Offered to buy my website!

[owas]

Okay so for the last few months I have been working on a website thats dropshipping toys and children's furniture, I have about 400ish products, the site looks good and I am very happy with the outcome. We have other plans such as two good christmas toys domain names that I though I could set up as other websites and link them to the main site, and a few advertising plans.
The thing is with both of us working full time and two littel kids we are finding it hard to find time to run the site, we weren't both working full time when we started this project btw.
I have been approached by two potential buyers and they both seem intreasted in the site and have been asking me all the questions youd expect, and so far I have been able to answer most questions, but i am still unsure about selling. Its not that I don't want to, but I am worried i am selling it to cheap as the site has loads of potential, I am also worried if theres something I am missing, is there something I should or shouldn't say???
Any one else whos been in this position got any advice for me? also is anyone able to give me a rough valuation of the site, so I know how much I could be loosing on the sale. I thought about selling it at low cost as its a good bussines start up for any work at home mums.
appreciate any advice
Owain

 

[crossdaz]

potential doesn't have much value to be honest.

I get these offers all the time and generally they are basing values on what you could generate in adsense over a couple of years.
Unless you have a domain name which is out of this world the value can only be based on a multiple of your income to date.

 

[owas]

potential doesn't have much value to be honest.

I get these offers all the time and generally they are basing values on what you could generate in adsense over a couple of years.
Unless you have a domain name which is out of this world the value can only be based on a multiple of your income to date.

well so far there has been no income as the site is only about a week old, I do have two domains names that I almost certain (form previous experiences) will rank high in google, more so at christmas and being a toy site.... I have also worked in this market for four years and Im confident in the the site.

 

[principleweb]

Hi Owain

Don't take this the wrong way... why do they want to buy your website when it's only a week old and hasn't made any sales?

Depending on their idea of cost & value they could have a website built to their exact requirements rather than buy. Without a reputation, google ranking, business model, and customer base, I'm not sure what they want to buy yours?

Are they actually wanting to buy your whole business? Rather than just the website?

There are a number of websites around that will calculate a value of your website based on certain criteria and algorithms, but they won't take into account the business plan, supplier relationships, customer base or anything else in your business... but I don't know how much of that you have?

Kev

 

[B2BDatasolutions]

perhaps Owain has a really good domain or a high quality website?

 

[BusinessIdeas]

I really cant see a one week old website being worth anything at all to be honest.

 

[B2BDatasolutions]

At the hope of not sounding arrogant...

Our website isn't that old but we already know it's of high value on the domain name alone.

The reasoning behind my claim is that we've got the .com version of our direct competitors .co.uk domain (which is keyword word specific). .com rates higher in google than .co.uk so immediately could be construed as a direct threat to our competitors, as in a short period of time we could be ahead of them in google.

Couple in the fact the our website is also better in regards to ease of use and branding, we hope any party should see that potentially we could perform alot better than them. And thus value us accordingly.

 

[JamieM]

I really cant see a one week old website being worth anything at all to be honest.

I know where you are coming from but if he has spent £5k (for example) developing a website then that obviously has some value.

Owain, I don't think your site will be worth much more than the money you have spent devloping it. Maybe a little more if the domains are good.

Why don't you hang on to it for a bit? How can you be short of time if you haven't made any sales? You can spend time on marketing etc when you can fit it in. If it is successful you can leave your job or sell it when it has some income.

 

[JamieM]

At the hope of not sounding arrogant...

Our website isn't that old but we already know it's of high value on the domain name alone.

The reasoning behind my claim is that we've got the .com version of our direct competitors .co.uk domain (which is keyword word specific). .com rates higher in google than .co.uk so immediately could be construed as a direct threat to our competitors, as in a short period of time we could be ahead of them in google.

Couple in the fact the our website is also better in regards to ease of use and branding, we hope any party should see that potentially we could perform alot better than them. And thus value us accordingly.

I don't think this is really a good comparison as the value (if there is any) is simply in holding the .com over the competitors .co.uk - on this basis your domain is only worth what your competitor is willing to pay for it (if anything) .com does not necessarily rank higher than .co.uk in Google.

Alternatively, your site value to an independent third party will be related to the income it produces and it is likely that your competitor holding the .co.uk domain will devalue your site to the third party.

 

[owas]

Hi guys,
its fair comments above. I have been completely honest to the potential buyers (still could not happen) and they seen happy with everything. I think what’s attracted them to the site is the fact that all the hard work of getting a good site up, a good theme and adding 400 products is all done, there are also other pluses, such as we have built a good relationship with some of the suppliers, we have found a few good sales leads. As the site has not really been rolled out yet, this gives any new owners a chance to give it their own personal touch.
They have said they have been looking for something like this and would have paid for a developer to do the work, but by buying my site and as most of the web work is done as well as finding suppliers and products etc, it will save them a lot of work and time. I have also offered them as much support as possible afterwards.
I think I have asked for a very fair price, about a quarter of the cost of what some companies pay to set up this sort of site, its a good opportunity for a work at home mum.

 

[Clinton]

Any one else whos been in this position got any advice for me? also is anyone able to give me a rough valuation of the site, so I know how much I could be loosing on the sale.

I've seen hundreds of cases like this and I've written probably the world's most used guide to valuing websites.

First, there is no such thing as a rough valuation for a non-earning site. Any site's value is fluid in that different buyers would stretch to different dollar amounts ... and all those valuations are perfectly valid. For a given site they could range all the way from $0 to several million.

I don't understand what you mean by how much you are losing. If you get more than you invested you aren't "losing". Or is it the case you're worried you are under-selling? Nobody else can decide that for you (as much as you'd like to delegate that responsibility). You've got to decide yourself whether it's a fair price. Even if people could value your site, any figure they offer without sight of the domain and what you've done on it would be pretty worthless.

What my concern is in cases like this is the buyer asking you to get your site formally valued. If they do, it's likely a scam. Fake sellers often point you to a collaborator whose valuation they "trust". Invariably you've got to pay for that valuation. Buyer and collaborator then disappear into the ether.

That may not be their plan, it could be something else. It's very rare for someone to jump in to buy a non-earning, unproven site. I'd proceed cautiously.

 

[sarah844]

id also point out that although you have a .com in same name as competitor already trading in same .co.uk version that you'd be chased for 'passing off' if you sell the same products using same business name, so I presume that although you'd be using the same domain name that your actual business trading name is different to that of your competitor, yes? in which case it would be OK and domain has a value. Otherwise it depends in what context it is used on a site selling the same products and thus mimmicking the competitor. hope ive expalined that right at this time of ight!

 

[MASSEY]

id also point out that although you have a .com in same name as competitor already trading in same .co.uk version that you'd be chased for 'passing off' if you sell the same products using same business name, so I presume that although you'd be using the same domain name that your actual business trading name is different to that of your competitor, yes? in which case it would be OK and domain has a value. Otherwise it depends in what context it is used on a site selling the same products and thus mimmicking the competitor. hope ive expalined that right at this time of ight!

If i have

chocolatebars.co.uk and sell chocolate bars

and some one has

chocolatebars.com and sells chocolate bars.

There is no "passing off"

I dont get what your trying to say :|

 

[Page]

I think they thought you had brandname.com

 

[sarah844]

Yes, that post was assuming they were copying their brand name, not just as a domain name. It was late and maybe I didnt make it as clear as I could have!

 

[owas]

Not sure where this post is headed, I own the .com and .co.uk name of my site and as far as I know there is not other company with a name the same. Well over the three days I have had a lot of interest and two offers and have accepted one, a little lower than what I first asked for, but I am very happy and so is the new web owner.
As I said I have been completely open with them, and they seem happy with it all. They relies they are not paying for a brand or an exceptional domain name, they are paying for a well built website that is ready to roll out the public, the cost of having this done by a web development company would far exceed the asking price.

 

[JamieM]

Not sure where this post is headed, I own the .com and .co.uk name of my site and as far as I know there is not other company with a name the same.

Sarah was confusing you with another poster who commented on the thread.

Well done on finalising the sale!

 

[MASSEY]

Yes, that post was assuming they were copying their brand name, not just as a domain name. It was late and maybe I didnt make it as clear as I could have!

Haha, no problem

 

[jamieclick]

What is the web address?