E-Commerce

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I Fail. I Sell. Where to Sell My Website

Sep 03, 2011

When my clients decide to no longer pursue a website project, they always seem to abandon their codebase with me … the developer. How about recouping some of those dollars thrown down the drain?

Fail quickly!

This is a favorite piece of advice I give every startup, one which I originally heard from Marc Ostrofsky’s book “Get Rich Click!” And yes this dude is smart, he’s made millions online.

The point being, the longer you hold on to a bad idea, terribly executed project, under-funded business, over architected website etc … the more money you lose.

And for many years I’ve built projects for clients, then upon closure … they simply walk away.

Their website is like your abandoned Atari 2600 console in the garage. At one time playing Pitfall and Asteroids was cool and certainly the nostalgic reason you’re holding on to it, but please … SELL THAT SHIT!

eBay, Craigslist, a traditional garage sale … there are many ways to gain back dollars online and in some cases lose only minimal.

But what about that abandoned website project? I.e. where to sell my website.

You can sell your website on the above mentioned three, but it’s highly not advised. Like any product, there is an appropriate location to sell it.

The top 3 recommended places to sell your website are:

FLIPPA

Flippa.com is the #1 marketplace online for buying and selling websites. And I’ve personally used this site to dump and dig for web properties.

WEBSITE BROKER

Website Broker is another great marketplace, website shoppers flock here.

FORUMS

A bit more of a risky transaction, heavily traffic’d fourms like NamePros.com have sections dedicated to the buying and selling of websites, forum sections like “Websites for Sale.”

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Types of eCommerce – The Best Shopping Cart for Your Business

Jun 17, 2011

In 2001 I developed my first eCommerce solution. I had no clue what I was doing.

What’s an internet merchant account? Is SSL necessary? Is there a correct type of shopping cart experience and what types of eCommerce are possible?

Five types of eCommerce shopping cart solutions exist: Custom programming, software (install), web based software, CMS plugins and buttons.

Custom Programming: Hire a custom development firm
Software: Purchase software, install and configure it
Web Based Software: Inegrate web based software
CMS Plugins: Install a plugin for your content management system (CMS) like WordPress
eCommerce Buttons: Install pre-developed code snippets

E-Commerce Shopping Cart Options

	Custom Programming	Software	Web Based Software	CMS Plugins	eCommerce Buttons
Providers	topLingo.com	ASP Dot Net Storefront (.NET) X-Cart (PHP) Magento (PHP)	Volusion.com Shopify.com	WP eCommerce	PayPal Google Checkout
Dev Cost	Starting at $5,000 – Avg $15k to $25k	$500 to $5000 depending upon customization	$500 to $5000 depending upon customization	FREE to $1000	FREE to $500
Hosting Cost	$25 to $500/mo.	$10 to $100/mo.	$25 to $150/mo.	FREE to $25/mo.	FREE to $25/mo.
Developer Knowledge	Highly Experienced	Medium Knowledge	Basic Knowledge	Basic Knowledge	Basic Knowledge
Highly Custom Features	YES	YES	YES – Not Ideal	NO	NO
	Custom Programming	Software	Web Based Software	CMS Plugins	eCommerce Buttons
1 to 10 Products	YES – Not Ideal	YES – Not Ideal	YES	YES	YES
10 to 100 Products	YES – Not Ideal	YES – Not Ideal	YES	YES	YES
100 to 10,000 Products	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
10,000+ Products	YES	YES – Not Ideal	YES – Not Ideal	NO	NO
Technology Does’t Matter	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Prefer .NET	Choose a .NET dev firm	Purchase .NET software	YES	NO	YES
Prefer PHP	Choose a PHP dev firm	Purchase PHP software	YES	YES	YES
	Custom Programming	Software	Web Based Software	CMS Plugins	eCommerce Buttons
Pros	Unlimited scalability, no limitation on feature requests & you own the code	Inexpensive, moderate difficulty to install, up and running quickly, feature rich, benefit from the years of development and dollars the provider has put into the software.	Inexpensive, moderate difficulty to install, up and running quickly, feature rich, benefit from the years of development and dollars the provider has put into the software.	Easily jump into eCommerce, simple, easy to install, inexpensive	Simple, easy to install, up and processing in hours, inexpensive
Cons	Expensive initially, takes time to develop	Limitation developing custom features, developer may struggle learning codebase, no ownership of code.	Limitation developing custom features, developer may struggle learning codebase, no ownership of code.	Ideal for a small quantity of products, limited features, difficult to scale, no ownership of code.	Ideal for a small quantity of products, limited features, difficult to scale, no ownership of code, risk of being perceived as a low end business.

To explain eCommerce easily to my clientele I created this “Steps to eCommerce” flowchart which still holds true over 8 years later. Of course prices have changed slightly and new options were introduced but the core concepts have remained.

Steps to eCommerce

Download “Steps to E-Commerce” PDF

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