Hello,

I would just like to announce that I am selling my redirection service website, www.n2v.net. The site has over 2215 users and grows at about 20-35 daily. Most weeks the service receives over 130 users. For the month of December the service received over 160,000 hits.

If you are interested in buying the site, or want any extra information, please e-mail me Brian@n2v.net.

I am also selling a domain name that I own, HostedPHP.com. If you are interested please e-mail me with an offer.

Thanks,
Brian

Anyone have any constructive comments?

Brian

What exactly are you selling?

The user database and domain name I can guess, but are you also selling the following?

-hosting(what kind of hosting, contract, ...)
-technology(whatever you use to signup, redirect, ...)

You should probably also mention a base price.

Peter

Thanks for the comment.

With the package includes:

-Hosting via veoweb.net paid until March 2002 (19.95 monthly however the plan is overkill for n2v.net)

-Domain name paid until November 2002.

-Scripts24.com slightly modified version of iRedirector. Professionally installed, and had copyright removed (we paid extra for this).

-iRedirector is a PHP/MySQL system that is capable of handling over 23 redirection requests every second. The database, being MySQL can hold virtually unlimited users.
The software has 5 methods of ad delivery over the user's websites. This software is very secure and has tons of features.

-The user base of over 2200 users.

-Website design.

-6, FLASH animation banners done by professional artists (over $150 spent).

To give everyone an estimate of what I'm looking for, I would hope to have offers around the $3k range. I have had offers in the $2k range but am looking for something more as the service is more valuable than that.

I did a little calculation of possible ad-revenue statistics:

Going by what I was told by a sales rep. at advertising.com, they offer 3CPM on POP Under ads.

This 3CPM on 165,000 hits monthly translates into:

165x3 = $495 monthly.

Hypothetically, if the service stopped growing, and didn't quadruple in size every few months then the yearly ad-revenue would be $5940. This is if the service stayed at its current user base and hits. With around 150 new users weekly as it stands and that number increasing drastically, you could triple or quadruple those ad-revenue numbers over a year.

That would mean that the service would pay for itself in a few months.


You can always reach me at Brian@n2v.net.

Thanks,
Brian

I've had a few offers for n2v, but still not around the price range I'm looking for.

Does anyone have any ideas of what I could sell HostedPHP.com for? I have never sold a domain name before, and because of the current state of domains etc... I'm not sure what its value is.

Brian

Originally posted by BrianF


the yearly ad-revenue would be $5940. This is if

If you don't mind me asking, if it has that kind of revenue potential, why are you selling?

I'm a bit puzzled as to how you can value the domain at 3K. What revenue are you earning as of today? Through what sources?

The value of the script itself is pretty tiny. $60 registration, plus maybe a bit more for the customization you did. The flash banners, etc, are nice, but I think that anyone who would be interested in purchasing the domain is interested in how it earns, what it earns, and why you are selling it.

If you could provide more information on that front, perhaps we can understand why you are looking for such a high value.

Thanks - Brian

Originally posted by BravoComm


If you don't mind me asking, if it has that kind of revenue potential, why are you selling?


BravoComm:

I'm dying to start my own web hosting company and this is the only means of startup capital that I can get. I'd prefer not to sell the site because it will only continue to grow, but if I want to start a web host, I need the money.



I'm a bit puzzled as to how you can value the domain at 3K. What revenue are you earning as of today? Through what sources?

The value of the script itself is pretty tiny. $60 registration, plus maybe a bit more for the customization you did. The flash banners, etc, are nice, but I think that anyone who would be interested in purchasing the domain is interested in how it earns, what it earns, and why you are selling it.

I can value the site at "so much" money because of the sites potential. It can be earning around $500 monthly (according to the $3CPM figure given to me by Tim at advertising.com). Over 2250 some odd users are now using the service, all of which I have an e-mail to send out newsletters with ads, that’s one other revenue maker.

I've actually talked with a bunch of people about selling the site. People who are CEO's of Internet companies today and they've valued the site at $5-6 thousand dollars just because of the hits, amount of users, and the established website.

Hope this clears things up.

BrianF,

If I were you I'd hang on to it. Start running those ads and get your $500/month and bank it. After a few months you'll have enough to get started and still have this as a money maker as well. Sometimes it takes a while to start making decent profts from hosting... you'd be crazy to give up something that can bring in $500/month and is still growing.

I cannot stress thos enought aswell, making $500/month (possibly more!) will pay for its self in 6 months or less (if it keeps growing). And when you do start up your hosting company you can use the profits to keep it running. Even now you could just buy a couple of rackshack.net servers ($99/month) and get it your hosting company going. You are in a very nice position and I wouldn't sell this company if I were you.

Anyway, hope you got something out of this and wish you good luck.

-Chris

I'm really torn on what to do.

On one hand I wouldn't like to give the site up, and keep the money.

But on the otherhand if I could sell it for $3000 I would be able to set my own hosting company up, and right now.

I also heard that rackspace is much much better than rackshack, and that rackshack only causes headaches down the road =/

Brian

I'd keep it if i were you,

since it is a site that basically runs itself, and only requires a bit of support on the side (or am i wrong?)

so it is basically an easy 500 bucks you pocket every month.

I don't really care about pocketing 500 bucks every month. What I really want to do is start my own web hosting company.

Why not let someone else run it that sees the potential of the service? I'd be happier running a web hosting company.

Brian

BrianF, Rackspace servers certainly are MUCH BETTER than Rackshack servers, but there's there BIG price difference.

Alan

I know, but I'm willing to pay ~$200 extra monthly just for extra service. I don't want unhappy clients =)

Brian

It's only $200 more now?? LOL, it's more than that I think (depends on how much bandwidth you order with Rackspace I guess), but I can't argue about the cost, since their service is outstanding.

Alan

Brian,
unless you are not telling us something, I strongly suggest that you keep this service going.
What exactly are you looking to buy that costs $3000?

Peter

I've been working on a business plan.

-I'm planning on $300 monthly server costs.
-ModernBill ~200 upfront.
-cPanel ~99 monthly

And the rest on advertising.

I figure that I'll spend 400 monthly on server expenses then, 3-4 hundred more dollars monthly on advertising. This is my business plan for the first few months only.

Brian

I think you would lose a lot of members to n2v.net once you started advertising...

AD FREE! - We do not place any type of ads on your website, no popups, frames, delay pages, or embedded ads on your website at all!

Adding popups would make a lot of people pretty mad I would think...

A lot of companies have done it in the past that I've seen. Besides, its a free service, if they don't like it then so be it. With the rate of new users that signup daily a few people may drop out right when the change takes place, then, after a day or two the number will pick back up again.

Look at v3, they have a ton of ads on users sites, but they have 3.6 million users.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but it doesn't look to me like people are shying away from their service?

Brian

I have no idea :). I just know that when I used to deal with a lot of pop-up and pop-under banners, a lot of people complained of huge drops in page visits after starting these types of advertising campaigns.

Brian,

This doesn't make sense to me. So, you are not making $500 a month then. You are selling the possibility that the users will be willing to stay with the ads.

Not an impossibility, but pricing your service as if this is a certainty doesn't seems very appropriate.

Peter

Listen guys.

If you're going to bash my attempt to find an owner for this service please e-mail me privately.

I'm selling the service with a guarantee that there will be 2280+ users. I have those user's e-mail addresses.

The owner has the potential to make around $500 monthly on advertising revenue. If popups aren't an option, then do a less obtrusive ad-frame. There is no way that I can guarantee that you will make money from a business that I am selling. I talked with the guy over at has.it and he says that what I'm selling the site for is a great deal just because of the amount of money that can be made through redirection services.

If you are a serious buyer you will see the potential in this great service.

Brian

I'm not bashing it, im just saying that you will probably notice a significant drop in users...

Just as a suggestion, if it were my company...

I would probably wait a while, pump up the user database. Then after you have quite a few members, do a few popups advertising yourself, and see if you notice a drop or a gain.

Then I would do the affiliate pop-ups or pop-unders...

Bashing your offer? Hardly.

I have no trouble with you. I was the first one to ask constructive questions so that the thread could stay alive. If anything, I would like to see that you sell your service.

I am merely raising some valid concerns. In the interest of everyone, and to help other understand your offer so that you can sell this thing quickly.

Peter

I personally think that $3000 is a good offer for this type of service with an established userbase. I think that over 2280 users is a good number of users to start advertising with if you wanted to.

Their might be a slight drop in users, certainly not a significant drop. People have branded their sites using the n2v.net address, are they just going to stop using it altogether?

If you had yourname.com and switched to some other url randomly people wouldn't know how to find you anymore.

You could also do a system like v3 where you have users opt out of the ads for a buck a month or $12 a year.

There are so many possibilities with this type of service.

Brian

Grr... I get too defensive.

Sorry if I offended you.

Brian

Originally posted by ckpeter
Brian,

This doesn't make sense to me. So, you are not making $500 a month then. You are selling the possibility that the users will be willing to stay with the ads.

Not an impossibility, but pricing your service as if this is a certainty doesn't seems very appropriate.

Peter

I agree. I could sell my hosting company on the premise that I will have potential for sales over $100,000 per month in a year. But that is only potential.

I think a year or two ago potential was enough for someone to go with. Today, you need real, current profits. Nothing less is worthwhile to an investor or buyer.

Take care,

Brian

If I need real profits, then why have I received a few offers already, and have a few more people thinking about it?

The thing is, with the simple placement of ad-code you could be making 500 monthly. Its not like it takes a whole lot of work!

Brian

If it doesn't take a lot of work, then why not do it yourself now and then show maybe one week's of profit stats for the site, that should help the sale of it.

Alan

Haven't I explained enough why I want to sell the site. My reasons for selling the site shouldn't be the biggest issue here. I'm selling the site because I choose too, that should be all you need to know. If you were serious about buying I'd discuss it further with you.

Brian

The site is still for sale. I had a few people thinking about it but they have either decided against it, or are still thinking.

If you want more information please contact me.

Hi Brian,
Just so you know, posting two posts in a row is considered bumping and is not allowed.

Just a friendily reminder.

Peter