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How do you sell your Internet business?

by Dayne Dylan Banned
8 replies
I started to think today about how the process of selling an internet business works. Not that I'm doing it now, but maybe down the road to simply free up some time and space to move onto bigger things and to "cash out" of a few sites.

So what if someone has multiple sites, in a niche or something with several info products on each (download and print for example). Can they group them all, the sites and the products and sell it in one fell swoop?

How do they do this and what can they expect to sell it for? Something like 5 times the annual revenue? So if the site made $20k a year, could they sell it for $75-100k as an example?

Can someone explain how it works, the process, and what one can expect as far as a selling price?
#business #internet #sell
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Howard
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Rezbi
      Originally Posted by ccmusicman View Post

      You can probably sell it for whatever it is worth...for example, if it makes you 5k a month, take that times 24. That is 2 years worth of profits.

      But I think it would also depend on several other factors:

      1. Would you include an email list?
      Wouldn't that be illegal, especially if you promised not to sell them onto others?
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      • Profile picture of the author spearce000
        Originally Posted by Rezbi View Post

        Wouldn't that be illegal, especially if you promised not to sell them onto others?
        If the list is part of the site (e.g. customers or people who have signed up on the site for a free report) I wouldn't thinks so, especially if you're not going to market to the list yourself anymore.
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  • Profile picture of the author hayfj
    Banned
    although there are several ways to value a business, at the end of the day it is purely subjective as to what someone is prepared to pay.

    Some think it could be on a net asset basis and an element of good will.

    some could think Y x annual profit.

    Don't do it on an earn out basis over 1, 2 or 3 years, as all they will try and do is buy it for little or no money down, and then use the cashflow to pay for it.

    get them to use their hard earned cash, not yours




    Fraser
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
    I've seen people selling sites for usually 12 months revenue, but that's usually computed from revenue generate from ads (or websites whose sole revenue was only from ads).

    Things are probably different with an internet business or for websites which are selling products online. You are always free to price what you think your business is worth.
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  • Profile picture of the author competitive
    An accountant usually values a business by taking the monthly revenue and multiplies by twelve. So 5 times the annual value is too much.

    Therefore you would be looking to sell your site for $20,000. However some flipping sites have an auction and if there is a bidding frenzy the site might sell for more than its annual value.

    Regarding your multi sites I would create a directory and sell the directory of sites that would create more value.

    Regards
    Barry


    Originally Posted by Dayne Dylan View Post

    I started to think today about how the process of selling an internet business works. Not that I'm doing it now, but maybe down the road to simply free up some time and space to move onto bigger things and to "cash out" of a few sites.

    So what if someone has multiple sites, in a niche or something with several info products on each (download and print for example). Can they group them all, the sites and the products and sell it in one fell swoop?

    How do they do this and what can they expect to sell it for? Something like 5 times the annual revenue? So if the site made $20k a year, could they sell it for $75-100k as an example?

    Can someone explain how it works, the process, and what one can expect as far as a selling price?
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    • Profile picture of the author Market1
      Did you check out website marketplaces?

      I was thinking that would be the best way to find out what other people are selling for and based on what metrics.

      I only know of flippa.com, does anybody know about similar websites?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryancameron
    There are a few websites dedicated to selling including:

    WebsiteBroker - Websites For Sale. Buy and sell websites and domain names!
    http://www.buysellwebsite.com/

    and of course flippa.com, which is the most popular.

    I've sold quite a few website businesses through Sitepoint Marketplace (now flippa.com) and typically buyers expect to pay anywhere from 10 to 12 months worth of income. If there is high demand you might be able to sell it for 18 months worth of income.
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