How to best sell an existing website?

[StonePilot]

I'm not sure if there is a good place to post this here, but I have always gotten good advice here before. So here goes.

I have some websites that I created in the past couple of years that have grown into decent revenue generators for me, but I have changed focus on what I want to do ... and I want to sell these websites.

Can a brother get some advice on how to do this?

Basicly, each of these websites is a "business" in and of itself and each makes a profit. Therefore, it is something that I can sell. However, it's not as easy as handing over the keys to a car that you just sold and signed the title away to.

How do I go about 1) finding a buyer, 2) determining the price, 3) completing the sale, 4) transferring the URLs and website content to them, including moving off of my web host.

If I can get some advice, I'd really appreciate it!

[incrediblehelp]

Have you tried selling them to your competitors?

[topout]

I've never sold one, but I bought a magazines biz and a nursing uniform biz.
We came up with valuation based on
1. Profit minus worked required for upkeep.
2. What we could turn it into using our tech and skills (the nursing uniform site hasn't undergone that process yet).
I bought one through a broker, the other from a person I knew.
For sites with value under $25K a forum is your cheapest and bet.

[visio]

Try http://forums.digitalpoint.com/ they have a very popular section for buying and selling.

Normally estimation is made based on a 12 month income.

At Digital Point forum you are expected to show proof of traffic and income.

[cinebiz]

Not to get too far off topic, but regarding selling domains, suppose there isn't a money making site associated with a domain (either the site hasn't been promoted heavily, or just doesn't exist), is there any value, say, for just the name?

I own a number of domain names, but selling them in places like GoDaddy's Domain Name Aftermarket has brought no bids. I don't suppose that DNA is suited to sell domains that have websites...

[gwhite]

You need to determine your price first. Typically with domains and web based businesses the price is somewhere between 24 months and 48 months net revenue. ( net = total revenue - amount for hosting - amount for advertising). Then if you have any inventory, an amount for that would have to be figured in as well. What determines whether you get closer to the 24 or the 48 month? One factor is the longevity of the business, if you sell a novelty or celebrity focused item, it will be closer to 24, because you can't guarantee that the life span of the site will be more than a couple of years. If you sell an "evergreen" product (evergreen meaning there will always be demand for it, think wedding favors, mother's day gifts, flowers etc), you will get more, and if it is either a really good domain name or it would be difficult for someone to duplicate your site on their own, you start heading to the high end of value. There are at least a dozen sites that web businesses are sold on "bizbuysell.com" being one. Once the agreement has been reached use a service like escrow.com to manage the sale and transfer of the site/domain, you should plan on 30-60 days of technical support for the buyer as part of the deal.

[EditFast]

I think the first place to start would be to post the URLs of the sites so that I can take a look. ;o) Not guaranteeing anything but I would certainly like to see what is for sale.

[asimjalali]

Also try www.SitePoint.com MarketPlace. It has a section for the sale of established sites.

You need to provide proof of income along with any sale. Transfer of domain names is quite straight forward as its usually free to transfer between accounts with the same registrar.

Payment can usually be made using an Escrow service and you should also consider drawing up a contract between yourself and the buyer.

As for transferring a site over to a new server, you need to get some experienced to do this if you are not familiar with configuring servers and moving files. You could specify an additional charge for hiring someone to do this for you.

Just some thoughts...

[nexternal]

I haven't read all the replies, but I would also say www.sitepoint.com. I have bought and sold there and have been very pleased. You should consider sedo too.

Here is an article on sitepoint about how to flip a site. They list some good resources like websitebroker and bizbuysell. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/flip-a-web-site

FYI: I disagree with the valuation summary above. Typical value for online only businesses seems to currently be Net Monthly X 10 months. However, this may vary depending on the staying power of the site / business.

[SportsFan]

I think the first place to start would be to post the URLs of the sites so that I can take a look. ;o) Not guaranteeing anything but I would certainly like to see what is for sale.

eBay has a section for selling domain names and businesses. I don’t know how effective this is.

I listed one of my domains (www.e-zlink.com) but did not get any bids. I would still like to sell it so I will check out some of the other suggestions listed here.