Why do People Sell Profitable Websites?
Posted on May 26th, 2010 by Luke Moulton
One of our colleagues over at SitePoint recently asked “Why would anyone sell a profitable website, wouldn’t you just hang on to it and keep collecting the funds?” Admittedly, I asked myself the same question when I first started at Flippa, and indeed, many buyers are suspicious as to why someone would sell a profitable website.
There are a range of genuine reasons why people sell profitable websites. In fact, the best time to sell a website is when it’s profitable. Buyers love to see a history of profit and will reward a seller accordingly. Of course, there may also be some less genuine reasons for selling, but for the purposes of this post we’ll focus on the positives!
The reason for selling usually boils down to one of the following:
1. I’m broke and I need the money
Sometimes in life, stuff happens, and people need money to get them out of a sticky situation. We operate in a global marketplace and reasons for needing money can be many and varied. It can be as simple as putting food on the table to paying for your kid’s dental work. Not everyone likes to admit they’re going through tough times, but sometimes, people just need the money.
2. I’m raising funds for a new project
Starting a new project often requires start-up funds. Programmers, designers, servers, it all costs money. And when you get the itch to start a new project, you’ve got to do it now, before anyone else comes up with the idea and steals your thunder. Raising funds in the short term by selling a profitable website is usually a more appealing prospect than waiting, going into debt or calling in angel investors.
3. I’ve fallen out of love
Some owners just lose interest. In the beginning they spend hours building an online business; adding content and backlinks, all the while encouraging and nurturing the site. Then one day they turn around and realize it’s been weeks since they even looked at the site, even though it’s ticking over a tidy little profit each month. Instead of letting the site die a slow lonely death, they decide to sell.
We see a lot of this on Flippa and it’s a great reason to sell a website. If you don’t continue to maintain a site, eventually profits will decline and the site won’t be worth anywhere near as much.
4. I just don’t have the time
Often there are other priorities in life besides making money online… yes, I know, it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but it does happen. A friend of mine recently inquired about how she could sell her website. As a work from home mum, she’d managed to build up a successful online business from home while raising two kids, but she’d just fallen pregnant with her third. Realizing there was no way she could put in the time required to run her online business, look after a new born and two young children, she decided it was time to sell.
There were regular customers to think of too. If she’d decided to shut up shop, she’d put a lot of people out. Why not make some money out of the sale, keep customers happy and hand the business over to someone who has the time. Everybody’s happy!
5. It’s what we do
Serial entrepreneurs often start with the end in sight (or site 
). They build up online businesses with the express purpose of selling them. Truth be known, they’d prefer to be bought out by Google, but in the event that Larry and Sergey don’t come to the party, other buy-out opportunities need to be sought. Some people just love building businesses, not running them, so this is a great opportunity for buyers who love running businesses, not building them.
6. I’ve taken it as far as I can
Many individuals don’t have the full set of complementary skills to take their website to the next level. If you’re a solo website owner, and for whatever reason unwilling to outsource, you need a wide range of skills (not to mention time) to run a successful online business. SEO, copywriting, design, programming, marketing … it’s difficult to do it all.
Realizing they’ve taken a website as far as it can go, some owners decide to hand their baby over to someone who’s better equipped to take it to the next level.
Why are you selling?
Have an interesting reason to add to the list? Tell us why you’re selling your website on Flippa in the comments below.
Comments (86)
Comments are closed.
May 27, 2010 - 12:20 am
So much so true..that these are valid points of selling the website..
There could be more but the above are important ones..
Sometimes sellers just try to book a full annual profits analyzing that the market would be saturated when the competitions being so they try to book a year’s profit..
May 27, 2010 - 12:21 am
As someone who owns 5,000 domain names. Developing these names into profitable websites and selling is the best way to turnover domain inventory and sell for more money.
Also with developed websites, you must treat it as your business. Unless you have affiliates programs.The problem is that affiliate programs change and are canceled all the time. To truly have cash flow and fresh inventory to sell it is better to sell successful sites. Also buyers take your site and use the profitable areas and develop them further. Selling developed sites is the best way to always be prepared for any market.
May 27, 2010 - 12:22 am
I have a problem ; google adwords cancelled my account – Is this a problem to sell my sites ? Would be nice to see advise – thanks ps worked very hard on traffic and ranking.
May 27, 2010 - 3:56 pm
All bar two; had just got on the first page of Google and MSN at the same time, for some really highly competitive keywords. I am talking 60,000 searches, 50,000, 33,000 10,000 6,000 searches and a minimum of 3,000 searches so guess how much work and money I lost by comparison.
Mine was not due to a ban, my business partner pulled out. He took what he was owed and left me without running expenses due the next day?
I was oh so close to a big pay day
We live and learn
Cheers Phil
May 27, 2010 - 12:22 am
Number 7 – I am retiring and dont want to worry about my online assets. Cash in my sites and spend the rest of my life on round the world cruises
May 27, 2010 - 12:24 am
I built websites from stolen software and I want to sell to unsuspecting suckers before getting caught.
Yes, it happened on Flippa.
May 27, 2010 - 12:25 am
Those are all the reason’s why I am buying your site(s)!
May 27, 2010 - 12:25 am
Main reason I sell sites is to invest in other (more profitable) projects, that will sooner or later end on a sales list as well. An endless cycle, but as long it makes me money, I am ok with it.
May 27, 2010 - 12:34 am
It’s akin to landlords selling rental properties. Why sell a house if it’s earning rental income?
No one questions landlords the same way. The reasons for selling are usually the same.
May 27, 2010 - 1:26 am
The question is raised the same as anything for sale. The purchaser wants be sure that he/she is buying something that is as described, and this question comes up. With Real Estate, you can go to it, see it, feel it, check it out.
With a Profitable website, that is harder to do.
May 27, 2010 - 8:57 am
Interesting point of view.
Whilst I’d agree that a website seller can potentially more easily obscure facts than a property seller, I would argue that it is in fact easier to investigate a website for sale, even if it’s on the other side of the world. The key of course is whether or not the seller is willing to let you in to take a serious look.
My personal policy is to walk away from any purchase over $1,000 if the seller isn’t prepared to take a small deposit and let me thoroughly research what s/he has going. In return I ask for ‘first dibs’. Flippa seems designed to allow this effortlessly, since each bid has to be approved.
This often means I have to look at many, many sites before making a purchase. But one should always keep in mind that your profit is usually made in your buying decision — not your blood, sweat and tears to turn a losing site around. A site should ideally be an asset from day one. If you cannot be convinced, walk away. A more genuine (or suitable for your current skill level) sale will present itself in time.
May 27, 2010 - 9:39 am
William,
I’d argue that it is easier to value a website.
Unlike real estate, you can deconstruct a website right back down to the foundation and check every single component and get an exact picture of the site. There are a number of things you can analyze yourself and others that rely on reports from the seller. If a seller can’t provide valid proof for every claim made about the site or they just don’t add up, walk away.
There is no excuse for buying a dud site with the amount of detailed information available today.
May 27, 2010 - 4:14 pm
Hey Danny, I fully agree and I also thought the same thing. Everyone I know does their due diligence as you do. Look at all the info strip it all back and ask some very probing questions and make the buying decisions based on the facts, which are available to us all these days.
You cannot really hide the fact that your site is not making the $50,000 dollars you say it is … or hide any of the facts… many try… lol
Looking inside someones site does not need to happen. I see a lot of professional site Flipper’s who do this day in and day out laughing at that
I know people who buy bundles of 15 sites at a time regularly, for $12,000 to $25,000 and they do not look inside a single one of them- because there is no need.
Phil
May 27, 2010 - 12:38 am
I agree with the reasons here. It is true. I have had to sell a website both because I needed the money and because I no longer had time for the upkeep and wasn’t really interested in the topic enough anymore to invest anything more into it. The amount of money it was making was not huge, but it had potential and could have been built up, knowing this, I sold it to allow someone else to better benefit from what I started.
thanks for sharing.
May 27, 2010 - 12:39 am
Actually I’m selling website as my business now. Every day I make one blog / website, manage and add specific niche content (I can do it automatically and blog will updated regullary). After wait for 2 weeks, I will sell it on flippa.
I think flipping business will grom fast like another online business ( adsense, sell links, paid review).
I enjoy it now.
May 27, 2010 - 12:41 am
Yea, for me it’s a passion thing. some projects get boring, stale, and you change as a person and so do your projects. The sites I built 3 years ago, the last thing I want to do is go back and build it up.
NEW is the keyword.
May 27, 2010 - 12:42 am
Excellent points. I couldn’t agree more with #5. I love creating new info products and niche sites but prefer selling to people who will take them to the next level of profitability while I move on to a new project.
May 27, 2010 - 2:41 am
Hi Alen, Ive recently been trying my hand at what you seem to be successful at, building websites and selling them for a profit (or flipping). Im just starting out and taking risks, not afraid to lose a few hundred dollars as long I think Its a worthwhile investment. However, I still am yet to have any real success. Do you think you give some advice to a newcomer, maybe even just point me in the right direciton? You can email me at esalken@gmail.com
May 27, 2010 - 12:45 am
Selling is philosophy. Healthy selling, I know it sounds strange is to sell something I would buy if I was in the buyer’s position. It also brings good luck..
May 27, 2010 - 12:48 am
Feeding a $10,000 a day coke addiction or paying of mafia debts aside, it can be a case of just living an easier life.
No site is ever going to be completely passive. The time and effort required to maintain and promote 10 small sites is not going to be a lot more than 10% of the time it would take to maintain and promote a site that earns 10x more.
Selling off lots of small web properties to trade up to a larger one ultimately equals less headache!
May 27, 2010 - 12:52 am
I am with you Alan, creating a site that is able to bring revenue to newcomers or newbies is really fantastic. Furthermore, i am doing this to earn quick cash as well.
Simon
May 27, 2010 - 2:42 am
Hi simon, I just sent a replay to the comment above yours. You seem like you have some of the same skills as alan. Could you read it and maybe send me an email?
May 27, 2010 - 12:53 am
While I think people will hold back on admitting this, we fall into category #1, with some carry over into category #2. We didn’t build the site with intent to sell it. But times are tough and we do what we have to do.
May 27, 2010 - 12:57 am
Very nice… I sell for the 7th reason… ALL OF THE ABOVE lol
May 27, 2010 - 12:58 am
…or you know the website is dead in 12 months
May 27, 2010 - 1:04 am
I build them and sell them for the most part. I’m starting to hang onto them for a little while now.
May 27, 2010 - 1:19 am
I sell sites for one reason you didn’t list: To get focus. When you own too many businesses, sometimes it can prevent you from focusing on the one or two things you do best. Attempting to do too many things causes you to do them in a less than optimal way. Later in life this need to achieve focus becomes more urgent, as well, as you realize that, one way or another, your time on this rock is growing shorter.
May 27, 2010 - 1:21 am
I think I’ve used all of those reasons at one time or another. Sometimes money’s been tight, sometimes it’s a fundraiser for something bigger, sometimes I’m just bored with it or just need to free up some time.
The ‘business’ of creating sites to sell is legitimate as long as the entrepreneur is in it to build serious quality sites and not just make a quick buck. The real investors pay big money for sites like that – selling lots of little, low quality sites can be profitable but there’s big money in building a very profitable business to sell.
Great post.
May 27, 2010 - 1:33 am
It may also be possible that the “niche” is no longer what it used to be – just a thought!
May 27, 2010 - 1:34 am
how about one reason added to this post,, that is
sell and buy business..
May 27, 2010 - 2:15 am
Nice post. For me, it started out as curiosity, here I had a site making $40-$50 a month and really wanted to see if it would sell. It sure did.
Then my curiosity spread to “what if”, what if I could do this full time?
Then, I started to think “if I am creating small profitable websites, I am potentially helping those new comers to the “make money online” world. It is satisfying knowing I can put a piece of already profitable property in a newbies hands so they can experience what its like to make money online, then its up to them to continue growing that income if they wish.
And sometimes, I just need some quick cash for the next cool gadget, so I flip a site.
@Danny- I completely agree, we own properties, we develop them to the extent we wish then if its a wise business decision, sell them and go create an even more valuable piece of property, “virtual real estate”.
Eric
May 27, 2010 - 2:22 am
Some people embrace and love the CHALLENGE of climbing a mountain that seems out of reach
This covers all the points mentioned in your post.
As individuals we are all good at SOMETHING!
If you are good at creating products, sites and ultimately income…
When you reach that mountain peak, and the view is beautiful, what would that guy want to again and again..?
Climb more mountains of course!
This may sound ludicrous to some people but I have experienced this myself. I’ve discovered that I love being the underdog faced with a huge challenge. Without that, life is simply not as much fun!
That is why I offered a site for sale although I rejected all offers since those who offered were skilled in other areas and didn’t understand my reason for sale. I simply wanted to start again…
- and climb a new mountain!
Of course, you want to be compensated for the business you are offering.
I also own property that I rent out and that is a business. It creates income.
Online businesses are the same except that you have much more critique when you talk about websites. This is due to the 80% of poeple out there who could create a positive online business experience but who chose not to.
Thats their loss!
Claim you virtual real estate now. Nurture it, spend time building it and embrace the rewards.
Most people don’t trust what they don’t understand and It’s our job to provide that trust as good honest online entrepreneurs.
Thanks for the inspiring post!
John
June 1, 2010 - 4:31 am
I climbed to the top of the mountain.
What did I see?
A taller mountain.
May 27, 2010 - 2:40 am
Luke,
Good points in the OP.
As a business owner, throughout the life of our business (site), there are many occasions and many reasons for us to consider selling or closing our business.
As we grow older (and I speak from experience) this question comes into our minds frequently. We have simply grown tired of the rat race, personnel problems, customer support, even in some cases having to answer to a board of directors and stockholders.
Supposedly as a web site owner we don’t have to face those problems; at least that is what the guru’s say. I beg to differ, because if you’re serious about your site, you have all of the above and even more situations to face. (Again speaking from experience) And lets face it a board of directors and stockholders are your family. (Can’t get any tougher than that)
Even though I have several profitable sites, I keep the thought of selling them in the back of my mind. And when they are profitable, that is when I know I can maximize the sale price.
Personally I like the “rush” that comes with selling a site, regardless if it’s profitable or not. If it’s not profitable, “Man what a relief, I got rid of that dog” and if it’s profitable, “Holy Smokes, look at the huge ROI I made out of this deal.”
Ken Leatherman
May 27, 2010 - 2:47 am
I agree with Danny, it is just real estate.
It can also be a combination of several of these reasons. It is for me.
It can be tough to find the time (4) to maintain many sites at the same time, but still want to build something that you know is going to be really hot (2), but it is O.K. because your not really into this site like you were in the beginning. However it is not a bad thing, because sometimes you just do not have the desire to work on some projects anymore.(3)
May 27, 2010 - 3:05 am
For the Rush!
May 27, 2010 - 3:34 am
I sell websites because I suck at getting traffic. Simple as that. LOL
May 27, 2010 - 4:00 am
I sell websites because it’s just quick money. You can expect to get up to 10 months of your revenue for the site so if you get a niche site, build up some revenue and then flip it for a profit, it’s profitable to you the seller, and the buyer can get a new site already making revenue. It’s a win win!
May 27, 2010 - 4:03 am
Great post. Often site owners have good reasons for selling but then sell too cheaply. I’d like to see a post on effective valuation methods for websites.
May 27, 2010 - 6:14 am
Rob has made a great point here. The question we perhaps should be asking is not why sell a site that is earning, but rather why sell it so cheaply?
Many sites earning good money are sold for the sum of only a few months revenue.
Sellers really need to learn how to value their sites and how to show that value to buyers.
May 27, 2010 - 9:09 am
Doesn’t the auctioning model pretty much take care of that aspect by its very nature? Assuming you actually DO want to sell within some near time frame, then yo can only ever expect what some buyer out there is willing to pay. That right there is your ‘valuation’.
Private sales are different of course. That’s all about negotiation. And for that — yes — you’re certainly going to want to be clear about what the site is worth and exactly why.
It would be interesting to read others’ views on site valuation.
May 27, 2010 - 1:49 pm
I agree with Bryan here. If someone puts a site up for auction, how is the sales price below market value? Since it is an auction, the site is being sold for the maximum price that a buyer is willing to pay, unless the seller sets a low BIN that is hit quickly (and I don’t see many of them on Flippa).
May 27, 2010 - 4:12 am
For me it’s a combination of the about points,
. I’m raising funds for a new project
. It’s what we do
. I’ve taken it as far as I Want to
some people are good at internet marketing and driving traffic to a site, but lack the web development skills and know how of web quality standards. For me it’s internet marketing that i stop at. So it’s a great opportunity for internet marketers to buy in on quality start-up sites that are marketable. And since most of them are traffic virgin they can get them at a discount while they are still an affordable acquisition.
May 27, 2010 - 5:56 am
In fact, I’m selling one of my websites now here in Flippa. There reason I’m selling my website is that I need to raise funds for a bigger project.
I love the website, still makes money, helped me learn a lot about SEO and it’s very easy to maintain.
May 27, 2010 - 7:34 am
I see website flipping for what it is. A way to earn a few extra bucks. If you look at most of the websites for sale, you will notice the majority of them are not unique in content or design. Sellers will make up countless reasons for selling their websites but in the end everybody does it for money(for a profit). If not then people would give away websites for free. So What about your cousin who just lost his job or your friend collecting unemployment. They would love to have your profitable money making website and still give you up to 50% of the earnings. RIGHT… As they say, one mans trash is another mans treasure… I’m kind of weird so its ok if you didn’t understand anything in this post.
May 29, 2010 - 12:04 am
“…you will notice the majority of them are not unique in content or design.”
VERY interesting comment. I’m actually someone who has a huge interest in buying sites. My company is great at taking a small property and taking it to that next level.
Huge problem when I look at sites on here, is a great deal of them just seem to be people trying to sucker others into buying garbage.
I love the idea of someone building a property up for scratch, as I hate that phase. That person should be financially compensated for their work getting something off the ground.
Buying sites is tricky biz though… wading through a sea of garbage to find a few gems.
May 29, 2010 - 2:19 pm
“Buying sites is tricky biz though… wading through a sea of garbage to find a few gems.”
why are you suprised? theres money to be made and it takes some effort. you want everything in life to be ezy?
May 27, 2010 - 8:37 am
Leveraging my Internet businesses, roll the funds for the next project(s). I can say I loves to find new opportunity, create the foundation and sell it.
May 27, 2010 - 8:53 am
For me it’s all about the challenge.
Online, offline, websites, small businesses, projects – for anything and everything I just love the challenge of taking something that is not working well (running at a loss) and figuring out what the issues are, coming up with solutions and then implementing them
Once things are running smoothly I totally lose interest and want to move on to the next challenge
May 27, 2010 - 9:19 am
yes i agree with you .. all i sell website to raise fund to big project and target to get more money
May 27, 2010 - 10:18 am
For years I have started business and then sold them.Once a business is operating I lose interest fast and need to get onto doing sometime else.Besides I love learning and evey new website niche helps be lean more about things
May 27, 2010 - 10:27 am
fund more profitable projects
May 27, 2010 - 11:03 am
In my opinion asking the question – why are you selling this site? is a waste of time.
Ask yourself how can you tell if someone’s reason for selling is legitimate or illegitimate?
Do your research and be happy with what you’re buying and go from there. Asking “why are you selling” is a waste of oxygen.. or pixels.
May 27, 2010 - 4:00 pm
Hi,
Well for us, this is what we do. We are good at building sites. But not so good or interested of keeping them and promoting them.
So we better sell them to someone willing to commit
to that site to really take it to next level.
Thanks Sitepoint and Thanks Flippa for creating
a place where we always find a good buyer to
take over our sites whenever we like to flip.
Regards,
Warren
May 27, 2010 - 8:34 pm
Hello,
very interesting article!
Ok, my reason for selling website + package of 25 domains is quite simple…my/our team started a new internet project that needs a lot of time and work…and also some fresh money
Regards,
Matej Sepic
May 27, 2010 - 10:36 pm
I see buying and selling websites or blogs as a hobby. I found it to be pretty fun, exciting and challenging when I can build a site from scratch, listed in the top ten of major search engines, make few bucks from it and then I sell the site or blog for quite interesting price.
After all, now I lived from this buying and selling sites and blogs because this business is really good business for me and maybe it can promise something bigger in the future.
May 28, 2010 - 12:19 am
Finding the buyer is the easy part – its keeping the sale together, especially when there is a chain,
May 28, 2010 - 12:38 am
I agree with Dave, anyone you ask why are you selling this site can come up with a reason, like I want to work on something else or I don’t have time. These are good reasons but you have no way of knowing if they are true.
Instead the only question you need to ask is of yourself, Why do I want to buy this site?
If you can answer that question and still want the site then place a bid.
May 28, 2010 - 3:17 am
I have sold a few profitable sites on Flippa and they were both basically for the same reason.
For the first site, I had taken it as far as I was willing. To go any further I was going to need to invest more time and I just wasn’t passionate enough about the site to do so…
The other was for a friend who has a site he was maintaining daily through blog posts. His time was being demanded elsewhere so I advised him to sell the profitable/growing site before he just let it slip into obscurity.
The real question with why is WHY would anyone want to sell the “AUTOPILOT” sites seen on Flippa all the time. Time and time again I have seen sites being sold on Flippa that claim they make thousands per month and are being sold for just over 3 – 4 months alleged profit. The answer… THE REASON IS THAT THEY ARE SCAMMERS! They lie about the profit numbers or have miled a site dry with black hat methods and know it will not continue to produce! Yuck!
May 28, 2010 - 5:52 am
80% of sellers sell because they see declining return on work. Basically, they see that they are making X$ per hour now, and in the future it will be Y$ per hour, where Y$ is less than X.
Otherwise they *would* not sell.
20% of sellers sell for other reasons. Interestingly, they might actually end up making more because everyone gets over excited about their listings. I’ve seen it. Still, it’s fun finding these rarities. It’s a part of the chase.
Of the 80% of sellers who are selling for obvious reasons, generally they know their business the best and so you have to have a very very savvy to best them. You’ll find their sites going for 5x revenue or whatever. Not all buyers are idiots though you’ll find a lot of them pretending to be.
June 1, 2010 - 4:59 pm
I agree with you…80%. I’m sure that is the most logical answer I read yet.
It’s nice to see the truth be told once in a while.
May 28, 2010 - 2:46 pm
There are lots of great comments here. I ONLY sell profitable websites because otherwise it’s just not worth the time and effort selling startup sites anymore. I only sell my profitable sites when I get bored with them – which is usually around the two year time period. By that time I’ve worked a site to the bone and I can’t even stand looking at the site anymore let alone working it…lol.
Travis
May 28, 2010 - 4:44 pm
Websites are virtual real estates. Their value goes up as long as you are making efforts to add useful content to the website, build quality backlinks and engage in other promotional methods.
At one point of time it may not be possible for an individual/business to do these efforts because of lack of resources, especially when they are handling many websites. It then makes sense to sell the website. It is a win-win situation for both – the seller and the buyer.
May 30, 2010 - 7:37 am
I don’t know about others but I would prefer to sell a profitable web site to get a quick cash stream. May be that is a kind of quick reward.