Justin w/ Empire Flippers year. Yeah, typically an affiliate site making $10K/month in profit will sell for around $280K - $320K.
I understand why some others have said those returns sound unbelievable. It's because they aren't completely passive. It requires absolutely zero skill/effort to put money in the stock market, mutual funds, etc. It requires skill and effort to put it into an online business and maintain or grow that business. Most people can't (or won't) do it.
I just currently locked down a 12 month lease in Saigon, Vietnam. I've been visiting here often the last couple of years and keep feeling pulled back to the city, so decided to commit to being here for most of the time the next 12 months.
It's a "big" city in Asia without being massive. (Bangkok, Tokyo, Manila, etc.) Great coffee shop scene, rooftop bars, restaurants, and friendly expat entrepreneurial community/vibe. In fact, Obama came through a few months ago and gave a talk at one of the co-working spots to some of the local entrepreneurs!
Here are some good write-ups on entrepreneurship in Saigon:
It felt a little awkward/forced running through the details on the different scenarios. I think that would have been much more legible in a blog post or written form. :-(
Thanks, Patrick - that's a pretty fair overview of what we do.
We noticed that the buyer avatars we used in a podcast (Newbie Norms, Portfolio Paul, Lifestyle Larry, Strategic, Sally, etc.) really resonated with our audience. We've since expanded on those a bit in posts, later podcast episodes, etc.
That's interesting feedback, Ian. Funny, though - some say we charge WAY too much while others say we don't charge enough. Why do you think we're on the high end of the scale. (And, if that's the case, you'd definitely consider SELLING your sites with us, right?)
Pricing is always relative. (and pretty personal) My guess is the place you can get in Austin for $900/month isn't a fair comparison to the place you'd get in Saigon for the same.
Saigon place:
- Furnished
- In central district (D1)
- Short-term lease
- Maid included? (possibly)
- Might include cable, internet, phone, electric, etc.
When you're dealing with such small companies, they're usually pretty early in their market and might not have built up enough defensibility to share all of their information publicly. They'd rather limit disclosures to those who have taken some action to express interest.
Public listings increase the number of copycats the end buyer will have to deal with. This isn't much of an issue for a well-established company with significant market share, but it is for a young software company fighting it out with their other (early) competitors.
Keep in mind he didn't vet the ACTUAL post before I pushed it live.
In reading it back, I wouldn't say he was enthusiastically pushing it or anything:
"I think you guys have your minds made up. The reality is the risk is probably low. Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. It's unlikely a couple Russians would try to sue you, but you never know. My boring attorney answer is try not to go too far to minimize any risk. Stick to the verifiable facts."
Not really. We definitely discussed with our attorney but, due to the small amount of money in the fraud ($25K) it wasn't worth the hassle of litigation.
Someone else mentioned we should go after them in Russia but, even if we won, I doubt it would be worth the hassle or distraction.
I seriously doubt you're right, but I guess we'll see. Those that do appreciate it will be our customers and that might be a bigger pool than you'd think. Appreciate the comment, though.
You bring up some interesting points regarding chargebacks but, in this instance, chargeback protection actually saved the credit card holders from becoming victims as well, no?
I'm pretty sure these were stolen credit cards and that the credit card owners had the cards used without their permission. That's why, after the first chargeback, we didn't fight it - we didn't want the credit card owners to get screwed if we WERE to win.
I can appreciate where you're coming from here, I really can.
I will say that we did consult our lawyer before writing this post, actually.
Additionally - business is done on trust. Some will read this and (like you) not trust us and won't do business with us. Others will appreciate it and do business with us. No worries either way.
No. Amazing value because those sites combined were earning close to $1,200 per month in profit. $5K for that is an absolute steal, so Nate was just happy he got an amazing deal. (And didn't know the sites were stolen)
I understand why some others have said those returns sound unbelievable. It's because they aren't completely passive. It requires absolutely zero skill/effort to put money in the stock market, mutual funds, etc. It requires skill and effort to put it into an online business and maintain or grow that business. Most people can't (or won't) do it.