After making the decision to place your home up for sale, most people are likely to seek out a real estate broker that can value and price your home, stage it, market it to prospective buyers, handle the negotiations, and finalize the sale.
The process is much the same for an internet business interested in selling their website. They seek out the best website broker that can market and sell their business for the best price. This article reviews the website broker, “We Sell Your Site.”
UPDATED: May 2024
Our Overall Rating
The initial years of an online business are spent establishing the systems, generating traffic, building cash flow, profits, and customers. Some entrepreneurs aren’t interested in creating a business from scratch.
For those entrepreneurs, purchasing an online business offers the chance to buy a proven company with in-demand products and valuable digital space. They can bring their unique skills to the business and grow it to its full profit potential.
All businesses require work, and buying an eCommerce business is no different. You will have to make decisions and establish relationships. You will likely have to work on building the branding and gaining more recognition through marketing efforts.
You can outsource writing blog content and social media positioning to SEO specialists and freelance writers, so you can focus on what you do best. Since the business is online, it really doesn’t matter where you are physically located or what time you choose to do your work.
What Kind Of Buyer is Looking For an Online Business To Buy?
Ecommerce is booming. You can’t beat the 24/7 convenience compared to the store and shipping directly to your door. It is a massive market where there is still plenty of room for growth.
Purchasing an established business allows you to bypass those beginning months. You can reduce the risk level as the company is likely already seeing some success.
An entrepreneur who doesn’t have the time to start a business from scratch but has the skills to scale the company. Buying a profitable online business makes it easier to get into growing the business, rather than spending most of your hours getting it up and running.
An entrepreneur that does not have the skills to put all of the necessary systems in place, such as suppliers, shipping, fulfillment, returns, etc. Systems control the efficiency of the business. An established web-based business has standard procedures and operating systems.
An entrepreneur who is looking for a good return on investment. You need some knowledge of the business and industry and a plan to grow margins and improve the market position of the company.
An entrepreneur seeking the rights to exclusive patents or copyrights that the business may have. Intellectual property, like patents, trademarks, and copyrights, has significant value. They are investments, just like physical business assets.
An entrepreneur looking to generate a passive income or a side hustle. You have proof the business concept works when purchasing an established online business, and you have an established customer base.
A buyer interested in buying online businesses is looking for more than just a website. They are looking for an established company with products, customers, sales and profits, a marketing system, social media following, an email list, suppliers, and virtual or dedicated employees.
What is a Website Broker?
A website broker like We Sell Your Site connects people who want to sell websites with people who want to buy websites. Like a real estate transaction, website brokers look at your site, provide a valuation, prepare the asset for sale, market your business to buyers, negotiate the sale, and help you close the deal.
Why would you muddle through the hassle of trying to sell your online business yourself when you can get an expert, such as We Well Your Site, to do it for you? They have network contacts, experience, and know-how to get the best price and the best buyer for your web-based business.
Overview Of We Sell Your Site
Internet entrepreneurs are searching for top website brokers to help them sell their eCommerce business for the best price possible and end up using a website business broker such as We Sell Your Site.
This website brokerage firm has been selling online businesses for over 16 years. They use their expertise to determine what the company is worth, its potential, and what types of online companies are hot, and what is not with potential buyers.
We Sell Your Site has a team of people who have experience building websites, selling websites, and buying sites. They understand the process an entrepreneur goes through to build a business from the ground up.
Brandon Ribak, COO & Managing Partner of We Sell Your Site has eight years of experience creating, buying and selling Internet sites. He has experience in the industry and insight into what buyers are looking for.
Hunter Feierstadt, the CMO & Managing Partner, has spent years building web-based eCommerce businesses and instituting marketing techniques to grow them into successful companies. He has technical knowledge of the online business process to use with prospective buyers and sellers.
Michael Koral, a Co-Founder & the lead broker for We Sell Your Site, focuses on obtaining premium listings that potential buyers will be eager to invest in and guides them through the sales process.
Justin Hartzman, a Co-Founder, is a deal negotiation specialist. He works to provide the best possible sale solution to sellers while managing the operations end of the We Sell Your Site website.
Jeremy P. Koven, a Co-Founder, is the site transition specialist helping buyers and sellers after the sale with all the essentials of a site transfer.
Types Of Businesses We Sell Your Site Sells
We Sell Your Site is one of the original pioneers in the brokering of web-based businesses industry. They have helped clients in many different types of industries successfully sell their online business.
Using this broker is probably the most effective solution for medium to large websites earning from $100,000 to $5 million annually. Industries this brokerage has had successful website sales in include: Saas, affiliate networking, email databases, grocery coupons, and marketing tools.
We Sell Your Site Valuation Process
The valuation process is what most buyers are interested in obtaining. Buyers are looking to invest in a business that can return a significantly higher value than what they pay for the site. Some of the critical factors the website broker looks at in their valuation are:
What is the source of the sales? It is hard for an e-commerce business to continue profitable growth from a customer base of one-off transactions. Repeat business generates a much more reliable stream of income.
How does the profit margin compare to similar businesses in the industry? If the buyer is interested in buying a dropshipping business where the average gross margin is 10-30% and the business they are looking to purchase is right at the 10% mark, there may be an opportunity to improve that margin.
How risky is the business model? A business that relies on revenues from Google ads or Amazon affiliate links will suffer if Google or Amazon changes their rates or criteria.
What assets are being included in the sale? A business that has a recognizable logo trademark, social media following, copyrights, and established email lists has intangible assets that have value.
Are there any red flag issues? It is essential to know if there are any negative issues such as complaints against the business, pending legal issues, outstanding financial liabilities, etc.
In what market niche does the business operate? In today’s market, you don’t see too many stores built around selling cameras because there isn’t much consumer demand for that anymore. However, stores selling organic or natural products are hot right now.
The value of a seller’s website is closely tied to its revenue, profits, and growth potential. Many factors go into the valuation process. These include the domain name, brand recognition, website traffic, social media following, email list, the business’s market-niche, how long it has been operating, the website design, and market trends.
We Sell Your Site specializes in calculating an accurate market-rate for the Internet business by deep-diving into the company’s financials, website details, use of website analysis tools, and interviews with the seller. We Sell Your Site offers a free initial site valuation.
The Sales Process
At We Sell Your Site, the broker gets to know your web-based business and your goals. The seller will be asked lots of questions to determine all details that need to be included in the valuation and decide whether it is the right time for you to sell.
A lot of preparation goes into placing an online business for sale. The brokerage provides coaching to the seller on what they need to do to make the business more attractive to a potential buyer.
From the information you provide, a prospectus is prepared for buyers. The prospective covers everything they need to know to make an informed offer on your business. The brokerage manages and markets your listing.
They create a digital profile for your web-based business, which helps attract the attention of potential buyers. The brokerage shares these listings with their network of potential buyers.
We Sell Your Site’s broker narrows down the list of serious buyers and begins the negotiation when they get an offer. Once the offer is negotiated, a Letter of Intent is prepared to outline the terms of the offer, detail the timeline for due diligence, and close the deal.
An essential part of our broker’s job is ensuring that the buyer understands the business they are investing in and the information being provided. Once the contract terms are agreed upon by the buyer and seller, the contract is signed, monies are placed in escrow, and the site transfer process can begin.
Once the site transfer is completed according to the Purchase Agreement and the buyer is satisfied, funds can be released to the seller and the brokerage. The deal is complete.
While it is difficult to give specifics on how long it takes We Sell Your Site to sell an online business, online businesses have sold in as little as two weeks and as long as six months.
We Sell Your Site Success Rates
Successful website brokerage firms are rare. However, We Sell Your Site has successfully sold $100,000,00 + in website deals since 2004. They have successfully developed an extensive network of buyers.
We Sell Your Site recently sold a 10-year-old Saas chat and marketing tool business listed for $1.2 million. Other successful sales include a 10-year-old Affiliate network business listed for $3 Million, a 15-year-old Email Database website sold for $1.7 Million, a 4-year-old grocery coupon website listed for $775K, and a 3-year-old Daily Deal site listed for $450K.
Their track record speaks for itself. Of the number of websites listed for sale with We Sell Your Site over the 16 years they have been in operation, 90% have been sold.
Fees Charged By We Sell Your Site To Sell A Business
Sellers pay a website broker for their knowledge, connections, and expertise. A broker has no upfront costs and will only get paid if and when they sell your website. The typical broker commission for selling a website is around 10 – 15%.
There isn’t a lot of risk working with a website broker or entrepreneurs seeking to sell their web-based site. We Sell Your Site does not charge an upfront fee, and no money changes hands until the sale is finalized.
The broker has a vested interest in doing everything they can to smoothly promote your internet site and guide both buyer and seller through the sales process.
Pros And Cons Of Using We Sell Your Site
Often times the best way to evaluate a business is to weigh out the Pros and Cons.
Pros:
- 16 years in business
- Experience building, buying and selling internet businesses
- Strong management and broker team
- They offer a free initial valuation of your web-based business.
- Track record of closing over 90% of all sites listed for sale
- They have sold $100 Million in established websites.
Cons:
- We Sell Your SIte does not have a market-niche specialty.
- Their website has very little informative blog content.
- Successful sales examples don’t disclose the final selling prices.
Conclusion And Verdict
After completing our We Sell Your Site Review, we cautiously recommend this website broker. They do have a history in the industry since 2004 and have experience both as website builders, owners, and brokers. With over $100M in sales of websites, they appear to have an in-depth knowledge of this business and a passion for what they do.
However, we are not impressed with their response times. We contacted them twice and never received a response.
