Selling an established domain

[simplename]

I've seen a lot of posts with information on selling just a domain name, but my main focus is selling an established domain. I have a domain in the consumer toys and electronics segment that has the following characteristics:

- Ranks in the top 7 Google search results or better (1st page of results) for several top name toys
- Domain name is over 5 years old
- Gets about 20,000 unique visitors a month and double that during the holidays. Page views are over 40,000 a month and twice that during the holidays.
- Makes several hundred dollars a month in paid text link ads and affiliate commissions. Averages about $10,000 gross during the holidays.
- Has several thousand valid backlinks, many from top ranking gadget & electronics blog sites
- Well over a 100 pages of content.

I will be putting it up for auction soon. What I want to know is how can I get the best price? SEDO seems to have the most activity but I've heard complaints about buyers disappearing after an auction closes and that SEDO charges $50 for a non-fixed price auction. (Not a problem if I'm confident in the sale but definitely a problem if it's just a waste). Also, their WOT (Web Of Trust) page isn't comforting.

There's other venues like eBay, GoDaddy auctions, etc. - but I need information strictly pertaining to selling an established domain, not just name only.

I'd appreciate any information you have on promoting the auction, finding real buyers, and any warnings you might have too. Any comments on a minimum amount I should ask for are welcome too.

 

[nielsencl]

I'm no expert, but I would sell here or perhaps on Flippa.com. You could sell other places, but I think a site like that would get the attention of the more serious buyers here. And you don't have to set an auction either. You could say best offer or set a nice high price and see what happens.

From what I have seen the main thing to start with is how much money the site is making, and what the earning history has been. If you can document that, then you should be able to sell the site for 1-4 years of income, with 1 year to 2 years being the most realistic, but some sites/domains do go for more. Beyond the income are things like what the site consists of and how much preceived value is seen in the design and construction. And if the buyer can see the potential for more traffic/revenue. If they buy for 2 years of income and then can double the site traffic, they got the site for 1 year of income.

I hope this helps. The only thing I would caution you on is that if you created the design and spent hours and hours on it to make it perfect, you may think you need to get paid for all that time. Potential buyers may not see that value that you place on the site and not be willing to pay for it. But the revenue and traffic numbers are real and few will argue over that. Good Luck!

 

[glaxxon]

Flippa it is.
*Put in a full description about what you did to develop the site.
*Do not mention all revenue streams and even possible revenue streams. That will kill the charm.
*Put in the current revenue and the further possible revenue possible.
*Looking at your description it earns about $15K/year. So you can safely BIN $30K.

 

[theneals]

How did you get all that information on the domain name. Im new to this and Im trying to figure out if this is something I want to invest in. How did you know to purchase that domain? Where did you purchase it from?

 

[nielsencl]

He owns the domain and website. The owner has access to all that information and more. As a buyer you will have to "trust" the seller to tell you the truth about what they are selling.

 

[simplename]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like Flippa it is. Any comments about posting affiliate commission report screenshots (with sensitive fields blacked out) along with auction?

Also, any comments on escrow or not?