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11 Comments

Have you ever bought a website? Share your experiences

Hi there,

Have you ever bought (or sold) a website? What were your experiences? Which broker did you use? How did it go? Anything you would do differently?

I am currently in conversations with quite a few sellers and want to help them in the best way possible. So any insight is helpful.

Thank you,

  1. 2

    Have a funny story to share. Years ago, I built (outsourced) a website called MakeMyCalculator.com - it's a tool that lets people create custom calculators for their own need. Back then, I had the shiny object syndrome and soon after I built it, I had lost interest and sold it on Flippa for almost-breakeven profit.

    Now although I had transferred the domain and the site to the new owner, I had a copy of the script with me still. A few months down, I checked to see how the site is doing and noticed that the owner had dropped the domain.

    So I purchased it back from the registrar and owned the site again. Don't remember if I sold it again or not.

    1. 2

      Haha, a lovely boomerang! Congrats! 😅

  2. 1

    I'm going through this right now. I was most nervous about the domain transfer as I've never done that before but NameCheap made it super simple. You just go to the transfer page where you put in the email of the new owner and Namecheap sends them an email to confirm/start an account and take over the domain.

    1. 1

      Congrats! 🥳 Which type of website did you sell?

      1. 1

        Thanks! I sold NeumNotes. It's a notes app: https://neumnotes.com/

        1. 1

          Looks great! And you sold it via Flippa?

          1. 1

            Actually IndieMaker: https://indiemaker.co/

            someone recommended it for side projects. :)

  3. 1

    Yes, I have bought and sold websites before, the only thing I would change is faster communication during the transfer process. Buyer was quite slow with responding so I suggest using an instant messenger.

    I have bought sites from Flippa and sold some through Escrow/Paypal, majority went smoothly.

    However, I don't suggest using Paypal for digital items. Escrow is good.

    1. 1

      Thanks for your thoughts! Did you have a bad experience with Paypal here or why do you explicitly recommend Escrow?

      1. 1

        I only used Paypal once and no, I haven't had a bad experience. The reason you should avoid Paypal is because digital items are not under seller protection and once you transfer the domain/website a malicious buyer could easily charge back and get their money back, while getting the domain/website for free.

        With Escrow the hold the funds until the buyer conducts a review and is satisfied by x days ( I think max is 7 days not sure) after that the transaction is complete and you get the payout, which prevents chargeback.

        1. 1

          Very interesting, indeed. Thanks! And the fees also still look reasonable.

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