I don't agree here. In my case I work with a music releated site and thanks to piracy etc I have seen revenue from affiliates go down every day, simply because people copy a lot of their cd's and dvd's. The traffic to the affiliate sites has gone up a lot but sales not (people check what is new and then go download it for free). Even affiliates appologised to me already several times due to the lesser earnings. Adsense kinda saved me. So a changing market can have a huge influence as well...

Having said this, I do realise that at some point I need to check for other revenue streams as well (besides subscriptions, adsense and affiliates). But for the moment adsense is doing wonders for me.

Why would anyone be foolish enough to buy a site that was "built with the premise to make $$ from AdSense"?

I'd be "foolish" enough to buy such a site. I don't care about the reason why it was created. Suffice for me that it has the other qualities I look for. So, sites being "afflicted" by smartpricing (or otherwise experiencing declining revenues) are sites I'd be happy to buy if they have quality content or lots of IBLs (particularly from highly respected sites like edus) or lots of visitors/ large opt-in mailing list etc.

People buy based on what the site has now. They don't shy away on the grounds that the owner was mercenary enough to start the site as a business rather than a charity. So when I buy sites I don't really care if they were started solely to make money from Adsense.

Don't ask for opinions if you aren't prepared to listen to, and evaluate the responses.

That sounds sooooo like me when I'm yelling at my kids for being discourteous ;)

I have bought a couple of sites off ebay just to tinker with the idea, and lo and behold they didn't exactly work. Mind you, I did bash them down to a silly price so no money lost for the experiment. Obviously these sites are now extinct.

Would I buy a site for adsense? People buy and sell businesses all the time for a variety of reasons, and I might consider buying a business in the right circumstances and for the right price. You can consider an adsense site to be a business in this context.

Currently I'm trying to negotiate a sale for a similar site in my niche. We are usually at 2 or 3 in Google serps, and it complements my site nicely. Currently it doesn't have adsense at all on it, and I have a feeling it's probably doing very poorly out of the banners it's got on. Those are the sort of circumstances I'd consider buying a site under - if I could improve an existing prospect. I'd also sell a site for the right price if someone could make a success out of a site I'd not managed to.

So it's not an entirely simplistic yes or no. As seller (or buyer) you have to look at the proposition as a whole from all angles. Some sites are worth buying/selling and some aren't.

I don't care about the reason why it was created. Suffice for me that it has the other qualities I look for.

Fine, but some of us are skeptical about whether a site created solely with AdSense in mind is likely to have the other qualities that we'd look for.

For example, my site (or part thereof) is highly optimised for Google indexing, having spent months tweeking and playing with code.

Why?

Primarily so that it gets indexed in google well, and drives traffic to my site. But secondarily so that traffic will then click on the adverts. Although I would not describe my site as MFA it sure is a concern to recoup costs and provide some pocket money.

Its the flippant usage of the term MFA that makes people jump to the wrong conclusions. Maybe the people such as the initial poster who use the term don't understand the depth of feeling that term provokes among site owners who see their hard earned work scraped and profited off by unscrupulous fly-by-nighters.

would you sell your AdSense site(s) now?

no

An unequivocal no suggests that even if you were offered several billion dollars you wouldn't sell.

It's not the fruit of your loins. It's not your grandmother. I don't understand the attachment some people have to their sites. It's just a business, dammit, so surely it's just a matter of price, isn't it? :)

Or is it really, really a hobby site that just can't be replaced even if its sale makes you rich enough to cure global hunger?

a site created solely with AdSense in mind

There is one site I know that has pretty much zero content - er, it has LOTS of content ripped from other peoples' sites - but it has all the qualities I'd want in a site. And I'd sell my house if that would raise me enough to buy this baby :)

Link [google.com]

Selling now defeats the rule of buying low and selling high.