Questions 26 public, 6 deleted

1. 

   Posted by:

   sameerpanjwani (+4)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:23:16 GMT

   How is the contextual program managed, is it your own network of blogs on which you put up the links or is it another network? Would we able to continue running the program with the network you dealing with. I ask because a large chunk of your revenue seems to stem from this source.

2. 

   Posted by:

   v7nweb (+3)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:27:01 GMT

   People submit their blogs: http://contextual.v7n.com/join.php

   We assign them links and pay them once the links are placed. There is no reason why the new owner couldn't continue this service.

3. 

   Posted by:

   lip9000 (+4)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:11:06 GMT

   It seems like you would need to write a whole booklet with all the additional information that is needed which you have not displayed here. All the information for exactly where all the revenue comes from, where your staff is located, how you pay your staff, where you advertise, how much advertising is, any seo costs, web promotion. All the extra's.

   It sounds like it's a full time job in itself to run this site. How many hours a day would you spend working on the site? Cheers

4. 

   Posted by:

   v7nweb (+3)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:33:45 GMT

   For the most part I pay one person $1,400 a month to do contextual, review submissions to the web directory and sell advertising. About 3 - 4 hours a day.

5. 

   Posted by:

   netHeadCreations (+4)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:12:57 GMT

   Why the decline in traffic ?

   Thanks,
   Art

6. 

   Posted by:

   dr00t (+12)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:43:13 GMT

   I have been trying to purchase this community since the first auction. This is the third. The seller refuses to disclose any tax info or third party info and believes that a few screenshots of his paypal account will be enough to satisfy a $200k+ purchase. This seller doesn't have the will to sell this site and he sure doesn't make it easy to place a bid. Very slow communication and keeping vital financial info secret is going to scare away any reasonable buyer.

7. 

   Posted by:

   sanjay369 (+10)

   Date:

   Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:56:26 GMT

   I have emailed the owner of this site and he was very generous with his time. I think his dilemma is to determine whether or not people are wasting his time, or if they have the $$ to do a deal in this range. Hopefully John will give us all detail so we can bid more aggressively.

8. 

   Posted by:

   v7nweb (+3)

   Date:

   Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:38:54 GMT

   >This is the third. The seller refuses to disclose any tax info or third party info and believes that a few screenshots of his paypal account will be enough to satisfy a $200k+ purchase.

   Refuses to disclose tax info? When I've had a LOI I've allowed full access to all our financial data. But then the buyer requested employee's tax returns. I'm convinced that fully 99% of the people on this board - and 99% who PM'ed me, are flakes. I'm not going to accommodate data miners.

9. 

   Posted by:

   Disturbed (+1)

   Date:

   Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:56:37 GMT

   Anybody know a company that can help finance something like this?

10. 

    Posted by:

    jpollar (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:17:13 GMT

    John,

    Would you be more open with your data if we provided you proof of our net worth?

    An investment this big requires significant evaluation. I would never invest in ANYTHING without first reviewing a balance sheet and income statement.

    Jim

11. 

    Posted by:

    v7nweb (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:34:06 GMT

    >Would you be more open with your data if we provided you proof of our net worth?

    I feel I've been more than sufficiently open with my data. I'm more open with people I know to be legit, and less open with people who probably don't have two pennies to rub together.

    There have been a lot of people who waste my time, going through the data, asking for more and getting more, and then making an offer based on a payment plan, $10,000 down, payments over three years, etc.

    The fact is, I don't expect to sell v7n to just anybody. Some people know the industry. They can evaluate the worth of the site on external metrics along, just like I can estimate the traffic and dollar value of sites similar to mine based on their rankings and link profiles.

    So on the one hand you have people who know what they're doing, who can get a rather accurate picture of v7n's worth from external data. Then you have people who want internal data. You give them PayPal data going back years. You give them 2CO data going back years. Traffic and conversions and expenses. Minutia up the wazoo. Tax returns. Then they want more. They want w2's. They want personal income tax returns from employees. They want guarantee's that the site will make X amount of money two years after the sale. These people don't belong in the business. They want security, and I am not offering any guarantees.

    Frankly, if somebody doesn't have a good idea of what the site is worth, I'm not going to go out of my way to convince them. Especially when history has demonstrated that even when I do demonstrate the value of the site, my reward is an offer of a payments for the next three years.

12. 

    Posted by:

    tambo123 (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:40:18 GMT

    will the buyer get access to all the contextual publishers you have in your database

13. 

    Posted by:

    v7nweb (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:29:33 GMT

    Yes.

14. 

    Posted by:

    FruitMedley Post (+6)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:02:13 GMT

    >>*No payments plans. Cash only.
    Does that also apply to a merger with a listed company who are willing to make part cash/part stock payment?

    Also, reason for sale, please? Does this come with a no-compete?

15. 

    Posted by:

    v7nweb (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:35:29 GMT

    >Also, reason for sale, please?

    Going for a degree in philosophy. Not interested in web stuff any more.

    >Does this come with a no-compete?

    Certainly.

    >Does that also apply to a merger with a listed company who are willing to make part cash/part stock payment?

    It applies to everybody, including God.

16. 

    Posted by:

    FruitMedley Post (+6)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:20:25 GMT

    Thanks for your reply.

    >>It applies to everybody, including God.
    Your message it clear: It's not about credibility of the buyer or the safety of the money.

    Another question: When a major directory similar to yours came up for sale a few years ago you argued here in Sitepoint that multiples of 60+ were fair. May I ask why you are willing to take less than 12x for what is an even more diversified income stream?

17. 

    Posted by:

    oasisx (+4)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:26:19 GMT

    I'd consider financing a buy but don't have enough time or expertise for this scale of work without help. Msg me.

18. 

    Posted by:

    1HappyGuy (-19)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:31:59 GMT

    why your earning is so low ?
    according to your traffic and popularity you should make +50K monthly .
    i may go for this offer but i need to do more research about it.
    i ll be back tommorow

19. 

    Posted by:

    jpollar (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:27:23 GMT

    http://www.v7inc.com/

    Is this part of the business also included?

20. 

    Posted by:

    v7nweb (+3)

    Date:

    Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:31:12 GMT

    >>Another question: When a major directory similar to yours came up for sale a few years ago you argued here in Sitepoint that multiples of 60+ were fair. May I ask why you are willing to take less than 12x for what is an even more diversified income stream?

    I would be happy if somebody had 60x to give, but when it's a site this size, the market is extremely limited. Most people don't have the money. Most people who contacted me when the site was for sale for $400,000 wanted payment plans. I'm not a collection agency and I don't carry contracts. So that means there are only a few people who have the resources to buy the site. Of those, there are few who are in a position to understand the revenue streams to the point that they are comfortable investing in them.