Selling a personalised gift business

[justintime]

My son is looking at selling his personalised gift website. To be honest he's never really bothered promoting it and it's been laying dormant for a few months.

The main selling points will be the software and the website, built on cubecart. The software is currently 2 years old, and the vendor has upgraded twice in that time. When accessing the software you get a nag screen saying to upgrade, but can continue using the software should you choose not to upgrade.

The question he's wondering is, does he spend £50 upgrading it for a year, or £80 upgrading it for a lifetime, thus making it more attractive to sell and is he likely to recoup the outlay if he does that.

 

[jjames35789]

Seems to make more sense to me i think.

 

[darren atkinson]

You are only talking a difference of £30 so I don't think it's going to put somebody off either way really if I'm honest.

What's the website address? A quick look at it will tell me roughly what it is worth in terms as a standalone website, if it is worth nothing then I wouldn't bother upgrading the CubeCart software at all, however if it is worth something then it might be worth upgrading the software

What I'm trying to get across (in a very poor way) is that if the site isn't going to generate a decent sales value don't bother upgrading the software as you will most likely be wasting your money.

 

[EZRShelving]

I would leave it as it is, any potential buyer may want to change the software in the future anyway.

 

[justintime]

You are only talking a difference of £30 so I don't think it's going to put somebody off either way really if I'm honest.

No, he has the option to not upgrade, but leave the buyer with a request to upgrade every time he uses the software. If he was to upgrade it makes more sense to spend £80 upgrading the software for life rather than £50 for the year.

What's the website address? A quick look at it will tell me roughly what it is worth in terms as a standalone website, if it is worth nothing then I wouldn't bother upgrading the CubeCart software at all, however if it is worth something then it might be worth upgrading the software

The website address is yourchoicegifts dot co dot uk. The site has a lot more products that could be added but as I say, he never really promoted it. As a standalone website it's not worth anything. What he is also selling is the business, which includes the website, the software that allows him to put the products together eg wall clocks, cd clocks, keyrings etc) That software costs approx £130 to buy new but that's without the lifetime upgrade. He also has roughly £70 worth of stock.

What I am asking is it worth spending an extra £80 out in the hope of increasing the sale value by £80 or more?

PS Sorry, in my first post I didn't make it clear that the software was not connected to the website. The software allows him to put the product together, the website is to help sell the completed product.

 

[darren atkinson]

Ah, I understand now.

Unfortunately you are right, the website is worth very little indeed I'm afraid on it's own in my opinion.

If it I was in your position I wouldn't bother spending the money on the upgrade, I don't really know how specialised the software is but if someone can buy it new for £130 then presumably they will get some kind of limited time ongoing upgrade support with it anyway??

Also you have to consider if the license for the lifetime upgrade is transferable to a 3rd party?

That's how I would handle it anyway.

 

[KeithGreen]

Hello to the OP.

As a business opportunity this may have some modest value. Over the last year I have sold similar opportunities for between £1,200 and £6,500. I've currently got one going through at £5,500 although this does come with some equipment and stock as well. I've also had a couple which didn't sell so it could go either way.

If you want to send me a PM I'm happy to give more specific advice but there are buyers out there.