Best Way to Sell a Website?

[Cash Builder]

I'm in the process of preparing one of my affiliate websites for selling.

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on the best platform to sell on?

I sold a site on Flippa last year and had a good experience, got the price I wanted and had the money within 2 weeks of putting the site up for sale.

The site I'm selling now is worth a lot more, so I'm just wondering if there's any benefits to selling with a broker such as Empire Flippers or FE International?

Obviously they have a good buyer market, and I've heard they can get better sale prices than Flippa, but I need some quick cash and I read on FEI's website that it can take up to 60 days for a sale.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Prentzz]

Depends on a few important factors:

• How much did it earn last quarter?
• Is it a super niche website or more 'authoritative'?
• How much spare time do you have?

FEI buyers are generally more sophisticated and can include institutions. Higher multiples but often higher quality businesses.

EF buyers are almost exclusively people stacking portfolios of lower quality niche sites that have some PBN links.

Flippa buyers can be a big mix but generally are similar to EF buyers.

The main incentive of using a broker is in saving time and giving yourself some safety. For 15% I would highly encourage using a broker, especially FEI. Rushing out the house, may edit more detail later but consider around 30-36x multiple to be fair, anymore than that and you're stealing from a buyer in most cases imo

 

[Cash Builder]

Depends on a few important factors:

• How much did it earn last quarter?
• Is it a super niche website or more 'authoritative'?
• How much spare time do you have?

FEI buyers are generally more sophisticated and can include institutions. Higher multiples but often higher quality businesses.

EF buyers are almost exclusively people stacking portfolios of lower quality niche sites that have some PBN links.

Flippa buyers can be a big mix but generally are similar to EF buyers.

The main incentive of using a broker is in saving time and giving yourself some safety. For 15% I would highly encourage using a broker, especially FEI. Rushing out the house, may edit more detail later but consider around 30-36x multiple to be fair, anymore than that and you're stealing from a buyer in most cases imo

I think it would be classed as a super niche website, but it has the potential to grow into an authority site.

The main reason I was going to use Flippa is that they only charge a 12% fee if you use Flippa Escrow. Plus the listing fee is only $19, compared to $297 on EF. I think FEI is free to list, but it looks like it could take a lot longer to sell there.

Is a 30-36x multiple price the going rate? I was considering 20-25x multiple, maybe I'm selling myself short.

My site is also not built on Wordpress, it is pure HTML and CSS so I thought that might drive the price down too.

To answer you question "How much spare time do you have?" not much, but I have allocated myself extra time in the next few weeks to deal with selling the site. Are you saying that if I have some spare time, a broker may not be needed?

I don't have a problem with dealing with buyers and answering questions, the only thing I am struggling with is the valuation of the site.

 

[blackwar85]

My experience regarding Flippa and their "escrow" service: https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/flippa-sale-no-website-and-no-money.1129/

I have used Empire Flippers after that. Everything has always gone smoothly and relatively fast.

Feinternational seem to have higher multipliers, but it seems like they take a longer month period to calculate the average earnings too

EF generally takes last 3 months of earning data which has enabled me to always sell quicker, right after exponential growth, which is useful if you are using PBNs or you can just take advantage of unusually high-revenue months.

 

[Cash Builder]

My experience regarding Flippa and their "escrow" service: https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/flippa-sale-no-website-and-no-money.1129/

I have used Empire Flippers after that. Everything has always gone smoothly and relatively fast.

Feinternational seem to have higher multipliers, but it seems like they take a longer month period to calculate the average earnings too

EF generally takes last 3 months of earning data which has enabled me to always sell quicker, right after exponential growth, which is useful if you are using PBNs or you can just take advantage of unusually high-revenue months.

Wow that's not a good story, glad it worked out ok in the end for you. Did you manage to sell the site?

I wonder if they have improved the service yet, it might be worth using Escrow for added security even though it will be an extra 3% fee.

And I'll only sell to a buyer with a good history on Flippa, and do plenty of background checks.

I would like to use Empire Flippers for added piece of mind, but I don't have the $297 to pay upfront.

 

[blackwar85]

Yes, sold the site with Empire Flippers afterwards.

I do not know if the Flippa Escrow has improved since then, but does not matter to me. The way they handled the situation overall made me never use it again for selling the website.

If I would be in your situation i would definitely use Escrow.com if you decide to go Flippa route.

But again, I think there are a lot of people who have used Flippa Escrow without problems and some even use just Paypal. So it is not like there is a high-change that you will experience same issues as me.

 

[Ryuzaki]

The way they handled the situation overall made me never use it again for selling the website.

Yep, that's the power of customer service. You either create terrorists against your brand or disciples who spread the good word. Look what they did to you.

If I would be in your situation i would definitely use Escrow.com if you decide to go Flippa route.

Agreed. ALWAYS protect yourself. What is 3% when you risk getting absolutely screwed otherwise.

So it is not like there is a high-change that you will experience same issues as me.

I don't know about that. Flippa is a honey pot of scam artists on the buyer and seller side. I've seen more scams than I can count just on the buying and selling, let alone the prospecting side of stealing information to replicate sites, etc. I think it happens a lot more than people are willing to admit (embarrassment of being a sucker).

What is nice is if you place a huge bid (I placed one at $300k once), they call you and talk to you to make sure you're legit, they pre-ping your bank account, etc. So they do try to protect big buyers and sellers, but they don't spend that same energy on small transactions, so YOU better do it yourself or use an actual broker and not an auctioneer's warehouse.

726 x 613​

 

[Cash Builder]

Thanks for the advice, I'm still going to use Flippa but I'll be a lot more careful about who I do business with. And I'll definitely not be using Flippa Escrow.

I'm speaking with the person who purchased my last site so we'll see how that goes, at least I know he is legit.

 

[andreint]

Drop me a PM with more info if you'd like to sell the site privately. I'm currently on a shopping spree.

 

[Jeteye]

I had some financial setbacks and needed to pay bills. On Jon Haver's site he mentions that he'll buy sites. I was able to exit the niche at the end of the Christmas rush, get a fair price, and get everything done in about 72 hours.

Granted I took a hit for selling quick, but the final price was more than acceptable.

 

[backwoods]

I had some financial setbacks and needed to pay bills. On Jon Haver's site he mentions that he'll buy sites. I was able to exit the niche at the end of the Christmas rush, get a fair price, and get everything done in about 72 hours.

Granted I took a hit for selling quick, but the final price was more than acceptable.

What kind of multiples is he paying?

 

[andreint]

10-15x, 24h closing tat, little-to-no DD

 

[blackcanary]

I've sold a few sites and can tell you that sometimes EF will waive the listing fee - all you have to do is ask. And in regards to the 15% selling fee with FE International, if you're selling a site with a high sales price, then you can often negotiate a lower fee with them. Obviously, this will vary but just wanted to share cause the worst that can happen is they tell you 'no' when you ask.