oddsod - 6:18 pm on Jul 5, 2005 (gmt 0)

I'm aware of sites that were niche directories or have had nice content with nice rankings but no income that have sold for thousands of dollars

Technically speaking it's not the past earnings but the future earnings - please see the DCF discussed before - that interest most buyers. Past earnings are used as a guide to estimate future revenue. But yes, there is definitely a small sector of buyers who'll be willing to calculate potential future profits even without the benefit of three years worth of audited accounts. There may be an even smaller % of buyers who are not interested in the profit or profit potential and are buying the site as a pure hobby. If they are indeed looking to invest money and time for no monetary reward they may be as difficult to find as the sites YesMom is looking for: large content sites with very little upkeep.

As you've figured I don't buy for the fun of protecting, hosting, filing DMCAs, coping with SPAM, updating, moderating etc.; I do look for the site to give me something back. And if your sites don't then I certainly wouldn't be the right buyer ;)