Got an offer to buy one of my sites...ADVICE PLEASE!!
 

I got an offer to buy my main website which is my main source of income...it earned (gross) 47k in 2007 and 36k in 2008, which is a decent drop, but its bouncing back for 2009. the offer is $60k with a $15k down payment and the rest to be paid out over 3 years. buyer wants to keep me on as co-webmaster for $500-750/month after sale.

i haven't yet gone to college and this is my full time job so i want to make sure i do the right thing before heading to school...i could always build up one of my smaller sites after the sale but it would be a slow process and visitors may not like it as much as the main one id be selling...

thoughts?? :helpme:helpme its a mainsteam site with a steady reader base and daily fresh traffic that combined comes out to about 10k uniques a day on avg (give or take of course)

whats the site?

I'd keep it... think long term.

$15k down rest paid over 3 years?

You are setting yourself up to get fucked.

Probably, so make sure to sign a legalized contract if you decide to go on that route.

Why would you sell it and basically make $15,000 a year for the next three years from it? You could probably let the site sit and make more than that.

I wouldn't do it based on those terms.

yeah there would def be a contract with a minimum monthly payment clearly outlined. thanks for the replies so far i really appreciate any and all advice

Agreed.. These deals never work out. If it were more money down then might be better but not even half, well I wouldn't do it.

yeah for sure. i wouldnt do it. even if they sign a contract they can file bankruptcy and good luck on collecting. id settle with them for $50k or walk away

the buyer isn't Maryam Abacha or Dr. Felix Dikeibo is it?

If they default or start ignoring the contract... are you really prepared to go after them? Can you financially and practically take them to court?

Dont sell and dont go to college. Why waste the money? Keep building your empire it will cost less than college and make you a lot more in the long run. :2 cents:

thank you very much for the replies!!!! keep em coming please

Contracts aren't worth shit. They only keep people in line when everything is going smoothly. People can simply walk away and you have to take them to court, you will end up going into arbitration, and the contract will be adjusted anyway by the end of it all.

Get no less than 50% down and keep ownership until it is paid off. You may have to give up a little on the monthly or the total costs to get that deal but it's worth it knowing you will get paid.

Why don't you just keep the site and pay someone to maintain it while you go back to school?

what he said.

contract or not if they go belly up and have no assets you will get dick

keep it

what the potential buyer told me in his offer, but he's also willing to do a flat monthly payment instead of this one

bad idea to stretch that shit over 3 years... what happens if the buyer dies? you're fucked. get it all or no deal imo

Take $60 up front or FUCK THAT!!!

And I would ask for $80k.

You want to sell it so you can blow your money.
"OH WOW, 15k in my hand all at once. No more waiting for only 3k at a time."

Bullshit. Start living cheap and use the website money for school.

3 years in internet time is an eternity. a facebook can turn into a geocities in that time.

Dude that is a TERRIBLE DEAL.... think about it.

Your average sales are $41,500 per year. That means you are bringing in $3458 per month. Why would you give that up to make $750 per month while doing the exact same work you're doing now?

Don't sell your site - keep it and keep working at it. You'll be much happier.

Offer to make a site for him for his $15k down payment and then sell him your webmaster services for $750.00 a month. He will be getting a good deal AND you get to keep your site and your current monthly cash flow. :)

no way in hell would I do that! Trying to get someone to pay you for something for the next 3 years is dumb. The only way I would do anything like this is if he paid $45k up front and 15k over the next 3 years. That way you have most of your money already and if he doesn't pay on it you are still better off and you can decide if it's worth taking him to court for the rest.

Also what happens even if you think he is honest and he goes into it with the best intentions but 3 mos after he takes over the biz he fucks it up and it starts making 15% of what you were able to make from the site. Do you think he will still pay you $45k for it?

If you sell it there will be a long post full of fail pictures plastered in this thread.

DON'T DO IT!

He's basically going to give $15K from the site, and then use it against you to pay it off.

Why not keep all the revenue to yourself?

I've seen people post here saying they sold a site for a certain amount. Were paid 25% and then never saw the rest. In some cases the person was able to start drama and chase the person down and get paid the rest.. but what a hassle..

Also 60k over 3 years.. If you keep the site for 3 years you will make more. Especially if you think your site is doing better this year..

If you sell it you will be making less on the site, acting as a webmaster working for them and trying to go to school.

May as well keep the site, make more money and go to school..

I guess it's a question of is school going to take up too much of your time to keep the existing traffic and continue to grow by yourself.

Don't take 15k tho. In 1 or 2 years your traffic could drop to nothing because the new owners fuck it up and then make a claim that because they aren't making any money off the site they owe you nothing.

I've seen it here before.. You don't want to spend 30k on lawyers trying to get your money.. It looks like since they are offering you 15k they have no money.. Even if you win a lawsuit you still gotta get the money out of them..

ask 6 times your yearly revenue or no deal...

I remember when one of my sites... vstrip... I had an offer from someone. They asked me how much I would be willing to sell it for... it made $400 per month at that time but #1 on google. I said... I wouldn't sell for less then 6 figures... he LOL and said "I'd like to see that". Vstrip makes over 100K per year on the same traffic... keep whats good and the rest will follow.

How about you make someone here an offer of $500 a month to webmaster the site and keep it instead?

thanks for the replies everyone

the sites avg monthly earnings have been hurting a lot since october, but this month its picking up. hopefully it sticks after april.

jan - 3000 (gross)
feb - 2760
march - 2800
april - on track for 3200+

then theres a 400 server bill after that. ad rates have been horrible lately im working harder than ever but making less money due to the ad rates, its frustrating.

HORRIBLE idea! HORRIBLE!

You aren't leveraging your risk against the payoff AT ALL. In order to make it worth your investment - i.e. your time - is to triple that sale price and get more than half up front. Period.

Big time all up front or no deal he will probably keep you on for a couple months then say some bull like biz is going down and dump you :2 cents:

no way jose

3 years income is the average.

Three years income is the average? What?

unless its a tgp... i wouldn't sell.

I would highly suggest you shop your site on digitalpoint (another mainstream message board) before you close your deal with this guy. There are people over there that buy sites all day long for much better multiples than what this guy is offering plus pay cash instead of a series of payments stretched over 3 years.

Good luck!

Upfront or nothing, i'd also ask 2 years if you think the site will maintain income that long.

Keep it unless its a full buyout.

:2 cents: Hell, is it really so time consuming that you can't study and maintain it at the same time? I don't know why you'd want to sell it.

Personally, I would not sell according to those terms.. To easy for you to get fucked over. It may sound like a good deal, but I'll bet that whoever the buyer is will fuck you in the end. If he/she/they really want it tell them they'll have to pay the full amount in one shot or no deal.

I see it going like this

he/she/they put $15k down
you still work for them and get paid while receiving the monthly payments for the left over $5-50k
you already basically transferred the domain to him/her/them sp it's in their name.
they will skip town and now you will no longer have that site to sell to a REAL buyer who's willing to pay the full price upfront.

Ya, I skipped a lot, but that's just what I see happening without going into to many details. I wouldn't sell.

It sounds to me like the buyer is trying to take advantage of you. I wouldn't touch that deal.

^ the truth

I meant $45-50k

you're going to get fucked. agreements are only worth your ability to use attorneys to enforce it. ... don't listen to people saying "oh... you just need a good agreement" etc. its all bullshit. remember there is a significant cost to enforcing agreements.

I could give you an honest answer, but I would need to know your NET

Your gross really doesnt do much for me
$15K down may be more than you made NET the last two years...you never know

2007 net - 40,200

2008 - 31,300

2009:
jan - 2577
feb - 2333
march - 2409

I was just recently in the same situation, hit me up i have some advice for you.

Like the majority said already... Also keep in mind, he came to YOU, you didn't go to him, so don't settle on HIS rules.. make your own rules and tell him it's that or nothing.

again thank you for all the replies guys it is certainly helping a ton in my reply...and i definitely won't be selling unless he steps it up big time

Keep it, and think about what you can do to reinvest in the site to increase revenue

ARE YOU INSANE?

He's only paying $15,000 for the site. He's then using YOUR own revenue over the 3 years to pay you the balance. It isn't costing him anything but that $15K. If he was paying you more than waht the site makes monthly that is a different story but he's not.

Don't take that deal.

Hire three and make it into an even bigger site.