CTR Theme has been sold on flippa for $70k

[trustumar]

CTR Theme users may find this news useful.

ctrtheme.com - Website for Sale on Flippa: CTR Theme

[EllysDirectory]

whoa that was very expensive 70.000$ for 1 website?

[TBInternetMarketing]

Originally Posted by EllysDirectory

whoa that was very expensive 70.000$ for 1 website?

It looks like the 'theme' not just one site.
I.e. they will sell the theme to other wordpress site owners to use on their site.
I actually use this theme on a few of my sites.

[awddude]

If you take a look at Themeforest, the good ones have all already sold $30,000+ worth of product. The theme market is lucrative.

[Supersizeme]

This price is correct because profits are $8,029 / mo !

[Fatality]

Oh when I read this I thought that a random site with the ctr theme installed sold for this much haha. If it is the actual ctrtheme.com site than that is the correct price in my opinion.

[mosthost]

I can't believe some of these prices I see on Flippa. I'm seriously considering 'flipping' a few now myself

[nik0]

Why would someone sell a site that makes $96k a year for only $70k?

If you can get 20 months profit, hmm okay, but less then a year profit, doesnt sound right to me, unless you quit business totally / retire.

[SEOForceOne]

Very interesting as I use this theme on some of my own sites. On another note...

The valuation of profitable website sale transactions always befuddles me. In typical financial or real estate asset sales, the investor pays a carefully calculated risk-adjusted multiplier on the EBIDTA to buy out the business (i.e. 5X EBIDTA). In the case of website sales, specifically on Flippa, the investor always gets the better end of the deal by paying just a fraction of the annual cash flows of the website. The sale of the CTRtheme is a great example of this. Taking the Flippa listing reported profits at face value, the CTRtheme site generates about 96,000 per year in net profit, but yet it sold for just 70,000. So it sold for a measly 73% of annual net profits! Compare that to the recent Google bid for Motorola: Google offered $12.5B to buy out Motorola, which had earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation of just $212M in 2011, which translates to an incredible premium of 5896% of earnings for Motorola.

Not only that, but right there in the listing, the seller explicitly writes how one would be able to significantly generate and grow revenue.

Although I understand there are inherent risks involved in website deals, such as competition and uncontrollable or foreseeable Google algorithm changes, the financials are still much too heavily tilted towards the buyer.

My theory on why this is happening is because this is still a relatively new asset class. Both buyers and sellers are uncertain on how to benchmark the transaction and sellers are selling at low valuations to "cash out" and move on to other projects.

[mosthost]

Originally Posted by nik0

Why would someone sell a site that makes $96k a year for only $70k?

If you can get 20 months profit, hmm okay, but less then a year profit, doesnt sound right to me, unless you quit business totally / retire.

Money problems. Child support. Ex-wives. Gambling debts. Loan shark is calling. Rent is due. Baby needs a new pair of shoes

Plus, Wordpress Themes obviously don't stay hot for long. HUGE risk to the buyer IMHO and a very good deal for the seller.

[awddude]

Originally Posted by mosthost

Money problems. Child support. Ex-wives. Gambling debts. Loan shark is calling. Rent is due. Baby needs a new pair of shoes

Plus, Wordpress Themes obviously don't stay hot for long. HUGE risk to the buyer IMHO and a very good deal for the seller.

This is the best answer by far IMO

[dp40oz]

Also the guy who built it doesn't wanna support it any longer, so thats a big reason.

[GGpaul]

I wonder if he's selling it because of the latest panda update. I'm sure the theme does its wonders, but there are some default settings imho that can destroy a persons rankings.

[InTheMaking]

what a sucker.

Google rolled out a "Above the fold" algo update targetting ads above the fold.. Ie - what CTR theme supports.

$70,000 wasted TBH.

[Rukshan]

I think, the new buyer won't get a profit with this sale. CTR theme sold to many wordpress users. Most of adsense users got a unlimited license. Even site flipppers use it to make MNS. So there won't be many buyers for this one.
Inventor also skipped support few months ago. There would be a big reason for this. After google new policy these kind of themes won't be suitable.

Just my 2 cents.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by GGpaul

I wonder if he's selling it because of the latest panda update. I'm sure the theme does its wonders, but there are some default settings imho that can destroy a persons rankings.

No, Eppie was trying to sell CTRtheme a while back.

Here is the old auction which did not sell https://flippa.com/137805-ctr-theme-...rofit-in-april , this was back in May/June 2011.

To be honest I think he built the entire CTRtheme as a business to flip from the beginning. That's just my opinion, I've kept an eye on the product since he first started up.

Which CTRtheme is a great product, & could easily be expanded. I think the buyer got a good deal on an established Clickbank product & existing customer base.

Something like CTRtheme product takes a lot of time & dedication to build.

Personally I think he undersold.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by InTheMaking

what a sucker.

Google rolled out a "Above the fold" algo update targetting ads above the fold.. Ie - what CTR theme supports.

$70,000 wasted TBH.

Are you serious?

The client base is worth a small fortune. That client base alone could save a theme developer a full year of generating 100% targeted leads.

Not to mention the product is still selling (I'm sure) & generating affiliate sales on auto pilot.

[edit]
Not only did the buyer get a 100% targeted customer base, s/he also got a 100% buyers list with all serial re-fund names/emails removed. That's a perfect niche buyers list. You can't get a cleaner up to date email list than that.

[Andrew S]

He's didn't just buy a theme, he purchased a business.

[safexsolutions]

He Purchased a Business but CTR theme not work with Google adsnese TOS law..as I read many cases with CTR theme failure..But now I Plan to do a Case run my self to see what really happens with CTR theme as compared to blue theme or any other theme with high CTR....

[SammyBlackstar]

CTR Theme is king. Content is the #1 reason you get screwed with AdSense. Always add good authority graphics to your niche sites.

[Instantfruit]

I use CTR theme, though I think it looks a bit spammy so I'm moving over to clickbank which is a bit more versatile.

CTR thme has been very good though and has helped me find my feet.

[Cantbedone!]

[
The valuation of profitable website sale transactions always befuddles me. In typical financial or real estate asset sales, the investor pays a carefully calculated risk-adjusted multiplier on the EBIDTA to buy out the business (i.e. 5X EBIDTA). In the case of website sales, specifically on Flippa, the investor always gets the better end of the deal by paying just a fraction of the annual cash flows of the website.....

[/QUOTE]


There are a lot of reasons why sites are not valued in the same ways as other business, franchises, or real estate. Like you mentioned, it is comparatively new and not as trusted by the marketplace. Additionally, these represent digital assets in large part so they are subject to certain vulnerabilities. A web site could rank and do well one year and disappear the next. Also there are not nearly as many systems in place to protect consumers from fraud in this industry either. Insurance companies have stipulations regarding "digital" property and so on...

I wondered the same thing when I started watching Flippa but if you've been in the franchise world or the real estate world you will recognize that those types of investments are far more protected and at least "seem" much safer to investors. Something that certainly affects market value.

Just my 1.5 cents...

[TryBPO]

Originally Posted by yukon

Are you serious?

The client base is worth a small fortune. That client base alone could save a theme developer a full year of generating 100% targeted leads.

Not to mention the product is still selling (I'm sure) & generating affiliate sales on auto pilot.

[edit]
Not only did the buyer get a 100% targeted customer base, s/he also got a 100% buyers list with all serial re-fund names/emails removed. That's a perfect niche buyers list. You can't get a cleaner up to date email list than that.

100% agree with Yukon here...I think this buy was a steal at this price. This would have fit in QUITE nicely with our model and saved us a ton of developer time, given us a leg up on affiliates with a nice theme-buyer list, etc...with someone planning to build it out it's a helluva deal. That being said, IF the buyer was looking to sit back and passively collect the revenue...meh...probably just a "decent" purchase.

We're still relatively small and plopping down that much cash on one purchase was too large a chunk to risk at this point, but I DO wish we would have been able to, for sure.

By the way...note to anyone looking to sell their product sites: Consider asking some of your trusted customers first! There was a situation where a product we use on a regular basis (and love) was in the process of being sold and we didn't know. We'd helped out quite a bit as one of the EARLY beta users with feedback, feature requests, bug testing, etc. Come to find out the owner sold it...for low 4 figures...UGH! We would have been ALL over that if he would have let us know...

[StoneWilson]

I don't think it's expensive if they keep the former business going well. So many people around the whold wolrd buying CTR themes, and there are so many ways to generate money from those themes.

[ukcarl]

Originally Posted by dp40oz

Also the guy who built it doesn't wanna support it any longer, so thats a big reason.

Yeah this is what I notice aswell, sent a few emails and no reply, hopefully this will mean some cool updates like new child themes.

[akyyyy]

i was looking to buy this theme, but from reading posts in this thread, im getting the impression that CTR Theme and the new Google Changes don't mix well? Can anyone recommend an alternative to this? thanks.

[DynoMutt]

Originally Posted by InTheMaking

what a sucker.

Google rolled out a "Above the fold" algo update targetting ads above the fold.. Ie - what CTR theme supports.

$70,000 wasted TBH.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the different layouts CTRTheme provides, but only 1 layout looks like it solely has ads above the fold.



Nothing wrong with having ads above the fold, but the algo doesn't favor those with just ads and no text above the fold.

[hbwsl]

Hi Warriors,

This is Karthikraj Magapu, I run a web solutions company in India (hbwsl.com) and I am the new owner of CTR Theme !

I have been working with Eppie to transition the site over to our team over the last month or so. Eppie has done a fabulous job with the concept of the theme and the implementation of the key features required to make this a winning Adsense theme !

Way Ahead
I am now charting out a plan to come up with a host of improvements and enhancements, most notably:
* A post Panda update version of CTR Theme
* Richer front end version of CTR Theme for all you eye candy lovers
* Wordpress plugin to allow you to incorporate adsense into your favorite wp theme

Ideas
Got any other ideas that you thing will make this theme better for you to earn money ? Send them over to ideas[at]ctrtheme[dot]com and we will see if we can incorporate them in ! If we incorporate your idea, we will give you one copy of the new theme for free !

Support
One of the main comments I see all over the place has been about the lack of support for the theme, I have now put a support team in place and will be striving to turnaround all support requests within 24 hrs or less (we work in IST (GMT+5.5), 9am to 6pm).

If you have any long outstanding issues or requests pending, please bump up your question on the support forum or submit a new ticket. Please use the ticket system on the site so that we can trace your request and it does not get lost and left unanswered.

Special WSO
Watch out for a special CTR Theme WSO with premium theme support ! You will not be disappointed !

to your online success
Karthik

[sovereignn]

Interesting.. Thought that theme would have been worth more. Bad marketing I guess

[RyanLB]

The purchase would probably be worth it just for the email list and userbase alone, to market new products to. I never got around to buying the theme but have worked with clients that had it, and liked it quite a bit.