Niche galleries are a growing trend, and one tied to a paid product with an affiliate program makes a lot of sense.

Up for sale is the Thesis Theme CSS Gallery located at http://thesisgallery.com. The site, which is based on WordPress, allows users to submit their Thesis Theme (see diythemes.com) powered websites to show off their CSS. The site is quite profitable, bringing in $356 over the last 30 days.

Also included in auction is:
• The domain thesisthemegallery.com
• 1 month ad banner on daverigotti.com (will get about 100 clicks)
• 1 month link on daverigotti.com (it has a pagerank of 4)
• 1 month free webhosting on mediatemple

• A screencast on how to add new submissions to the site

These all add up to an approximate value of $100; yours free!

I’m selling this site because I’ve taken a job with a large technology company and am getting rid of my online portfolio so I don’t have any conflicts of interest (and get fired because of them).

The site takes approximately 3-5 minutes per day to run, which is really just adding 1 or 2 new sites and approving / deleting comments.

Bidding starts at just $2000 (< 6 months revenue) and there is no reserve.

Payment via Paypal only within 48 hours of auction end, unless we agree otherwise. At that point I’ll immediately transfer the domain (via Godaddy) and provide admin access to WordPress.

Any and all questions should be directed to my business email, dave@freezinghot.com.
Thank you,
Dave Rigotti

Seems very reasonably priced.

Established file hosting and delivery service is available for sale.

Currently breaking even on about $6,000/month in revenue, the minimum bid of $40,000 and BIN of $80,000 seems a little high. Since the bulk of revenue is currently tied to ad revenue, the current economic environment has taken a big chunk off the revenue. There is also a subscription based revenue stream what isn’t detailed.

Seems like worth a look, especially if you have spare hosting capacity and can reduce the overheads associated with the running of the site.

Fugitive Toys is an online store that sells collectible urban vinyl (designer) toys. We do NOT do any sort of drop shipping. We have all stock on hand and regularly order from suppliers and then pack up and ship out orders nearly every day ourselves.

The BIN is $80K, with a reserve at $20K. If you’d like to get into the collectibles ecommerce game this is worth a look.

DesignBump is a social media site, like Digg, but focused on Design related content.

This site was established about 3 months ago and has grown very quickly. We already have a Page Rank of 5, over 800 rss subscribers, and about 500 active members submitting and voting on content. And the site actively grows everyday. Our “bump this” direct submission buttons are featured on some of the very top blogs in this niche market (ex. psdtuts.com, vectortuts.com, justcreativedesign.com, myinkblog.com, designshard, arbent.net, and many more.)

Over the last 3 months 24 percent of the traffic has been direct, and 28 percent has come from search engines with the rest coming from referring sites. Traffic continues to grow organically. Alexa, compete, and technorati ranks are all sub 100,000. Alexa one week rank is 46,906.

This site has a lot of potential for continued growth and I wish I could hold on to it. I have no time to put any more effort into this site and would hate to have it fade into nothing so I would rather sell it.

Site maintenance takes about 1-2 hours a day and I can tell the winning bidder how to increase the viewership/success of the site dramatically if they are willing to but in more work than that.

This site is built off of Drupal, which means it is incredibly flexible and allows for future expansion/scaling/and add ons very easily. Forums, galleries, and private messaging are just some of the unused prebuilt modules Drupal offers that could be used to increase user experience.

The current bid is $2,500 (reserve not met), with a BIN of $10K.

A very cool design gallery is up for sale at Sitepoint.

design|snips is a design gallery with the unique focus of highlighting “snippets” of good design. Everything from the logo and site design to the XHTML/CSS templates were created by me. The website is powered by Textpattern.

The website gets around 150 visits per day, but hold nearly 1800 subscribers to its RSS feed, and has a Google Pagerank of 4.

There are currently no bids, so get things started at $500, or BIN for $5K.

Currently run by Justin Brooke, the site has 319 members in all and bringing in approximately $6K/month in revenue.

The current bid is $4K (has not met the reserve price), with a BIN of $45K.

Something a little different for sale here, yes your buying the website, but real product is a premium Wordpress Theme.

With the purchase of the Market theme you will have full ownership to:
* The domain http://www.markettheme.com (expires: 3/5/2009, registered on Namecheap)
* Full rights to the theme and all 3 variations of its design (only thing I ask is that I can keep the theme / site design in my portfolio)
* Full rights to Market Product Manager plugin, Paypal (market lite) plugin, and custom Ajax Cart Script.

The theme has generated over 8K in revenue over the past 4 months, from 160 license sales.

The minimum bid is 20K.

These tools can help you figure out just how much your website is worth:

• WebSiteBroker : Website Valuation Tool
  http://www.websitebroker.com/valuation.php

  The Website Valuation Calculator can help with the process of determining the value of an existing website. The calculator will base it’s calculations on the information you provide it. Good, accurate information will naturally produce better results.

• CyberWyre
  http://www.cwire.org/website-value-calculator/

  Provides estimates based only on criteria available to the domain name; It does not provide a value of the company behind the website

As the disclaimers on the tools make clear, these valuation don’t really mean much, but they can give you a rough ballpark of the value.

These articles provide some valuable tips on website valuation techniques:

• Summarizing Website Valuation
  http://www.prowebvalue.com/web_valuation_summary.php
• Self Domain Appraisal: Check out this thread to learn how to appraise the value of your site on your own.
  http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum25/614.htm
• Valuation of Developed Websites: Consider the cost to create a new comparative website, traffic, revenue, and other factors when valuing your developed domain.
  http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum31/1195.htm
• Website Value 101-How to Appraise a Website: Get the basics on website valuation in this article.
  http://www.stuntdubl.com/2006/02/20/website-valuation/
• Web Site Valuation Calculator: Use this formula for a quick way to get an idea of your website’s value.
  http://www.ventureplan.com/web.valuations.html
• How To Sell A Website-How Much Is Your Website Worth?: Yaro’s number one rule? “Your site is worth as much as someone is willing to give you for it.”
  http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/265/how-to-sell-a-website-how-much-is-your-website-worth/
• A Guide to Basic Variables That Make a Web Site Valuable: Read this thread from Webmaster World to calculate future profitability, traffic, and other valuation basics.
  http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum31/1766.htm

Read: Run a Domain Name Background Check Before Buying

Selling a website is like selling real estate in many ways. If you’re preparing to sell a website you may want to consider some of the lessons that can be learned from real estate experts.

Curb Appeal Counts

One of the most important factors in selling a house is creating an immediate reaction from the potential buyer. A house that has curb appeal will create a strong first impression from the street that will draw the potential buyer inside.

Selling a website can also be much easier if the potential buyer has a positive first impression based upon the appearance of your website. You’ll need to take into consideration the curb appeal factor of your website. With real estate and with websites, curb appeal will rarely seal the deal, but it can have a huge impact on the potential buyer’s mentality throughout the process.

Houses need to use curb appeal to stand out from others in the neighborhood that are for sale. Websites can benefit by doing the same thing.

Be Prepared to Negotiate

Selling a website is much like selling a house in that you will most likely need to negotiate with potential buyers. You may be fortunate enough to get your full asking price, but typically you’ll get some offers that you’ll have to consider. It’s a good idea to anticipate this and have in mind what you will be willing to accept and what you will not be willing to accept. If you get an offer that seems too low, don’t be afraid to make a counter offer somewhere between your asking price and the original offer.

Think About the Buyer’s Interests, Not Your Own

If you are doing some remodeling on a house in effort to get it ready to sell, you’ll typically want to keep things conservative, such as painting with neutral colors rather than something bright. Because everyone has different taste in what they like in a house, you need to keep your decisions suited to common opinions and avoid extremes. At this time you need to forget about the style that you would like for your own house, and think about what the potential buyer is most likely to appreciate.

The same concept can be applied to selling a website. As the owner of the site you may have strong feelings about a particular aspect of the site, but the buyer’s opinion is more important. Try to take your own feelings out of the equation as much as possible to focus on what the buyer wants to see.

Spend Wisely

Real estate investing involves spending money to make money. You may invest in a remodeled kitchen or bathroom that can drastically improve the overall value of the home. On the other hand, you could also pour a lot of money into upgrades that are unlikely to bring a solid return on the investment.

When you are preparing to sell your website you may want to consider what types of expenses could improve the value of your site. If you site is old and looks out-of-date, you may be able to get a good ROI by getting the site redesigned before selling. Before you invest much money into preparing for the sale, take some time to consider how it will affect the final selling price and determine if the expense is justified.

DIY at Your Own Risk

Many real estate investors make the mistake of having an overly aggressive Do-It-Yourself approach in attempt to save some money. Have you ever seen a TV show where the investor tries to do plumbing or electrical work without much knowledge in those areas? Sometimes they wind up doing more harm than good, and then they have to hire a professional anyway.

If you’re trying to prepare your website for a sale, be sure that anything you take on yourself is something that you can do effectively. If you think your site needs a redesign before being put up for sale, don’t attempt to design the site yourself if it is not one of your strengths.

Find the Right Agent

When it comes to buying and selling houses, a quality real estate agent is critical. Most website owners sell their site themselves, but where you list the sale of the site can have a similar impact. There are a number of different places where you can list a website to be sold (Most-Listed, SitePoint Marketplace, BuySellWebsite, Website Broker).

In addition to finding the right place to sell your site, there is also the option to use a broker, which is more common for high-priced sales. Of course, much like with real estate, you could always try the for-sale-by-owner route and see if you can make the sale by contacting people you know or those that may be interested rather than posting the sale somewhere like SitePoint.

There is no right or wrong approach to selling your website. You’ll simply need to look at the pros and cons of your different options and base your decision accordingly.

Staging Counts

Furnished houses tend to sell much better than empty houses. Some real estate investors will even bring in furniture simply to stage the house even though no one will be living there. The staging helps potential buyers to see the house as a true home. Without the staging it can seem impersonal and they may have a harder time picturing themselves living in the house.

Make an attempt to put the potential buyer of your website in ownership mentally. Show them the potential of your site and get them to feel like they are already there.

Know Their Buying Triggers

Most home buyers tend to buy on emotion. Something about a particular house causes them to fall in love, and they just don’t want to live anywhere else.

Website buyers are less likely to buy on emotion and more likely to buy for financial or business reasons. Knowing what triggers the buying decision, give them what they want to see. If you think the buyer will be triggered by business factors, don’t focus on how long it took you to build the site or how much your visitors like the design. Rather, focus on numbers and the details of how much the site makes for its owner.

Location, Location, Location

We’ve all heard the three most important factors for determining the value of real estate. Unfortunately, there’s really nothing you can do to improve the location of real estate that you currently own.

With websites location is still a critical factor, but it’s much different than with real estate. The website’s location is determined by factors like its domain name and the inbound links to the site. If your site has a strong, valuable domain name, it’s essentially the same thing as having a great location for real estate.

Fortunately, with websites there are some things you can do to improve the location. Links are like roads that lead visitors to your website. If you can build quality and quantity of inbound links coming to your site, it’s essentially the same as building a new road that leads directly to a piece of real estate. Getting links from large, respected sites can have the same impact as building a major road that drops people off right at your store.

What’s Your Opinion?

What similarities do you see in selling a website and selling real estate?