
     
    mcfox, Mar 9, 2006 IP
  6. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #6
    Also consider how emotionally involved with the site you are. Will they give you a restraint of trade that is onerous? Even if it looks OK get your lawyer to check it out as they can twist the words afterwards and be incredibly unpleasant.

    What will you do with the $$$
    Have you got a plan for how you will compete with these guys if they set up against you?

    Be wary of the instant cash versus ongoing income.

    Oh and I've given you a link here: http://www.top100vbulletin.com/links/detail/285
     
    sarahk, Mar 9, 2006 IP
  7. shellspeare

    shellspeare Peon

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    #7
    With those stats i would say no less than 30k
     
    shellspeare, Mar 10, 2006 IP
  8. mcfox

    mcfox Wind Maker

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    #8
    Do also bear in mind that you would be very hard pushed to buy an equivalent domain name for the cash you have been offered so far.
     
    mcfox, Mar 10, 2006 IP
  9. MatthewN

    MatthewN Well-Known Member

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    #9
    I personally would not sell if you are earning from it and enjoy running the site.

    If the site is a burdon and you do not have much time for it then look at selling. The site (from the amount of posts I see) seems to have GREAT potential. So, dont sell it too cheap.
     
    MatthewN, Mar 10, 2006 IP
  10. bigtime

    bigtime Peon

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    #10
    Hi,

    Thanks for all your input. I told the guy no to $20k and said it would take $75 to sell. This morning he offered $45k. It's starting to get tempting!

    I added adsense to the forum and other parts of my site about 2 months ago. For march I'm averaging $3.25/day. I really haven't spent too much time working on selling advertising for the site but am realizing I should be doing that.

    My plan now is to actively seek some advertisers to see if I can start generating more income from the site before making the decision to sell.

    A restraint of trade has not been discussed. The site hasn't been a pain at all. I have some really great moderators that keep things running smoothly. Most of the business I get for my martial arts academy does come from the website, so it's really hard to put a value on it.

    I also made some changes last month which has my traffic on a big increase. In only 14 days this month I have 16,000 more visits than I had for the whole month of January!

    Monthly Statistics for March 2006 (march 1 - march 14)

    Total Hits 2665036
    Total Files 1952686
    Total Pages 544115
    Total Visits 126353
    Total KBytes 15839265

    Total Unique Sites 33423
    Total Unique URLs 2094
    Total Unique Referrers 2549
    Total Unique Usernames 4
    Total Unique User Agents 2613

    . Avg Max

    Hits per Hour 7402 17127
    Hits per Day 177669 219167
    Files per Day 130179 159002
    Pages per Day 36274 44466
    Visits per Day 8423 10231
    KBytes per Day 1055951 1347551


    sarahk - thanks for the link. Nice site you've got!


    Any additional input or ideas would be very much appreciated!!!

    Thanks,

    Tim
     
    bigtime, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  11. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #11
    $45k would be a very good deal for the seller I reckon.

    They obviously see alot of value in the domain name.
     
    dcristo, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  12. misohoni

    misohoni Notable Member

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    #12
    45k is great, I'd confirm exactly what the price includes - i.e.:

    - Transfer of domain name and email addresses
    - Payment of transfer fees (whether via Paypal or anything else)
    - Includes content and archived content?
    - Right to use logos and graphics
    - All advertising revenue

    I'm sure there's more. You might be able to agree a term where you can mention on the site about your new site (perhaps transfer some of the fan base to a new site) - whether this is in the form of a running banner ad, newsletter shot or blanket email to all forum users...

    45k seems like a pretty good deal in that respect.
     
    misohoni, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  13. dfsweb

    dfsweb Active Member

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    #13
    This last bit is a really good idea and I would push for this if I were you. As part of the contract, try and get a permanent banner space on the site for a couple of years or a few permanent text links, especially if you have done a lot of work setting all this up you might as well get some benefit back for your other sites, right?
     
    dfsweb, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  14. ideas_man

    ideas_man Active Member

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    #14
    Notice how he jumps from 20K to 45K....more than doubling the previous offer? He sees a lot of potential here.....be wary of letting it go for too little :)
     
    ideas_man, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  15. dfsweb

    dfsweb Active Member

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    #15
    That's right: The Trade Me website in New Zealand (www.trademe.co.nz) sold for around $700 million dollars last week. The site's similar to eBay and had an operating profit of $28mil last year. My point? The site sold for between 15 - 20 times last year's profit so the investors must have seen some (huge) potential there for growth. So, make sure you get a fair value for your site.

    At the same time, don't push it too much 'cos you don't want to lose the same either. There aren't heaps of people floating around who can just dish out $45k for a website. Good luck with the sale, do tell us how it went! :)
     
    dfsweb, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  16. poseidon

    poseidon Banned

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    #16
    What ??? *fainted*
     
    poseidon, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  17. sarahk

    sarahk iTamer Staff

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    #17
    Yeah, for an eBay clone.

    much smarter looking, and had local market domination.

    They really bought an email list for the entire country though. Couple that with the back history for all those people and it's a pretty powerful thing.

    I don't know if TradeMe included OldFriends but if it did then you have peoples academic and work history too. Gritty stuff from a marketing perspective.
     
    sarahk, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  18. dfsweb

    dfsweb Active Member

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    #18
    Yup, $700 million and the main guy who set it up pocketed $227mil out of that. Seven years of hard work on a website (not even an original idea) paying off! :D
     
    dfsweb, Mar 15, 2006 IP
  19. misohoni

    misohoni Notable Member

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    #19
    How did this sell go down? I'd expect it to take a while if the buyer is serious - probably alot of emails going back and forth as to the TOA
     
    misohoni, Mar 17, 2006 IP
  20. Mckormick

    Mckormick Peon

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    #20
    Hi all

    Is anyone here a casino/poker affiliate?

    Do you know if you can sell exsiting players on your affiliate account?

    Cheers
    Daryl
     
    Mckormick, Mar 17, 2006 IP