I’ve talked a lot on here about selling websites, selling products, selling services… millions of dollars exchange hands through those business models every day, and the online business world is certainly an opportunity that is potentially very profitable if you play it right.

One thing I’ve neglected to talk about is buying… although you certainly can make a decent amount of money starting out from scratch, it is easier to buy something that is already established - depending on the price you can get it for. A good, recent example of what gains are to be had buying something that already exists is a piece of business done by a friend - Collin LaHay over at Mixed Market Arts, who flipped a website for a net profit of $5,500 after acquiring it a couple days earlier. It looked a good purchase for $3,500 as it was potentially worth a lot more (selling for $9,000) and sometime’s you’ll come across an opportunity that is just too good to pass up.

Here’s some tips - remember, don’t be scared to spend money as long as you see profits or potential (or both).

Have a clear price in mind. I hate haggling… seriously, it’s one of the biggest annoyances online, be it dealing with freelancers and negotiating prices, or conducting the website sale.

We all do this - thinking that websites we own are usually far higher valued than what they actually are. Join any webmaster forum and you’ll come across the old deluded newbie thinking his fresh five page content website with no revenue is worth $1,000 - yes, you may get a sale like that once or twice, but a regular happening - no chance.

Before you enter into negotations, have a limit of what you want to pay, and don’t go above that. I told you about setting your BIN (Buy It Now) when selling a site to double what you wanted; in the buying case, open your offer with half the amount you’d be willing to pay.

Ask for statistics. If people are scared to show statistics that are important - traffic, proof of revenue and whatnot; walk away as they are likely trying to pull a fast one.

Ask for clear proof and verify it with a few different sources (for example, there are a few traffic checking tools online… inaccurate but you will be able to get a relative idea of traffic compared to other websites.

Look for errors. This is very important when you’re buying things like custom coded websites - after the buyer gets your money, he’s sure as hell not going to be as responsive as he was before. Analyse for coding errors, run a W3 test on it, click through a few of the pages to see if anything pops up.

Be safe. Ask the buyer to put up something that shows he owns the website… for example, an HTML file at /sellingthis.html with your name. Sitepoint already has this an addon to auctions, but if conducting a sale elsewhere make sure you do this (even with domains!). Also perform a WHOIS search on the domain.

Be safe #2. Try and conduct a purchase through a safe processor like Escrow.com or Paypal… that way if you get screwed you can take action. Also, have a look to see if details of the person you are paying match the person you’ve been dealing with as well as the WHOIS details.

Nothing extraordinary here, but some tips that many fail to follow. Remember to follow your instincts, as they’re once of the best ways to help you sniff out problems… and don’t be scared to buy websites to try things out!

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