My name is Steven Chang, founder of SCCNetwork.com. I am an avid investor in website businesses. In 2003 and 2004 I have invested a total of $25k purchasing website businesses, mostly bought from eBay™. Out of the $25k investment I would say only $8k was worthy of my investment money. In other words, I’ve seen the other $17k went down the drain because of bad investment choices and cunning sellers. Read this guide and you will avoid the same mistakes I’ve made!

Beware! When you see sales pitches like these, "Established website making $300/day", "Make huge profit with this website," "Big Money Maker," "100,000 Hits a day!" Beware! 1000’s of websites are put on auction on eBay™ every day. Whether the website is bidding for $1, $100, $1000, or even $10,000, how do you make sure you are getting your money’s worth, and that you are buying a quality website business? Website business valuation is no different than other business valuation – in this guide, we will tell you common mistakes buyers make when buying a website, how to identify "cookie-cutter" websites, what questions to ask before making your purchase, the real cost of buying a cheap website, dirty tricks that sellers use to get you to bid on their websites, and how to locate genuine, profitable website businesses.

This guide is a must read for anybody who has an interest in purchasing a website on eBay™, or starting an internet business. If you are a newbie to E-Commerce, or lack knowledge in web design, web hosting, and internet marketing, then definitely read on before purchasing your website. It will save you much of costly mistakes like I’ve made. Although the guide specifically target websites sold over eBay™, these general guidelines shall apply to any websites that are sold anywhere.

If you are reading this book or if you have been on eBay™ for quite a while, it is safe to assume that you already know which categories most of the websites and businesses are being auctioned at:

So open up your favorite browser and get to that category and let’s get the ball rolling.

As one become more experienced in purchasing website businesses I’d like to also invite him to join the board moderators to assist other investors on making smart investments.

Before even looking at buying a website, it is important to define your budget.

If you are buying an established website, budget yourself ten (10) times the monthly net profit the website generates. For example, if a website profits $100 USD monthly, be prepared to pay $1,000 for it.  If you are buying a cookie-cutter website, a couple hundred dollars will do.

A word about established and cookie-cutter websites should be mentioned before we delve into the art of buying a profitable website business.

There is a difference between already established websites vs. cookie-cutter websites. An established website is usually one that has been running for at least one year, has and are making money, has a unique service or product in a unique industry. Go on eBay™ and you will see so many listings titled "Established site for sale…" Don’t be fooled. 90% of these "established site" listings aren’t technically selling established website business. It’s simply a sales pitch. You will see "established site" listings selling Pay-Per-Click websites, Dating websites, Auto/Boat/RV classifieds websites, search engine submission service websites, photo rating websites, etc.

Cookie-cutter websites are exactly what the name implies. A web developer cooks up a cookie-cutter website by slapping on the same HTML code, same website script onto different domains. This is not to say that a cookie-cutter website can not be an established website.  With proper marketing, a cookie-cutter website can become established.

Below is a list of questions that we recommend you to ask the seller, if the seller has not already addressed them in the ad. Please feel free to include your own questions if you have any. This list is not meant to be a comprehensive list of questions, just the important ones that most buyers don’t even mention asking.

As a general guideline, you do not want the cost of obtaining a website business to exceed 10 to 12 times the estimated average profit per month. For example, if you purchase a website that is currently profiting $1,000 per month, it will be wise for you to purchase this website for no more than $12,000. Sellers might have their own ideas regarding the website’s worthiness, so it’s entirely up to you.

Some websites are set to profit on autopilot, meaning that the website business runs itself and makes money without needing maintenance or marketing effort. All that is needed is a reliable web host and keep the website running. Usually websites that make money without owner’s intervention are search engine optimized websites set up with affiliate sales pages. The search engine optimized website virtually brings unlimited targeted visitors to the website for as long as the website ranks well in the major search engines. This is just one technique but the point of the discussion is that these autopilot websites tend to sell for higher than other type of website businesses that would otherwise require marketing effort and time put in to it to make it profitable.

If you can, speak to the seller personally. It is recommended that you at least speak to the seller over the phone, instead of exchanging emails. Genuine sellers should be more than happy to chat with potential buyers about the website that is being sold, and to answer any questions that buyers should have.

Just a word of caution: Don’t jump off the cliff because everyone else is. Keep in mind that there are many inexperienced and young website business investors out there trying their hands at making money online through websites. Now that you are almost done reading this article you should be more knowledgeable on what’s going on in eBay™’s "Websites & Businesses For Sale" category.

There is a difference between hits and visitors, in terms of website traffic. The measure of visitors is self-explanatory. Hits are a little bit different. When each web page is pulled up, each image that is loaded in the web page is considered a hit. Therefore, you may have 20 hits from just one visitor coming to a web page. Sellers often use the word "hits" to blow up the traffic stats to make his website seem very popular. Don’t be fooled by "this website made $X last week," "Huge Money Making Site," "Must See, Big Profits, " etc. Stick with facts and figures.

We have identified these types of websites as cookie-cutter websites currently selling on eBay™. By no mean are we discouraging people from buying them:

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing! Your website is useless unless people know about it. Internet marketing is a subject that requires an encyclopedia by itself. The truth is, internet marketing is not easy. Internet marketing can be costly in time and money. Website sellers have taken advantage of this fallacy that once they have a website they will start to make money as the auction listing has described. That’s why there is a huge market on eBay™ for cookie-cutter websites.

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