by Do you know that you don’t need to create a website to make money from affiliate marketing?
You can buy an Amazon affiliate site with great potential to improve and work on instead of starting a website from scratch.
Alternatively, you can pursue buying and selling affiliate websites as an online business. Some people do, and they make good money from it.
So let’s talk about this lucrative venture in this post. We’ll cover everything you need to know to buy Amazon affiliate sites or sell them.
If you’ve ever considered buying an Amazon affiliate site on sale, pay close attention to the section on proper due diligence. It’s the key to ensuring you buy a profitable website.
Contents
Why do People Sell Amazon Affiliate Websites?
An individual can put up their Amazon affiliate business for sale for different reasons:
- Loss of interest – most individuals who get into affiliate marketing for the money lose interest fast and decide to sell their sites.
- Feeling overwhelmed with several projects – other individuals who place their Amazon affiliate website for sale on a marketplace run multiple sites. They sell to reduce the number of projects and make room for others.
- Quick cash – other people sell websites because it’s a fast way to make good money, i.e., engaging in the website-flipping internet business.
They buy profitable websites, improve their traffic and earnings, then put them up for sale at a higher price.
How Profitable is This Business?
Buying and selling Amazon affiliate websites is a profitable business that has grown to include other digital products and services. Some include apps, eCommerce stores, Amazon FBA, SaaS, and domains.
Usually, a thorough vetting process by marketplace owners ensures the buyer and seller profit from the exchange.
You can sell your website for over 40X what it’s worth currently. Or, buy one for a few thousand dollars, then convert it into millions of dollars in revenue.
Pros and Cons of Buying Amazon Affiliate Sites
There are several pros and cons of buying Amazon affiliate sites. Some pros include:
- You get an established business that’s already making money. You skip the struggle of trying to make your first sale online.
- You can find sites that have existed for years and are already ranking well for several keywords. As a result, you’ll need less effort to improve the performance of such websites on the SERPs than ranking a new site.
- You get all the assets attached to the site. Buying an Amazon affiliate site goes beyond the site itself. You get all the systems and revenue generation mechanisms behind it.
For instance, if the owner created a social media presence and community on different platforms, they become yours.
On the other hand, the most common cons of buying Amazon affiliate sites include
- It’s easy to get scammed. A seller can overestimate the earning potential for a specific website.
- It’s easy to buy a site suspended or banned from the Amazon affiliate program. Sometimes, sellers hide their real reasons for selling their websites.
In most cases, proper due diligence will help you deal with almost all the cons of buying affiliate websites on different platforms.
Where to Find Amazon Affiliate Sites For Sale?
You can find Amazon affiliate sites for sale on different online marketplaces designed for selling profitable online businesses. Let’s review a few below:
Motion Invest Review
Motion invest is one of the most well-known online marketplaces for buying and selling websites.
It conducts a thorough background check of all sites on its listing page to ensure all statistics sellers provide are correct and up-to-date. For this reason, Motioninvest might be the best place for a beginner looking to buy a site.
Also, you’ll find several websites, from high-earning to low-earning sites. You can get the most inexpensive yet profitable websites on this platform.
Empire Flippers Review
Contrary to Motion Invest, Empire Flippers focus on listing high-earning online businesses only for sale.
They list businesses in several niches, utilizing a range of monetization methods. Some include eCommerce, Amazon FBA, display advertising, Amazon KDP, and dropshipping.
The least expensive Amazon affiliate store for sale on Empire flippers earns a minimum of about $500 monthly. This is the minimum monthly revenue requirement for all listings on the wesite.
Due to this minimum earnings requirement, most of the businesses listed on Empire flippers are well-established and have high growth potential.
They also have a robust seller verification process, which makes them one of the most reliable and trustworthy website marketplaces.
Flippa Review
On its homepage, Flippa describes itself as the number one market to buy and sell over ten types of internet businesses, like affiliate sites.
You’re likely to find the highest number of Amazon affiliate sites for sale on this platform than anywhere else. They are more affordable than websites on other platforms like Empire flippers and Motion Invest.
If you’re looking to buy an Amazon affiliate store at a lower-than-average market price, the Flippa marketplace is your go-to platform. But be careful of scams on the site.
Their seller verification process is not reliable as Empire flippers or Motion Invest. They also don’t offer technical support as other platforms do – this comes directly from the seller.
Investors Club Review
Investors Club is a relatively new addition to the website-selling marketplace. It started just two years ago but has quickly built its reputation as one of the best marketplaces.
They vet buyers and sellers in an in-depth process different from the other platforms.
For starters, they have two types of memberships on their website – basic membership and VIP. You must be a member to carry out any transaction on the site.
Also, all buyers must demonstrate proof of availability of funds (approximately $10,000), even if just opening a free account. More aspects of the site that make it stand out include:
- Legal contract draw-up for free
- Excellent customer service
- They purchase websites themselves if none of their members get it
The Website Flip Brokerage Review
As the name suggests, Website Flip Brokerage connects sellers to the best market for their sites. The platform operates in 3 ways:
- Direct purchase – they have specific criteria for acquiring websites. They can purchase your website if it meets their requirements.
- Newsletter classified – the site runs a newsletter composed of dedicated website buyers. If you list your site with them, they’ll advertise it to their list of potential buyers to find the best deal for you.
- Social media – Website Flip enjoys a large social media following, especially on Facebook and Twitter. Most followers are acquisition entrepreneurs looking to add new assets to their portfolios. They can market your listing to their followers and get you a great deal anytime.
How to Check an Amazon Affiliate Site Before Buying
Before buying an Amazon affiliate site, perform proper due diligence to ensure the site is healthy:
- Look at the domain name and niche to determine whether it’s a topic you’d enjoy promoting. Also, check whether the domain is brandable or niche-specific. A brandable domain name allows you to promote various products.
- Pay attention to the traffic, engagement, and financial statistics the seller provides. Often, an Amazon affiliate site for sale comes with all these details as evidence that the website is legit. Specifically, check the trends for each statistic over the last year.
- Traffic – how has the site’s traffic been in the past year?
- User Engagement – how many users does the site have?
- Financial statistics – what is the site’s monthly or annual revenue?
3. Is the site following all of Amazon’s regulations?
You can notice this fast by performing a quick manual search on any web page. Look for Amazon’s disclosure statement and how the seller notifies readers about affiliate links on a page.
Make sure the site follows all user operating guidelines and the FTC regulations. To learn more about this, read our guides on:
- What are the commission rates of the items the site promotes?
Go through the website to identify any opportunities for generating more revenue. You want to go for a website you can scale.
After performing a quick manual check of the site, it’s time to dive deeper into your due diligence process.
Advanced Amazon Affiliate Website Due Diligence
For advanced Amazon affiliate due diligence, check if all the details the seller has provided are correct.
Specifically, you want to confirm that the seller hasn’t exaggerated any figures.
Begin with checking the annual or monthly revenue estimates. This is important because most sellers have several niche sites in one Amazon Associates account.
They might include revenue estimates from their entire Amazon affiliate account for sale instead of the one site in their listing.
To confirm the financial statistics of a site, perform the calculations below:
Step One
Obtain the following information,
- Page views – check the number of views the site receives per month. Sellers provide this information openly as a requirement for listing their website in most marketplaces. But you can ask for guest access to their Google analytics to get this info.
- Click-through rate (CTR) – the rate at which site visitors click affiliate links on a site to the Amazon store – use 20% CTR.
- Conversion rate (CR) – the rate at which those who visit the Amazon store through your site turn into buyers – use a 5% average conversion rate for your calculations.
- Average Order Value (AOV) – what is the average cost of the items your referrals purchase on Amazon? You can get this information by looking at the prices of items bought on Amazon.
- Commission Rate (COMM) – what is the average commission rate for the items? You can check Amazon’s commission rates to confirm.
Step Two
Once you have the information ready, calculate the minimum income by using the formula below:
Minimum Site Income Per Month = Monthly page views * (CTR) * (CR) * (AOV) * (COMM)
Let’s take this example of a website that sold on Flippa recently – NegativeIonizers. It’s an affiliate website that promotes ionic home air purifiers on Amazon.
We’ll use the site’s Feb 2022 page views – 12,463
CTR – 20%
CR – 5%
The average order value for the Pro Breeze Air Purifier is $124.99
Amazon’s commission rates for home products are 3%
So, the minimum monthly income for this website should be around:
12,463 * (0.2) * (0.05) * (124.99) * (0.03) = $467.33
When comparing your results to the financial statistics the seller provides, it should be around the same figure.
Our calculations reveal that the site’s monthly revenue is a bit lower than what the seller provides, $467.33 vs. $619.
But this is because we’ve only calculated the average from the Amazon affiliate programs, and the site uses other monetization channels too.
You can always engage the seller to find out more about any inconsistencies found.
Examine the site’s engagement statistics closely. Specifically, check:
- The average session duration – should be more than 1 minute
- Bounce rate – You want this to remain below 90.
- Pages/ session – the more, the better
Of note, these statistics affect your conversion rates. So, examine them closely to purchase a site whose revenue you can scale.
You should also check backlinks.
Check the quality of the domains linking back to the site to confirm that there are no toxic links connected to the site. You can use a link-checking tool like Ahrefs for this. Beware of spammy links such as casino and adult content links.
How to Check SEO Health
To check SEO health, conduct a full SEO audit of the site. Check the site’s speed, mobile-friendliness, and overall page experience from a user’s perspective.
You can also carry out a content SEO audit to check for content SEO mistakes like keyword cannibalization and thin content. Pay attention to content quality, length, and relevance to the niche’s topics.
Tools For Checking Amazon Affiliate Websites For Sale
Almost all keyword research tools can help you examine Amazon affiliate websites for sale. However, we recommend using Ahrefs because it can help you check several aspects all in one, including:
- The number of ranking keywords
- Quality of backlinks
- Traffic trends – check the site’s organic traffic trends
Example of a Good Website for Sale
Check out this site Small House Decor listed for sale on Flippa. It is a perfect example of a successful Amazon affiliate site for sale.
Also, it shows how you can get into a popular niche like the home niche and still earn good money as an affiliate.
What Should I Do After Buying a Site?
After buying a site, first fix any SEO issues you identified when performing your due diligence.
You also want to carry out on-page and off-page site optimization to boost the site’s search engine ranking right away. Find and fix any broken links on the site, including 404 errors.
You can use our broken links checker to check whether the site is losing money and fix that too.
Then perform keyword research and create a detailed content plan to add new content to the site.
Check if you can hire content writers to add to the site’s existing content. Do this while exploring more monetization and new link-building opportunities.
Post-Sale Support
Most sellers provide 30 days to six months of post-sale support via email or Google chat.
They’re always ready to help out and answer any questions you have. Some provide lists of keywords to target and articles to write to promote your SEO efforts. Others offer to help manage the site for a while.
Bottom Line
Overall, website buying and selling is one of the most lucrative online ventures. It operates like the real estate industry minus all the physical hassle.
If you’re an affiliate marketer, this is a revenue model you should consider exploring at some point along your online marketing journey.
FAQs About Amazon Affiliate Sites for Sale
What’s the Typical Valuation Multiple I Should Pay?
A site’s valuation depends on its age, monetization sources, and primary traffic source. The current valuation multiple is around 35 to 45 times a site’s monthly earnings. However, some marketplaces like Flippa use a lower multiple. So, always follow a specific marketplace’s directions.
Which Niches are Best For Amazon Associates?
The best niches are the evergreen niches with ongoing demand or niches that indicate a high potential for growth into the future.
Most evergreen niches like kitchen, home, and gardening have many affiliates promoting them. So, if you venture into these, find a unique angle to establish your space.
Generally, we recommend going for less popular niches with high growth potential, like virtual reality, drones, and 3D printers.
What’s Better – Buy Amazon Affiliate Site or Build it Yourself?
Any can do. But if you’re a beginner in affiliate marketing, it might be cheaper and easier to create a website from scratch than buying one. You can then venture into buying and selling once you get the hang of things.
What About Concerns About PBNs
Private Blog Networks (PBNs) are networks of privately owned websites designed to direct links to a site. They violate Google webmaster’s protocols. Watch out for them when buying a website. You can spot them when examining backlinks – the sites look like link farms.
