Well, 2 days ago I put UKOffer.com up for sale and I’m pleased to say it’s now been sold. I thought I would write a blog post about it to share some of my experiences and lessons learned. However I won’t divulge who bought it as they wish to remain anonymous. What I will say however is that the buyer is an experienced and successful affiliate who will be adding UKOffer.com to his portfolio and I wish him the best of luck. I’ve known him for a few year now and he’s a very talented guy who I have the utmost respect for and I just know he will hit £100k profit for the site in 2010. At least.
Before I talk about what I’ve learned I just want to point out that this wasn’t a really well thought out and planned “exit” from the business in the traditional sense. When I was writing my goals for 2010 post a few days ago I came to the decision that I should really sell UKOffer so I could focus on my other core businesses. Even as I was writing that blog post I didn’t have a strategy or really plan it other than having the thought in my mind that I should sell it. Even then, it was only two days ago when I wrote my “for sale” blog post that the idea crystalised in my head. It was actually when I was writing the blog that I thought I really should do some digging and find out what the site earned in 2009. But that’s just the way I work, I’m not a details kind of person and can be very “of the moment”. I decided that the only way I would market the sale of the site was through this blog, the Affiliates 4U Forum and the Acorn Domains forum. That was it, I wouldn’t even use my contacts, instead I would just wait to see what the response was from people reading my blog etc.
So what did I learn?
Setting the right asking price - It’s fair to say that the majority of the people who have commented and who I’ve chatted to about the sale have said that my asking price of just 2 x years annual profits was too low and I should have asked for 3 or 4 years. Maybe, maybe not. If I’m totally honest I think that I could have possibly set the sale at £80k to £90k (i.e. under that £100k mental barrier that makes things looks expensive) and possibly negotiated down a few thousand pounds if need be. I was very conscious though of getting people’s attention and I thought that setting the asking price just that little bit lower would get people interested. From that point of view it worked, as I’m writing this I’ve just had 2 more emails come in expressing interest, bringing the total number of enquiries up to 28, 29.
Bidding wars - one thing that I didn’t feel comfortable doing, but could have easily done is set the sale as an auction. I was truly taken aback at the level of interest that I received for the site and it became clear early on that there were a few serious players who had the cash to spend. However, I didn’t want to get into “x has made an offer of £y, can you beat it?” As, in my mind at least that can leave a bitter aftertaste in people’s mouths. Instead I agreed to just stick with a fixed price and not mess people around. Could I have gotten more for the site if I gave more people the opportunity to place a bid? Possibly but it didn’t feel right.
Wiggle room - the only problem with setting the asking price at basically the lowest amount I would accept was that it left me no “wiggle room”. Everybody likes to negotiate and get a “deal” but by setting the price at my absolute lowest I would accept then I wasn’t giving people the perception that they could get a discount. It may have been a better idea to set the price at £70k even and allow myself to be talked down to my real asking price of £62k. Live and learn. What this did mean was that I got a couple of offers straight off the bat for £50k. Now generous as that seemed I had to politely decline and state my case that £62k was my lowest price and I’m really sorry but I can’t budge on it. Which led to other complications…because everything was done so quick and the buyer wanted to conclude the deal today it meant that I hadn’t even received offers from some people (after all it’s not many people who will buy a site for £62k in 48 hours while only seeing the most basic of stats) or I had received low offers of £50k or so. This meant that in some cases the next correspondence they got from me was “thanks for your kind offer/interest but I have to politely decline as the site is now sold”. Most people were gracious and thanked me for letting them know, sure they wish they could have had a shot at it but hey life would go on 
However one or two seemed very aggrieved that they had offered me £50k and not had the chance to negotiate higher. I would point out that I honestly didn’t think it realistic that they would increase their offer from £50k to £62k in the space of an hour or two. They would then reply that yes of course they would. Well if that was the case then maybe that’s the offer they should have come in with in the first place and they could have had the site. Which leads me neatly on to…
Jumping through hoops - Some potential buyers would ask for the stats spreadsheet that I had prepared for 2009 and that was it, that was all they needed. They would maybe ask a couple of top level questions about traffic, rankings etc etc but overall they were easy to please. However some potential buyers would want War and Peace. They sent me mega long emails filled with question after question, after question, after question. And then some more questions just to keep it interesting. Now again I don’t have a problem with this either. I know some people like the details and want to know every last bit of information possible before making a decision. Fair enough, as £62k is a fair chunk of change and I must stress I didn’t have a problem with this. However, the buyers who asked the “easy” questions were the emails that I responded to first. I wasn’t being mean I was just being lazy, I always try to clear the easy tasks before tackling the harder ones. So I guess what I’m saying here is that there is maybe a balance to be made when purchasing a website. Ask yourself, do you really need to know the answer to the questions your asking to help you make a decision? Maybe I’m being unfair as the guys who asked the most pertinent and relevant questions were the guys who had been around the block a bit and knew the affiliate sector very well and what makes a site work and what doesn’t. These guys asked stuff about stats, traffic and rankings and that was pretty much it. To the point, quick and easy. It’s possibly unfair that the guys with a bit less experience in the sector didn’t get a crack of the whip but unfortunately that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
Payment terms - despite me stating in my original post that I wasn’t interested in developing the site as a going concern with somebody I still got asked a few times. Seriously guys, read the blog post. Then there were people who wanted to pay me in installments or if the site achieved certain targets and so on. Now again, all valid propositions but the guy who offers me the whole cash upfront is the one who will get my attention.
Transparency - one of my really big bug bears is people who advertise sites for sale like this “site for sale, in highly lucrative gaming sector, email me for details”. Seriously, this is how they conduct business. They are so bloody paranoid that others will come along and “steal” their great business idea that they don’t even give out the URL of their site, never mind offer any stats or revenue figures. Madness. I mean, if you saw an ad in say Auto Trader that said “blue car for sale, ring for details” would you? Of course not. But yet, day in and day out on certain websites and forums you get numptees trying to sell their site in this way. What they don’t seem to grasp is that any potential buyer is going to ask for all this information anyway so why not just get it out there? Paranoid androids, the lot of them.
It’s 2010 baby - I find it kinda cool that the whole deal took place via MSN Messenger. I didn’t speak to the buyer once or indeed meet in person. Yes I’ve known him for years and there was mutual trust between us. But still, it was cool to thrash out the negotiations via MSN then finally agree on terms. Sweet.
End of an era - I was actually quite touched as a few people have said that they’ve followed me and UKOffer.com over the years and that the site has been used to train affiliate network staff and just generally been featured a lot in the industry over the years. I never really thought about this until I started reading these comments but I guess it’s true. Which leads me to another problem, I have loads of email addresses but my main one is info at ukoffer.com. I’m going to have to use another one now, it’ll seem, well, just odd.
So there you go, my experiences summed up. What I would like to say is thankyou to each and everyone of you who either enquired about the site or passed on my details to somebody they know who may have been interested. You guys are awesome. It’s also reminded me of how many people with class there are in the affiliate sector. There are some real gentlemen out there (and ladies) with whom I’m proud to be associated with. Well done Team Affiliate!
What I’m listening to right now: Lamont Dozier - “Breaking Out All Over“. Tune.
Post from Kieron’s Blog
Sold!
Original post by Kieron
It’s been 
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