Sellers who won't name their price... are they worth dealing with?

[TrustButVerify]

I find this frustrating...

I find a site someone is interested in selling but they won't name a price.

Contacting a seller who states on his blog he wants to sell the site. I email him and ask for an idea of what he's looking for, and this is his response:

I'm only looking to sell if you are willing put an offer in.

What?! Then my offer is $100

Another seller tells me "just make an offer"...

I sent an offer, to which I got back this two word response

That's peanuts...

My question is - do you find people who won't name a price are usually looking for you to come up with a huge I-just-won-the-lottery type of number?

Feel free to share your stories if you got 'em!

[Michelle]

I haven't approached anyone to have any stories to share sorry but maybe these players have heard that rule 'He who names his price first loses.' I think someone here said that in another thread or I read it elsewhere..can't recall but I think there is some truth in it. But surely it can back fire to be so standoffish and arrogant as to not even give a range to an interested buyer.

[benitez17]

That is annoying. Wait them out, since they are probably looking to sell because they are tired of running the site or it isn't making any money. Most people either won't contact them, or won't put up with the run-around, so the seller is really limiting the price they can get.

[Clinton]

Why do you put your offer in dollar terms?

Why not quote it as a multiple of EBITDA?

Or as 110% of going market rate for similar sites?

[TrustButVerify]

Why do you put your offer in dollar terms?

Why not quote it as a multiple of EBITDA?

Or as 110% of going market rate for similar sites?

HHHHmmmmmm.... you got me thinking there Clinton - presenting it the way you just mentioned does sound more appealing (I have much to learn about site buying oh jedi master).

Can you give me some more background on how you go about showing the seller market rates? Do you show him your tool or your write it up?

Do you show him that nice little "ballon image"... what?

For those that don't know: EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization

[Clinton]

LOL.

The thing is that you want to first weed out those flying pig cases. You've got those who're looking to sell at whatever is a fair market price and those who have some preconceived idea that because they think their baby is pretty, one day someone will come along with millions to make her a movie star.

You can weed out the latter - they'll reply to say, "No way, I'm not going for that multiple nonsense. My site's value isn't reflected in the earnings" and those that say "Market prices are BS. I know what my site is worth and I'm keeping it till I get that price". It's not worth proving anything to these people. Just thank them and move on.

[TrustButVerify]

I think I will start doing that beginning today.

This way, we can start talking about the "fair market value" and not about what the seller needs to take a nice vacation.

Clinton, can you give me some tips on steering the person away from insanity and a way to educate them on what fair market should be?

Or something like, "On average, many sites are selling for between 12-24x monthly net revenue and minus the cost of time running the website."

Before anyone brings it up, I know 12-24 isn't a hard and fast rule but a lot sites fall within that range.

C'mon Clinton, share your super negotiating strategy with us... because technically you "wrote the book" on evaluating websites.

[flipfilter]

I find 90% of the time, the sellers who play the "name your price" game are usually just people who have no idea as to the value of what they're selling and hence dont want to specify a site for fear of losing out on some perceived big payday.

p.s. There's an article on Flipwebsites posted along a similar vein, specifically about naming a reserve price:

http://www.flipwebsites.com/selling-...reserve-price/

[petertdavis]

I find 90% of the time, the sellers who play the "name your price" game are usually just people who have no idea as to the value of what they're selling and hence dont want to specify a site for fear of losing out on some perceived big payday.

p.s. There's an article on Flipwebsites posted along a similar vein, specifically about naming a reserve price:

http://www.flipwebsites.com/selling-...reserve-price/

Man, that was just too stupid to let go without a comment.

[Clinton]

I must admit that I sometimes use a reserve when listing a site for sale (not that I list often).