Process to buy a website safely

How?

[silverbytes]

I'm curious about what is the right process to buy a website?
Is there any serious marketplaces to buy or sell websites?
How do you avoid being cheated?

[jalalm]

hi
You can purchase an existing web site but it is easier to start your own.
You only need to register the name and then find hosting. That will cost around $60 a year. Most hosting companies will do the registration and hosting together.
Not for me to recommend hosting but I have been using "[snip]" for the past 8 years and I find them excellent. Their support reply is usually only a couple of minutes. This is important when you have a problem or your site could be down for a while. They have always solve my problems (and I create a lot) immediately.
It is as easy as going to a hosting site and paying the money.
Look around and you will get a lot that offer more but I am a bit of stayer when it comes to instant service.
If you want to pay for an established site then it is worth as much as you are prepared to pay for it.
Regards
James Smith

[edited by: phranque at 1:20 pm (utc) on Jan. 18, 2008]
[edit reason] no URLs [/edit]

[jalalm]

I did miss a couple of points. I was talking a bout ".com, .org etc" sites. I am from Australia and if I register an Australian site name ie".com.au" it has to be done using a local registrar. I can still use ".com" but I usually prefert show that I am from Australia. The registration cost for a site here with ".com.au" is around $AU70 per year. It also means having a business name that relates to the site name.
I do not know what the regulations are for the country you are from but a google search will soon give the answer. Stick with ".com" if you do not want the problem of a local registration.
James Smith

[The Contractor]

I will give some generic advice.

Never register a domain through your hosting provider.

There are places to buy websites, but as members know you cannot post company names/links in these forums.

If the $ amount is high for the site I would use an escrow service.

Sometimes when the domain owner changes (especially with a change of registrars) you will be bumped back in the serps. Sometimes it rebounds rather quickly, other times not...ask others experience as I have more experience in selling and not buying.

[edited by: phranque at 11:48 am (utc) on Jan. 18, 2008]
[edit reason] TOS - please see stickymail [/edit]

[silverbytes]

Thanks contractor. You were right.
Back to topic: "There are places to buy websites" all I found was cheapy pr 0 sites, adult and garbage out there.
Some forums have specific "buy and sell" sections but never mind.

Emailed some small sites worth it, but never got a single response. So I can't detect the way to go in buying a decent site (not necessary high traffic but established).

About escrow, sure thing.