Hello All,
I am very new to the prospect of selling my websites so Im sure I may have left some pertinent information from this post. I appreciate any guidance you may be willing to provide.
General:AddictiveAquatics.com was started as the extension of a hobby in Saltwater Aquarium keeping in April of 2006. The original concept was nothing more than developing a little income to support my hobby. OceanHomesEtc.com was acquired in July of 2007 and is now basically a duplicate of AddictiveAquatics.com in form and function.
Business Model:Both websites are 95% Dropship business utilizing 4 major wholesale suppliers. 9 times out of 10 if one supplier is out of stock, another is able to ship immeadiately. Managing the business basically consists of filling orders placed online (all suppliers have online order placement), and entering tracking numbers as shipment confirmations are received from the suppliers. Additional revenues are developed from telephone sales and wholesale sales of a proprietary line of Aquarium Products endorsed and developed by a very well known marine researcher. We do have approximately $6K in hard inventory assets that are included with the sale. These assets are located in a fulfillment center in Dallas and are shipped on demand for an extremely reasonable cost.
Traffic Generation:Traffic comes from a mix of Organic Search Engine traffic (Approx 30%), Direct Address and BookMarks (65%), and links (5%). We have not employed any PPC or Paid Advertising, but this could easily develop significantly more traffic as there appears to be very few competitors employing these methods. Traffic at AddictiveAquatics.com averaged +-5k unique visitors per month, January 08 is over 7k unique visitors. OceanHomesEtc.com has averaged +- 900 unique visitors per month since July, January 08 is over 3k unique visitors.
Business OutLook: These websites have been growing steadily each month with winter months being the strongest time of the year. The aquarium business is posed for continual and strong growth as consumers become aware of the newer technologies making Saltwater Aquarium keeping significantly easier and less time consuming than is commonly percieved. There seems to be a lack of internet capability in the aquarium industry and capturing high ranking positions on keywords has been very simple. A more experienced web designer / programmer should be able to skyrocket capture ratios and build more consumer confidence in the website layouts and aesthetics.
Sales Volume and Profits: Fiscal Year 2007 Gross revenues were $127,200.49 with Gross Profits of $24,281.50. Costs include ~3% CC processing fees ($3456.49), Web Hosting charges of $1220, Fulfillment Services $646, Sales Commissions $478.20, Phone Service $751.15, and office Supplies $626.47. Expenses can obviously be easily reduced by using your server, using paperless office techniques, and other methods.
Whats Involved: Typical daily time investment for order processing is less than 1 hour, inclusive of responding to emails and inquiries. Technical Knowledge of aquariums is obviously a positive for phone and live chat sales but not required, most consumers know what they want and are just shopping the best price. Dependant on your time availability, making yourself available for live chat and phone sales can significantly increase sales revenues. Obviously there is a requirment to validate prices and product offering with suppliers, but these tasks are easily automated. Additional time commitments for website improvements are obviously at your discretion.
What's included with the Sale:
Websites and Domain Names (AddictiveAquatics.com and OceanHomesEtc.com)
Additional undeveloped Domain Names (Addictive Aquatics.net and OceanHomesEtc.net)
Shopping Cart Liscenses
All Website Content and Data
Existing Inventory (~$6k)
Supplier Relationships
Phone and Fax Numbers
What you will need:
Credit Card Processing Account
PayPal Account
WebHosting
Transition:I am willing to assist the new owner in any manner possible for a term of 3-6 months. It is extremely unlikely that this long of an assistance period will be required (extremely simple business), but I want to be available as long as is required to help the new owner be successful.
Price:I am asking $57,500 for all of the above. Terms negotiable.
I am very new to the prospect of selling my websites so Im sure I may have left some pertinent information from this post. I appreciate any guidance you may be willing to provide.
General:AddictiveAquatics.com was started as the extension of a hobby in Saltwater Aquarium keeping in April of 2006. The original concept was nothing more than developing a little income to support my hobby. OceanHomesEtc.com was acquired in July of 2007 and is now basically a duplicate of AddictiveAquatics.com in form and function.
Business Model:Both websites are 95% Dropship business utilizing 4 major wholesale suppliers. 9 times out of 10 if one supplier is out of stock, another is able to ship immeadiately. Managing the business basically consists of filling orders placed online (all suppliers have online order placement), and entering tracking numbers as shipment confirmations are received from the suppliers. Additional revenues are developed from telephone sales and wholesale sales of a proprietary line of Aquarium Products endorsed and developed by a very well known marine researcher. We do have approximately $6K in hard inventory assets that are included with the sale. These assets are located in a fulfillment center in Dallas and are shipped on demand for an extremely reasonable cost.
Traffic Generation:Traffic comes from a mix of Organic Search Engine traffic (Approx 30%), Direct Address and BookMarks (65%), and links (5%). We have not employed any PPC or Paid Advertising, but this could easily develop significantly more traffic as there appears to be very few competitors employing these methods. Traffic at AddictiveAquatics.com averaged +-5k unique visitors per month, January 08 is over 7k unique visitors. OceanHomesEtc.com has averaged +- 900 unique visitors per month since July, January 08 is over 3k unique visitors.
Business OutLook: These websites have been growing steadily each month with winter months being the strongest time of the year. The aquarium business is posed for continual and strong growth as consumers become aware of the newer technologies making Saltwater Aquarium keeping significantly easier and less time consuming than is commonly percieved. There seems to be a lack of internet capability in the aquarium industry and capturing high ranking positions on keywords has been very simple. A more experienced web designer / programmer should be able to skyrocket capture ratios and build more consumer confidence in the website layouts and aesthetics.
Sales Volume and Profits: Fiscal Year 2007 Gross revenues were $127,200.49 with Gross Profits of $24,281.50. Costs include ~3% CC processing fees ($3456.49), Web Hosting charges of $1220, Fulfillment Services $646, Sales Commissions $478.20, Phone Service $751.15, and office Supplies $626.47. Expenses can obviously be easily reduced by using your server, using paperless office techniques, and other methods.
Whats Involved: Typical daily time investment for order processing is less than 1 hour, inclusive of responding to emails and inquiries. Technical Knowledge of aquariums is obviously a positive for phone and live chat sales but not required, most consumers know what they want and are just shopping the best price. Dependant on your time availability, making yourself available for live chat and phone sales can significantly increase sales revenues. Obviously there is a requirment to validate prices and product offering with suppliers, but these tasks are easily automated. Additional time commitments for website improvements are obviously at your discretion.
What's included with the Sale:
Websites and Domain Names (AddictiveAquatics.com and OceanHomesEtc.com)
Additional undeveloped Domain Names (Addictive Aquatics.net and OceanHomesEtc.net)
Shopping Cart Liscenses
All Website Content and Data
Existing Inventory (~$6k)
Supplier Relationships
Phone and Fax Numbers
What you will need:
Credit Card Processing Account
PayPal Account
WebHosting
Transition:I am willing to assist the new owner in any manner possible for a term of 3-6 months. It is extremely unlikely that this long of an assistance period will be required (extremely simple business), but I want to be available as long as is required to help the new owner be successful.
Price:I am asking $57,500 for all of the above. Terms negotiable.
