How much should I sell a domain for that's receiving 250,000 uniques a month?

[brendan52190]

How much should i sell a domain for that's recieving 250,000 uniques a month?

The traffic will never subside for the domain and the buyer will use it to forward the traffic to his existing website.

How much should i sell it for?

Thanks.

 

[ekal]

Depends heavily on the type of traffic and how much PPC income it produces.

What follows is a very basic set of maths, with a lot of built-in assumptions:

1) 10,000 uniques per month makes $100 at 10 cents per click and a 10% CTR. Thats $1200 per year.
2) 8 years of that income is $10,000. 8 years of income is a reasonable selling price.
3) Multiply that 25 to produce a selling price of $250,000.

However:
a) if you have a poker/real estate domain that produces $1.50 per click, you're looking at well over a million.
b) you might be able to produce much better CTR
c) you didn't mention if it has TM issues
d) many other variables...

 

[Smith]

How much should i sell a domain for that's recieving 250,000 uniques a month?

The traffic will never subside for the domain and the buyer will use it to forward the traffic to his existing website.

How much should i sell it for?

Thanks.

Whats the traffic source?

 

[whitebark]

The traffic will never subside for the domain and the buyer will use it to forward the traffic to his existing website.

What is the traffic source and why are you so sure the traffic will not subside? What is the domain name? And why do you assume the buyer would only use such a domain to forward traffic to an existing website?

 

[YesBrilliant]

Another question is - are you selling the domain only or the website as well?

 

[brendan52190]

What is the traffic source and why are you so sure the traffic will not subside? What is the domain name? And why do you assume the buyer would only use such a domain to forward traffic to an existing website?

The traffic will not subside because it is a MySpace resource site that used to allow people to add codes to there MySpace profile to edit there layout, add games, etc., and with each code was html embedded to put a link back to my website. So now there are thousands of MySpace profiles with the link to my website on it and as long as they stay there, the traffic will continue.
The buyer is the owner of another MySpace reource site and would thus greatly benefit from forwarding my traffic to his site because it would be highly targeted.

Depends heavily on the type of traffic and how much PPC income it produces.

What follows is a very basic set of maths, with a lot of built-in assumptions:

1) 10,000 uniques per month makes $100 at 10 cents per click and a 10% CTR. Thats $1200 per year.
2) 8 years of that income is $10,000. 8 years of income is a reasonable selling price.
3) Multiply that 25 to produce a selling price of $250,000.

However:
a) if you have a poker/real estate domain that produces $1.50 per click, you're looking at well over a million.
b) you might be able to produce much better CTR
c) you didn't mention if it has TM issues
d) many other variables...

My domain does have "myspace" in it, thus causing some TM issues, but the buyer isnt interested in developing a website on it, just forwarding the traffic to his website.

Do you really sell for 8 years of income???

 

[Mike]

8 years is the mathematical target to come up with a reasonable price for a domain. myspace is not going to die anytime soon, so your traffic source should be safe for a while.
I assume that the potential buyer has made some sort of offer or has given you an idea as to what ballpark is he's playing in. With 250k (consistent?) traffic, i would say you should explore other avenues such as, forwarding to another domain without TM infringement and sell banner advertising per CPM (Impressions) and route to other offers that bring you the cash that your buyers wants for himself.
Seems to me that you've put quite some work into your success,...why not milk it yourself?!
Bottom line: If i had a cash bringing cow, i'd get my own milk, UNLESS someone wants to make my cashcow golden,...then i MIGHT be inclined to sell. In other words, if the buyer wants it bad enough, he's going to throw you a number.

 

[circa1850]

My domain does have "myspace" in it, thus causing some TM issues, but the buyer isnt interested in developing a website on it, just forwarding the traffic to his website.

Please clarify...is it the actual domain name...ie, www.yourdomain.com...that is actually getting the hits or is it words in the domain getting that many hits (as in overture)?

 

[brendan52190]

Please clarify...is it the actual domain name...ie, www.yourdomain.com...that is actually getting the hits or is it words in the domain getting that many hits (as in overture)?

It is the actual domain.



If the buyer said he is interested, but instead of giving an offer asked how much I am selling it for, what should I set the price at? Is $48,000 too much? Too little?

 

[Mike]

Brendan,

it largely depends on "how much nerve" you've got.
Personally, i'd sit back and let the other guy come. NEVER exhibit the need or desire to sell, especially when you're sitting on something that generates 250k uniques. If this were a meaningless domain, i'd say "toss it out, there is not much to be lost" BUT, you're sitting on something that can easily generate a decent amount of cash. Which leads me to ask, have you monetized/generated revenue from this domain yet? If so, in what amount?
You don't have to disclose the amount, but if you made some cash from this domain, then follow the math outlined by "Ekal"

1) 10,000 uniques per month makes $100 at 10 cents per click and a 10% CTR. Thats $1200 per year.
2) 8 years of that income is $10,000. 8 years of income is a reasonable selling price.
3) Multiply that 25 to produce a selling price of $250,000.

This will give you a good idea what the domain should be worth. Although, you may need to re-evaluate as well:

- Did you do everything possible to monetize your domain?
- Did you increase it's traffic potential to the max?
- Is there more profit in selling or holding on to it and milking the traffic?
- What have you done so far and what can you do if you really sit to it and work the management/business end of your domain?

Without knowing at least the ballpark of your revenue and the potential of this domain, it's next to impossible to name a number for you. I wouldn't accept the responsibility to suggest something that's way under value or overpriced and you'd lose the interest of the buyer. I don't believe that anyone on NP would take this upon his/her shoulders.

PM me the numbers if you don't feel like posting them, although, you may get more response with a public statement rather than just PMing me.

 

[circa1850]

The general rule of thumb for selling a traffic domain is 36 months of revenue, although I don't know who came up with that rule but its not a bad starting point.

If out of 250,000 there is a 10% conversion, thats 25,000. Go on the low side and say 1%...that is still 2500 per month actual conversion.

If those that convert into PPC is $1.00 a pop, that is potentially $2500 per month. That's at one buck per pop at the 1%.

Or say 10 cents at the 10% (25,000) it's still $2500 month.

Point I am trying to make is I think a good starting point for estimates is $2500 per month x 36 months = $90,000.00.

No, $48K does not seem like too much.

ALL THE ABOVE IS PURELY SPECULATIVE!

Its not my domain, I do not know what domain it is, I have no clue to the actual traffic, and I, too, do not want to be your financial advisor. I was just providing you with a formula that I know many use.

But, it truly does depends on if this is actual raw traffic, how long the domain name has been on (active) and if everything is legit. If the bulk is referrals from other links, and those links go away, then it kills the value.

I could take all my domain names and redirect the traffic to one particular domain and get about 150-175K hits and make it look great. Sell it, all of a sudden the hits drop off, and I could tell you that you must be doing something wrong. Redirect all the traffic and I got another winner, sell that and the same thing happens, etc.

If I am the buyer, I want to see some raw data. I have seen tons of domain names with stunning Alexa rankings and incredible MSN, Yahoo links, and unreal traffic...but the domains have not even been active for a full year.

I am in no way implying anything of the sort with your domain, but these are claims that you may need to prove. If the numbers are right and the hits are legit, you have a hit!

If you got a domain getting that many raw hits a month, good for you. Why give it away. How many more are you going to find like that?

Better question is...why aren't you developing it and taking advantage of that kind of traffic? Lease it, use it, sell space on it, what ever. Create your own specialty parked page, dynamic content, relevent feeds and keywords etc.

Sorry if the math confused you. I'm not a math professor...I just play one on TV.

 

[brendan52190]

The general rule of thumb for selling a traffic domain is 36 months of revenue, although I don't know who came up with that rule but its not a bad starting point.

If out of 250,000 there is a 10% conversion, thats 25,000. Go on the low side and say 1%...that is still 2500 per month actual conversion.

If those that convert into PPC is $1.00 a pop, that is potentially $2500 per month. That's at one buck per pop at the 1%.

Or say 10 cents at the 10% (25,000) it's still $2500 month.

Point I am trying to make is I think a good starting point for estimates is $2500 per month x 36 months = $90,000.00.

No, $48K does not seem like too much.

ALL THE ABOVE IS PURELY SPECULATIVE!

Its not my domain, I do not know what domain it is, I have no clue to the actual traffic, and I, too, do not want to be your financial advisor. I was just providing you with a formula that I know many use.

But, it truly does depends on if this is actual raw traffic, how long the domain name has been on (active) and if everything is legit. If the bulk is referrals from other links, and those links go away, then it kills the value.

I could take all my domain names and redirect the traffic to one particular domain and get about 150-175K hits and make it look great. Sell it, all of a sudden the hits drop off, and I could tell you that you must be doing something wrong. Redirect all the traffic and I got another winner, sell that and the same thing happens, etc.

If I am the buyer, I want to see some raw data. I have seen tons of domain names with stunning Alexa rankings and incredible MSN, Yahoo links, and unreal traffic...but the domains have not even been active for a full year.

I am in no way implying anything of the sort with your domain, but these are claims that you may need to prove. If the numbers are right and the hits are legit, you have a hit!

If you got a domain getting that many raw hits a month, good for you. Why give it away. How many more are you going to find like that?

Better question is...why aren't you developing it and taking advantage of that kind of traffic? Lease it, use it, sell space on it, what ever. Create your own specialty parked page, dynamic content, relevent feeds and keywords etc.

Sorry if the math confused you. I'm not a math professor...I just play one on TV.

My site has been active for only about a year, but the hits are legit, coming purely from search engines and clicks on MySpace profiles.
Also, I feel I am dealing with a fairly inexperienced buyer (and young, I believe he's only 15), but has A LOT of cash to deal with. His site is ranked 13,976 on alexa and is receiving a tremendous amount of traffic.

I had developed it and that's how I originally generated all this traffic, but after awhile it was too much work and I'll settle for the cash I can get now from a sale, and then invest it elsewhere.

 

[circa1850]

A fairly inexperienced buyer, all of 15, swimming in cash, alexa rank 13,976....

Jeez, where did I go wrong.

Two different college degrees later...

 

[Mike]

my thoughts precisely!

one thing i'd like to add to your post though, circa...

under normal circumstances i'd agree with the 36mths revenue math; in this case though, with 250k uniques/month and myspace related, i think you can bump the revenue years up towards to more than the 36mths mark.

I know the math didn't come/originate on your desk,...just wanted to drop my thought in on this one...

now, off to making a myspace background/games site...i want some of that cake!... :wave:

 

[brendan52190]

I sent an email to the buyer proposing $120,000.

Let's cross our fingers. :p

 

[circa1850]

bump the revenue years up towards to more than the 36mths mark.

True, providing that this is all raw traffic, not redirected from other sources that may not even prevail the 36 months.

Strong possibility that MySpace will still be a popular force for years to come...until something else hot comes along...but that will be further down the road.

I sent an email to the buyer proposing $120,000.

Let's cross our fingers. :p

Good luck, and I'd be crossing more than fingers.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

250k uniques?
a) That traffic is not "safe" anymore than a fad-site is "safe". It will probably increase in the shortrun, but your site exists at the mercy of newscorp and its decision not to protect any IP and instead allow these sort of "editor" sites, even with their TM in the domain name. That and any day myspace.com could use its own internal people to create the best tools so that users no longer need external help/content - yet again, not saying it would happen, but to characterize the traffic as "safe" seems less than legitimate. </myspace theoreticals>

b) What stat program shows 250k uniques? Current hosting provider? Can you post screenshots of the main 4 charts if it is webalyzer or analog or any of the other main stats programs? I have sites that show in the hundreds of thousands of uniques, but it's because of all the dammed external calls that come in, not true visits. Not saying you have the same issue, just curious (And always good to see stats)

Valuation multiples?
a) 36 months is about right - but I usually try to push for 48-60 months for sites that have further growth possibilities immediately apparent.
b) Running with 250k on a "myspace" topic -
http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/search/tools/bidtool/ shows "myspace" and similar topping out between .10 and .25 . If you were doing parking (Which this will not be used for, I know), a 10-15% CTR would be good, considering the demographic of most visitors. Based on those numbers and parking, then $2,500+/month * 60 = about what you asked. However,
c) The real value to the buyer will be the increase in the value of his/her site from directing the traffic. I can't imagine he/she will see those kind of numbers, because the CTR is even lower on a content site, and the demand for those ad slots just isn't there ( check http://www.googspy.com ).
d) Plus subtract a substantial premium for the inherent risk in the domain name being a TM issue (And UDRP-bait never looked prettier ).

15 years old?
a) Don't form an agreement with any 15 year old - no faster way to see your site disappear without your seeing a dime. His/her guardian/whatever needs to be involved (And if you're under 18, you need to do the same).
b) 15 year old with that much disposable income? To spend on a myspace site to redirect to his myspace site? Really?

13k on Alexa?
a) You're pointing that out as "not so great", right? I mean, i wouldn't turn down the opportunity to be ranked that highly on some of my sites, but that's nothing to start using as evidence of the buyer having tens of (errr... now I see "hundreds") thousands of dollars...

I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer", but this is one of those "too good to be true" situations all the way around.

I would love to see the sale go through and you walk away $100k richer, but if the situation now stands in the light that it has been presented...

Best of luck to you,
-Allan :gl:

 

[ekal]

Very well said, Allan.

A 15 years old with $48,000 to make as an opening bid....Be very suspicious.

 

[Damion]

1) 10,000 uniques per month makes $100 at 10 cents per click and a 10% CTR. Thats $1200 per year.
2) 8 years of that income is $10,000. 8 years of income is a reasonable selling price.
3) Multiply that 25 to produce a selling price of $250,000.

So which one is it now :lol:

 

[brendan52190]

So which one is it now :lol:

The selling price of $10,000 was if my domain received 10,000 unqiues a month, but since it receives 250,000, he multiplied that selling price by 25 to get $250,000.