Developed site v. undeveloped site

[curiouscat]

I understand that developed site is usually worth more. But here's a newbie question - the buyer will likely substitute his own content when he acquires a domain name and so why would this factor into the pricing? One thing I could think of is may be the buyer is hoping for some residual traffic. Can someone explain? Thanks!

 

[TopNames.com]

The "value" in a developed site (most of the time) is traffic. The content isn't as important as site exposure.

 

[RJ]

Even without traffic, developing a site can let a potential buyer see the potential in a site and domain. Plus, your development is worth something to the buyer because he didn't have to do it himself.

It really depends on the domain. I wouldn't attempt to develop something like cars.com because the domain is strong enough on its own. Now if I owned reallycoolcars.com, I need to give people a reason to buy from me because the domain is weak.

 

[curiouscat]

But let's say the buyer is going to substitute the content, then the traffic pattern will surely change, right?

 

[TopNames.com]

of course...

 

[lordzeus]

some domains seem like traffic atractors