Website Valuation

Negotiating a website deal

Tips for buyers

So you've seen a great website and you want to buy it. Here are some tips to help you close the sale with the best possible outcome for yourself.

• Look to close the auction early if you think there are a few interested parties. Ask the seller if he has a "Buy it Now" price in mind.
• A seller that is listing on forums or at sitepoint is getting bombarded with questions from everywhere. As a buyer, you want to stand out from the rest of them.
• Speak by Private Messages only. Build up a rapport with the seller. Find out his first name, and use it when talking to him. Ask him questions that he will like to answer, for example "Your website is great and quite interesting. What gave you the idea for it in the first place?"
• Don't post in the forums. (This applies to the sitepoint marketplace) Every time you post in the forum, you're increasing the overall interest in the site. Other buyers find a popular site more attractive than a site with no interest. More competition means a higher price. If you do post in the forum, make it a post that's asking for clarification of a negative point about the website, to turn other buyers off. Be careful when doing this and be mindful of the marketplace terms and conditions.
• Realise that a seller wants to get his money as and get rid of the site soon as possible. Use this to your advantage and say that you have the cash ready now, and that you're willing to proceed as quickly as they want to. (Don't take this too far and always be mindful of getting sucked into transactional dangers)
• Use the sellers fear of getting a non paying bidder to your advantage.
• If there isn't a whole lot of action going on, use the sellers fear of not getting bids to your advantage.

Tips for sellers

• Build up a rapport with the potential buyers. People buy from people they like.
• Always deal via Private messages. The more interactions you build up with a buyer, the more they will trust you.
• Realise that a large part of your job is to reduce the perceived risk for buyers. Speak in an honest tone and don't hide any "flaws" that your website might have. People will appreciate that you are upfront about it and they will take it into account. However, if instead of being upfront, you're caught out being misleading, the buyers trust is gone and there is no way they will buy from you.
• Whenever you send Private messages as a response to questions in the forums, write "PM's sent" in the forum. It shows potential buyers that you care and that they will get an answer to questions they have.
• Post as much information about revenue and traffic as you can
• When you list your site, questions will be coming at you from every angle. Have some basic responses ready so that you can answer them quickly.