Selling my website++

Angie-Pangie

Hi all,

I've come to the sad conclusion that I may have to give up my website/ebaying due to circumstances surrounding working hours etc blah blah, which make it virtually impossible to continue

I've looked through the boards on eBay and it states that as long as I get permission from eBay I can sell/transfer the account to someone else (as long as it is being sold as a business/going concern).

My main question is - how do you put a price on something like that? I haven't a clue about where I start! My feedback is just over a 1000 (100%) and the website has been live for just over a year with an average of 40,000 hits a month (although I wish that was sales!!!!). As well as the eBay account and website, I would probably consider stock etc.

Does anyone have any advice as to how I cost something like this, or where I could go/ask for advice?

Many thanks in advance
Angie

paulwf

Could you give us an idea of your turnover and net profit for your website and the same again for your Ebay account over the last year?

Along with that I think the potential for a sale will depend on:

- how many repeat customers your Ebay site brings in. An account on its own isn't worth much as it is fairly easy to build up a feedback of 100 and after that adding more doesn't add much more confidence to a customer. However if you have lots of 30 day shop listings and they are ticking over with minimal input that may be of interest to someone.

- how many listing templates do you have? If you have say templates for 500 stock items that may be worth something, if none of your listings can be reused and the new buyer has to do it all themselves then they won't get an advantage from buying your Ebay shop or website

- do you do anything unique or custom or have an exclusive relationship with a supplier?

Basically if you can sell it as a "business in a box" with fully populated Ebay store, website and guaranteed supplier if might be worth something if all they then have to do is sit back, take in the orders and pack them. However if the new owner has to do lots of new listings and your stock is dated then they are effectively just purchasing your reputation which won't be worth much for a 1 year old website and as I said before an Ebay account on its own is nearly worthless.

bordercars

You say that you have to give it up, IF you couldnt sell then it's worth nothing. What would you be happy with, because that's probaly what someone will pay. Sorry if i sound negative, but getting a valuation and realizing it's worth are 2 different things.
If though it is profitable could you not have someone help you or maybe have a partner and share the work and costs.
good luck whatever you do.

Falconhoof

I have never heard of being able to sell your ebay account. Your 100% feedback is an indictaion of your good service. Anyone taking over your business may not have such high standards so the feedback would not be a true indictaion of current standards of service.

Good luck.

gamez-over

I'm pretty sure that you are not allowed to sell your Ebay account, so be careful as Ebay could easily pick up on this.

paulwf

This post sums it up well:

http://tamebay.com/2009/07/paypal-updates-confirm-you-cant-transfer-accounts.html

"With eBay accounts when a business is sold it’s normal (although not allowed) for the eBay account to be transferred along with all business bank accounts etc. It’s possible to edit all details on eBay accounts including the name of the account owner "

Be sure to read the bit about Paypal in that article as well. I would imagine quite a few businesses have included their ebay account in their sale and kept under the radar, but trying to sell the account on its own might get you reported.