Would you sell your virtual pet site?

[cpvr]

I know a lot of virtual pet owners all love to say that they wouldn't sell their virtual pet site, but let's say if you were the owner of a very popular virtual pet site and someone with a lot of cash (millions) decided that he was interested in purchasing your virtual pet site from you... Would you do it or would you decline the offer?

[bigdude]

Millions? Yeah, if I owned a petsite I'd probably sell it, depending on how much income I was making. I doubt I'd pass it up if I got an offer into the millions, but you never know :P

[cpvr]

Millions? Yeah, if I owned a petsite I'd probably sell it, depending on how much income I was making. I doubt I'd pass it up if I got an offer into the millions, but you never know :P
What if your virtual pet site was bringing in like $100,000 a month or so?

[webbdh2003]

I would keep it if it made hundreds of thousands a month, especially if it was like 500,000+/month, two months and I'd have one million, 4, two, 6, three...etc. in a year I'd have six million two 12 million. patience is the key.

[Patrick]

The question is too vauge. If your site makes nothinga nd is offered a million who in the right mind would pass that up. If your site is making 50,000/month, well then maybe you don't see a need to sell because you're making a good residual income off of it. I suppose it would also matter how much money you already have and how much you need it.

[cpvr]

I would keep it if it made hundreds of thousands a month, especially if it was like 500,000+/month, two months and I'd have one million, 4, two, 6, three...etc. in a year I'd have six million two 12 million. patience is the key.
Exactly, but what if they offered more than what you're making, then what? Would you keep it and just continue on with your success?


The question is too vauge. If your site makes nothinga nd is offered a million who in the right mind would pass that up. If your site is making 50,000/month, well then maybe you don't see a need to sell because you're making a good residual income off of it. I suppose it would also matter how much money you already have and how much you need it.
Yes, but it can also be taken into other considerations. The fact remains if it's making money, a lot or a little, should it be sold? You also need to take into consideration how much you care about your virtual pet site and how it'll become without you as the owner.

[webbdh2003]

Exactly, but what if they offered more than what you're making, then what? Would you keep it and just continue on with your success?

Yes, due to the fact as each month the average you make may go up, so maybe the first month, 25k, the next 50k, so thats 75k, then the next 100k, totaling 175k, then 275k, 500k, 685k, 725k, 950k, 1 mil, 1.25 mil, 1.75 mil, 3.25 mil and it keeps adding and adding, eventually you'll have what they offered and then surpassed it. but like Patrick said, if you weren't making nothing and offered a lot, yes I would, cause then I could just create a new one better and hire coders that require payment, etc. we'll be up probably in 1-2 years time and be running smoothly.

[bigdude]

Yeah, you have to take into consideration what you are making and try to chart out what you will make in the future. If it surpasses the total offered, why take the offer? I doubt many petsites make millions of dollars off of their site ;)

And what you said about being the owner and what the site will become without you is true as well. You put alot of hard work into that site and now you're just going to part with it for money. What if the site grows to large proportions like Neopets and you lose out? Unlikely, but...what if?

[webbdh2003]

Yeah they you'll just be out of luck, and then there's the other possibility that the new owner sells it again to someone not as dedicated or the new owner isn't as dedicated as you though and got it closed, etc. But you did want it to stay online.

[Fly]

I think not.

If I had a large site, then there would be no way I'd sell at any price. the reason being that I wouldn't want something I loved/nurtured to go and be the next Neopets. I wouldn't want my site to suffer the same fate as that one as in:

Owners not caring about individuals.
Owners not caring how their reputation is on the site.
Owners not caring enough about the players to say "Hey! How can I make Whateverthesitenameis be better?"

Just owning a site is an exciting venture. You plan for it. You work on it. You want it to succeed, so in a way Whateverthesitenameis is your baby.

[cpvr]

Yes, due to the fact as each month the average you make may go up, so maybe the first month, 25k, the next 50k, so thats 75k, then the next 100k, totaling 175k, then 275k, 500k, 685k, 725k, 950k, 1 mil, 1.25 mil, 1.75 mil, 3.25 mil and it keeps adding and adding, eventually you'll have what they offered and then surpassed it. but like Patrick said, if you weren't making nothing and offered a lot, yes I would, cause then I could just create a new one better and hire coders that require payment, etc. we'll be up probably in 1-2 years time and be running smoothly.
Ya, then that's when you should consider the option of selling, but other than that, no. It all depends on your dedication, love, and everything care for your website.

[Ian]

the only time I would ever sell is if Laimay wanted me to

[Fly]

I have to say I'm a bit surprised at that:

the only time I would ever sell is if Laimay wanted me to

Because you've dedicated so much time and effort into the site.

[peekypets]

I would sell, no one would want to buy though lol

[Ian]

I have to say I'm a bit surprised at that:



Because you've dedicated so much time and effort into the site.

which I would get back in $$

It would be no fun for me if Laimay left. Its not going to happen though :)

[Fly]

It would be no fun for me if Laimay left. Its not going to happen though :)

I think that's very sweet.

I have no doubt you would get the money back. To me it would be like giving up something you have nurtured for a long while. Very hard if not impossible to do.

[Ian]

I could never do what neopets did though. If i was to sell, it would have to be sold and nothing to do with me ever again.

No way I could work this hard, sell up and then be bossed around and not allowed to do what I want lol

[Fly]

I definately agree with you on that too Ian.

I don't see how Adam and Donna can do that either.

[Shiva]

I'm not a petsite owner (though one day I would like to be), but I don't think I could sell. The petsite would be my creation, my baby, and I'd hate for it to go in the wrong direction after selling. We all saw what happened to Neopets after they sold out.. All the Viacom company cares about is making money off of the site, even if it's at the expense of quality.

Now if I wasn't making money off of the site, and I didn't think that even in the future I'd make money, I probably would sell it if offered millions. I would then create another petsite, a better one, with some of the money I received.

[Patrick]

My guess is that if someone buys your pet site for millions, they would make you sign a contract stating you won't make another one. Thats a common practice in buy outs.

[SaiKaorii]

If when I'm a lot older and becoming a bit run-down, I would probably do so. Since it will have to go to someone else sooner or later, ya know? :/

And also, for me, I wouldn't sell my entire site (unless like if I'm dying and someone good was willing to care for it). But if some of the pets went awry and I just don't want them anymore, I'd be selling pieces like that probably. You can always remake one in the meantime to replace the one lost, ya?

And as everyone else said, why sell something for a set price when you can get more and more from it with each year more than likely, if you work hard enough.

[webbdh2003]

dont make another one?! not even completely different, I wouldn't sign or at least find a way around it.

[cyopets]

After all me and my team of people have been through already building a pet site from scratch, I wouldn't be able to sell unless the offer is outrageous.

[chickapets.com]

I was approached when my site was only 3 or 4 months old. They didn't make a $ offer though, just inquired if I was interested in selling.

My reply was NO. Mainly because I still have a long long way to go on chickapets and so much more I want to do, plus I'm loving it.

Maybe later, its a possibility, I'm not sure though. Depends on the offer.

I haven't spent every spare second for the past 5 months creating my baby to sell it off to someone.

[cpvr]

After all me and my team of people have been through already building a pet site from scratch, I wouldn't be able to sell unless the offer is outrageous.

How outrageous? Like $20,000 or $3,000 that Impulse Communications paid for Kiropets? Also, Venetopia was sold for at least $2,500 on ebay.

[Viral]

I would go by business standards. I would not sell my business unless the buyer offered 7x the projected yearly income, based on the previous yearly income.

[Patrick]

Unless your a full fledged cooperation and your in more than the website market, you will have a hard time finding more than a 10 times monthly profit. The "business standard" for websites is 10-14 times your monthly profit.

Now this may not apply to large games like neopets and perhaps marapets, but otherwise thats how it usually goes.

[tezeti]

I would only sell my virtual petsite to someone who would implement similar ideas as I would.

[FilthHigh]

I'm not a petsite owner, but I hope to be one day maybe.
But if I was ever to sell away all my hard-earned work, it would have to be for something extremely crazy. Talking crazy Neopets-numbers, millions. Enough to even retire on.
If not, psh. Keep your offers.

[PFirelight]

Depends on the offer and how much time and money went into it. Plus it would depend on the buyer. If it was something shady or just unfavorable I wouldn't want it to fall into their hands, turn into just an add site or die, even if it was a high offer.

[dashundpuppy3]

id hate to say it but if my site got big when i make a really really good one (if possible) and i couldnt visit often enough id have to sell it

[Haywire]

I would never sell my sites (Ones that I hoped to become large) after one terrible experience. But, here is how things work. If your site is small, or large, depending on income... If it has a small income ($500-$2000 /month) I would sell for 1 Year worth of income + software (script) costs + images + the database... For example

$2,000 /month Profit

23,000 Members
64 Pets
LARGE SITE, LOTS OF FEATURES
Over 200 Items

$24,000 (1 Year Profit)
$448 Pet Images & Names (Being Used, Popular, $7 a Piece)
$800 Scripts (Established Site, Lots of Features, Admin Panel, Community, Games, ETC)
$1000 Items (Widly Used, Named, Maintained, ETC.. $5/item)
$6900 For User Database ($0.30/active user (23,000 active users))
$1000 For Maintining Whole DB

Total? $34,148

Well, some people may say that is WAY too much.. NOT! At this rate:

$2,000 Profit/month

In 17-18 Months, at a steady $2,000 a month profit, they will have made their money back.

$2000/month = $12,000 in 6 months

If the promoted the site more, and they grew, profit could rise to up to $4,000 in 6 months.

$22,148 Remaining. At $4,000 a month, they would hit it in...

5 Months, with extra to spare. Now, thats an estimate on the profit increase, it could be more, it could be less. Now take into consideration the increase of users, and possible increase of activity, meaning they could get more from ads, and sponsors and so on. So in the long run, they will still make profit off of you!

So SELL HIGH! Instead of $34,000... Go with 50!

[FuRom]

You could make way more than $50k from a growing site in due time. Haywire's estimations are not ideal for someone that has made something profitable. If your site is just another common pet-clone, I doubt you would have anyone asking to buy, but if you do, then sell. If you're site's not your run of the mill clone that has a growing income every month DO NOT SELL FOR LESS THAN THIS EQUATION:

Lets say last month's income was $3,000
Lets say the last month that we made less than $3,000 was the month before, in which we made $2,800

Lets find out rate of increase: $3,000-$2,800 = $200
Take our $200 and multiply it by the next 5 years. ($200*12*5*5) = 60,000
Now we take and calculate what we took out, (3000*12*5) = 180,000
Our total for selling our future revenue = 180,000 + 60,000 = 240,000
Now we account for money put in, calculate up how much was dishes out for artwork and such and add it to the sum.

Now, this will account for what you would have made in the next 5 years and a bit more. Anyone that wants to contest this theory, go right ahead. I'm just saying this is the best way to do it if you want to think like a corporate wiz. When selling, you want to gain instead of lose out. If you're just selling because you can't maintain the site anymore but you would like to see the site live on, thats cool, but if you're really wanting to make money, then do it.

As for me, I'd never sell out. It will take too much of an outrageous amount for me to sell my work. That's why I'll never sell xD.

Also, as a side note: If you're selling out to a huge corporation, you want to go way bigger than that. You better just come up with an unreasonable number within the millions that they would agree to no matter what.

[Mekki]

Money doesnt mean much for me, I own Mekkipets with my friends, and Mekkipets is mostly about the imaginary world I created, and the world will grow with help from my friends, so If I sell the site, I would sell my mind and soul. No way! XD