Buying websites that are not for sale

**nEquity** · January 13th, 2010, 04:44 PM

From time to time I have had requests from clients for particular niche websites. As such I have found finding such sites on the market can be difficult.

Therefore, I have had to go out and actively find the sites that aren't actually listed up for sale. So often its a google search and I'll find sites in that niche that rank fairly highly but look unloved and like the owner does not actively update or bother much with the site.

I have been pretty successful so far in targeting these types of sites with out acquisition services. Make a good presentation and case to the owner etc etc. But the biggest problem is getting a reply from the owner.

Any of you guys ever thought about this?

**3Six** · January 13th, 2010, 04:53 PM

There are some of the siteflipping ebook sellers actively touting software to scrape Google and DMOZ to identify sites based on markers like "copyright 1999-2002" and certain HTML giveaways. They then send automated emails to the address in WHOIS. If that's your thing some of those boys have pretty good tips (though I emphasise that I hate what they do and have often spoken against these crooks in places like SP).

You can also keep an eye on BSTE.

**DomainMagnate** · January 13th, 2010, 05:30 PM

I tried that - by making some searches in my niches, and emailing site owners to buy their sites. A decent percentage actually reply, but they always have inflated perceptions of their site's value.

**hooperman** · January 14th, 2010, 01:48 AM

I bought two sites in the last year by doing this, and wrote about the latest purchase here. It can be a painfully slow process, but then so is trawling the auction marketplaces. The two sites I picked up have paid for themselves already and were really good buys.

**DomainMagnate** · January 14th, 2010, 02:29 AM

Originally Posted by hooperman

I bought two sites in the last year by doing this, and wrote about the latest purchase here. It can be a painfully slow process, but then so is trawling the auction marketplaces. The two sites I picked up have paid for themselves already and were really good buys.

looks interesting. I usually just pay with paypal if it's below $2k and the buyer seems trustworthy.
So I guess dmoz might be a good place to look. But the issue is abandoned sites usually don't get any real traffic and thus dont hold much value.

**hooperman** · January 14th, 2010, 02:48 AM

Originally Posted by DomainMagnate

looks interesting. I usually just pay with paypal if it's below $2k and the buyer seems trustworthy.
So I guess dmoz might be a good place to look. But the issue is abandoned sites usually don't get any real traffic and thus dont hold much value.

What do you mean by "real" traffic? The site I'm resurrecting at the moment is getting 130 uniques / day with no promotion after I took possession of it late December. That's not a massive amount of visitors but they are targeted to what I hope to be selling soon.I bought it to link to my "real" site, but it's also making a trickle of Adsense ($2-$4/day). The links to this site are super hot so I'm hoping it can pass on some SEO benefit to my other site.

I wouldn't just buy any abandoned site. The inbound links would have to be there.

**3Six** · January 14th, 2010, 02:58 AM

A decent percentage actually reply, but they always have inflated perceptions of their site's value.

And they would think you had a deflated opinion of their site's value. Who is right? It doesn't matter. What matters is finding somewhere in the middle. Don't start by discussing price - start by asking them if they'd be willing to join you in exploring what type of prices websites are selling for in competitive bidding/auction.

But the biggest problem is getting a reply from the owner.

Have you tried phoning?

**Clinton** · January 14th, 2010, 06:31 AM

From time to time I have had requests from clients for particular niche websites. As such I have found finding such sites on the market can be difficult.

The secret there is volume. If you had enough clients looking for niche sites it may be worth coming up with a script which filters sites you flag. You'd setup someone fulltime to monitor and tag listings and your script would decide at the end of each day which ones to send to which clients.

rickyhelmore · January 17th, 2010, 09:25 AM

Can you tell me some good sites from where I can buy good sites at good cost?

**Clinton** · January 17th, 2010, 10:51 AM

rickyhelmore, we already have a thread on where to buy a site. That should help you. This thread is about the discussion of buying sites that are not advertised for sale.

If you have any other question about the basics, please describe your problem in as much detail as possible and start a thread in Website 101.