# How feasible is it to buy a successful website? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805 "2014-03-29T01:27:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/21 "2014-03-31T07:57:49Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Right. How often do people acquire _small_ businesses that aren’t sitting on a potential goldmine of a technology or patent? It depends what you mean by small but the reason why people aren’t buying small businesses isn’t, as you originally posited, because founders want to retain equity, it’s because there’s a lack of buyers. Most founders are in it for the cash out and they have no romantic notions about it. If you’re willing to pay, buying a small business is really, really easy. It’s when you get to larger businesses that buying them becomes tricky and emotional and ideological issues come into play. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/22 "2014-03-31T09:17:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Sure, because a website that produces $12,000 a year in revenue is likely losing money, the seller will be thrilled. My website turns over about half that amount, and turns a profit - largely because I’m the only employee and the work I contribute is a labour of love - not a paid job (well, the profit _is_ my pay, but I don’t depend on it). That’s the problem here - many small websites that make some kind of profit do so only because of the content that their owners put into them. You could buy mine\*, but unless you’re going to continue putting in what I do, income will tail off. \*(Except it’s not for sale) Not all websites are like that, of course - many of them generate content based on community or user contributions (the SDMB is an example of this, or any number of recipe sites, blogging platforms, etc), but even that isn’t necessarily something you can just buy and leave unattended as a source of income into the indefinite future. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/23 "2014-03-31T12:50:21Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > My website turns over about half that amount, and turns a profit - largely because I’m the only employee and the work I contribute is a labour of love - not a paid job (well, the profit _is_ my pay, but I don’t depend on it). > > That’s the problem here - many small websites that make some kind of profit do so only because of the content that their owners put into them. You could buy mine\*, but unless you’re going to continue putting in what I do, income will tail off. > > \*(Except it’s not for sale) > > Not all websites are like that, of course - many of them generate content based on community or user contributions (the SDMB is an example of this, or any number of recipe sites, blogging platforms, etc), but even that isn’t necessarily something you can just buy and leave unattended as a source of income into the indefinite future. See, good example. There must be people like you out there who would seriously consider selling for 10x monthly revenue. And if I have some good ideas about how to develop it further, I may be able to increase that revenue. It just seems there should be more of an open market for these sites besides flippa or whatever, that’s why I posted the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/24 "2014-03-31T14:07:17Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > See, good example. There must be people like you out there who would seriously consider selling for 10x monthly revenue. Really? 10 times monthly? I’d have half that money in my pocket in the time it takes to finalise everything. I don’t think many people are that willing to kill the golden goose. > [@](#): > > And if I have some good ideas about how to develop it further, I may be able to increase that revenue. It just seems there should be more of an open market for these sites besides flippa or whatever, that’s why I posted the thread. I’m just not sure the thing you’re looking for is really very common - startups that have real potential are looking for investors so they can realise their dreams and make it big - not generally looking to sell their babies at a knock-down price to the first comer. And small web businesses that stay small probably won’t suddenly grow because you come along and buy them. Of course there are probably exceptions where all that is lacking from a business like that is whatever you have, but do those exceptions come thick and fast enough to keep a market afloat? I dunno - I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/25 "2014-03-31T14:30:39Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > And if I have some good ideas about how to develop it further, I may be able to increase that revenue. Everyone has ideas - and there’s a fairly low threshold for creating your own website. Most folks with good ideas would simply build their own rather than buy an existing site which doesn’t really get you much. Until the site is well established there’s a low barrier for entry to create a competing site. I suspect most folks would just roll their own rather than buy something that needs tweeking. ---
**Author:** ![ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisUsernameIsForbidden)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/26 "2014-03-31T15:13:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Really? 10 times monthly? I’d have half that money in my pocket in the time it takes to finalise everything. I don’t think many people are that willing to kill the golden goose. > > I’m just not sure the thing you’re looking for is really very common - startups that have real potential are looking for investors so they can realise their dreams and make it big - not generally looking to sell their babies at a knock-down price to the first comer. > > And small web businesses that stay small probably won’t suddenly grow because you come along and buy them. > > Of course there are probably exceptions where all that is lacking from a business like that is whatever you have, but do those exceptions come thick and fast enough to keep a market afloat? I dunno - I doubt it. Meant to say yearly. Of course my previous example shows that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/27 "2014-04-01T11:04:58Z")
Ah, OK. I still wouldn’t sell it for that. I probably wouldn’t sell it for ten times that. It’s a labour of love. There obviously would be a price at which I would sell, but you’d be buying everything except my ongoing creative input - and that’s ultimately what adds value to the thing. I’d set up a similar website on a new domain and build that up - and the thing you bought would probably tail off into unprofitability before you made your money back. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/28 "2014-04-02T08:23:08Z")
I’m surprised the thread got this far without anyone mentioning the [canonical way to buy out a website](https://vimeo.com/88550697) ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/29 "2014-04-03T03:12:19Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > Meant to say yearly. Of course my previous example shows that. Hey, are you in the market for a 13 year old, award winning food blog? As long as I am free to compete with you. 🙂 The problem is that small, successful sites often have little value without the person that created them. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/30 "2014-04-03T05:16:11Z")
> [@ThisUsernameIsForbidden](#): > > Let’s say it generates 12,000/yr in revenue. If I offered to buy it for 120,000, don’t you think someone might consider? You’d want to look at multiples for buying businesses for the best comparison here. There’s a lot of variation in multiple, but let’s just say that a multiple of 10 (as you propose in the example) would be unusually high. Even a multiple of 3 or 4 would be considered high. Many businesses sell at a multiple of 1 - $12,000 a year in sales means the business will sell for $12,000. That’s why I said that virtually anything is for sale if you’re willing to pay enough for it. A savvy buyer is simply not willing to pay a multiple of 10 for the average website, and the average site owner is not willing to sell for the multiples that the buyer considers reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805/31 "2014-04-03T07:11:16Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Hey, are you in the market for a 13 year old, award winning food blog? As long as I am free to compete with you. 🙂 > > The problem is that small, successful sites often have little value without the person that created them. That’s precisely the problem: If you have the whatever-it-takes to transform a small web business into a big shiny one, you don’t need to acquire one - just build your own. If you don’t have the necessary magic, acquiring one will not help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-feasible-is-it-to-buy-a-successful-website/684805.md?page=1)