Webwork - 3:54 pm on Sep 6, 2005 (gmt 0)

Great question rogerd.

Some information about brokered sales can be found in the archives of DNJournal, where sales of big ticket websites are also reported, such as the sale of CreditCards.com for $2.75 million. Brokers are often identified in the reports of high value sales.

According to DNJournal DomainSystems has played a role in a number of top dollar sales. DomainSystems is run by a WebmasterWorld member. An nice example of this member's skill in analyzing sale values can be found here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

When it comes to analyzing high value websites there's a real need for a higher level of accounting analysis. The analysis of the value of high value websites is not that far removed from the analysis of brick-and-mortar businesses. However, unlike a brick-and-mortar business a great deal of value is derived from traffic and the reasons for that traffic: Quality of content, quality of the operational end of the website (software, staff, etc.), robustness of domain (type-in traffic), quality and quantity of IBLs, etc.

From what I've seen mass mailings are not the best approach to selling a website.

It's my impression that the sale of websites - just like domains - is often initiated by an inquiry from interested party.

Regarding the role of a broker, whilst so much depends on the capacity of anyone to "right price" the web entity for sale, the seller's rep also needs to have a firm grasp of the issues unique to the website and how those unique qualities drive - or may drive - reliable and/or expanding commerce. The sale of a membership site (paid/unpaid), an ecommerce site (uniqueness of "the product"), a content site (loyalty of readers and those crafting the content) are as different as the sale of a restaurant/bar, a construction company and manufacturing plant. It's one thing to have a price based upon a model. It's another to be able to negotiate around the robustness of the assumptions that underlie the pricing model. Therefore the person or company that "sets the price" may not be the same person who actually negotiates the final deal, though they might well be as the market for brokering website sales matures.

On the "sell end" the channels for finding buyers of significant properties can be found by 1) wading into the world of V.C.; 2) posting the "for sale" notice at certain domain forums - where word of mouth can get the ball rolling; 3) by highly targeted inquiries based upon real (not superficial) research of the likelihood of a match and by "right pricing".

Right pricing is the essential ingredient for finding buyers and making a sale.