hello sandra9rave9 and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

they told me that my site is worth between 2.5x – 3.5x multiple... Can you guys give me a confirmation about the metric and system used to evaluate my website?

Have you asked "they?" Who gave you the bid? Ask them how they determined your site's value.

If you go to all the "site worth" utilities you will likely see significant difference.

I've always believed the worth of anything is what the buyer will pay.

Different companies use different metrics. As keplyr alluded to, the value (or worth) of something is the amount that someone is actually willing to pay for it. If the company is willing to pay you 2.5x (multiple of what? annual revenue? annual profit?) and no one else is, then it's worth 2.5x. If you can find someone else willing to pay 4x, then it's worth 4x. If no one is willing to pay you anything, then it's worth 0x.

Also, what exactly does the estimate cover? Just the domain? The domain and all the content? The domain and all the content and all your customer data?

i assume this was a spampost as the url has been removed!

however as we all know ... value is a concept for the ignorant masses! something/anything is only worth what someone will pay, there is NO rule of thumb metric for calculating! especially when we are talking small businesses with small turnovers ... in reality if you are turning over less than $1 million you are a small business (most people here) and any multiple is pie in the sky as low earnings can evaporate overnight for various reasons, especially adsense.
so caninternet traffic evaporate overnight.

quite honestly if you have a 'celeb forum and blog' if anyone wants to pay you anything for it without you having to sign a non-compete agreement for a couple of years then take the money and start a new site.

i assume this was a spampost as the url has been removed

Nol at all. Links may be removed for a variety of reasons.

i hear you keyplyr!

i'll reserve judgement and see if the OP ever posts again!

There's what the buyer is willing to pay, and there's what the seller is willing to give up. One way to arrive at a valuation that is REAL is to do your own math on your own metrics.

Tangible Net Worth = Total Assets - Total Liabilities - Intangible Assets

Selling Price is usually Tangible Net Worth x Period For Sale Price (usually 2 to 5 years), and that is a whole lot LESS than most folks think. If the site is gangbusters and churning the web, you'd have offers from third parties to buy you out and not be asking/shopping a sale. If that's not happening the Product (site) might not be ripe for a sale.

At best, this kind of valuation only gives you a starting point for negotiation if YOU are making the offer to sell.

In the case of Celebrity, that would be an Intangible Asset as you have no Right or Trademark on other's IP or Visage. You're just a blog and the ASSET is your writing/content created by YOU.

This is not legal advice, just simple economics and observations of tangible assets.

really appreciate for your answers

and I wonder to know why the url was removed? it's strange

"Also, what exactly does the estimate cover? Just the domain? The domain and all the content? The domain and all the content and all your customer data?"

All the content with all customer data and domain

Valuation should be based on one thing only the assets net returns for the life of the asset.

Revenue - Costs = net returns

Then
net returns / desired rate of return = Value.

So lets say your site generates $1100 a month of ad revenue. You then have $100 of expenses eg: servers, content maintenance, accounting, etc... The net monthly return is $1000.
That is $12000 / annualized rate of return (assumes the site will operate in perpetuity).

This has been the easy part. The difficult part is determine what the annualized rate of return should be. The more stable and certain the revenue stream is the lower the rate. Example, for an electrical utility company one would select a low value maybe 5 or 6%. For a small website with no stability (as correctly described by topr8) you would probably select a very high value. This pretty much renders such a business as worthless (as rate of return increases value decreases), or at best, and described by Keyplyr and lifeinasia, the value would be some multiple of monthly earnings. What this essentially says is that investors can not be assured that the earnings potential of the website will last more than and a month or two.

So to get a high valuation for your website you are going to want to prove to investors that the earnings ability of the site is stable and has potential to remain so in the future. Other factors not mentioned that can add to the value, is having a mailing list of registered and engaged users, as well as earnings and traffic growth.

and I wonder to know why the url was removed? it's strange

Please read the link provided by Keyplyr in the first post, the link includes the rules of the forum.

and I wonder to know why the url was removed? it's strange

sandra9rave9 - LifeinAsia gave the reason why the link was removed:

[edit reason] no company names, please [/edit]

We don't allow links to business websites.

oh thanx

So to get a high valuation for your website you are going to want to prove to investors that the earnings ability of the site is stable and has potential to remain so in the future.

Worth remembering that the earning capacity of a site is only one aspect of its value. Not all purchasers are investors. A larger competitor may want to purchase a site to acquire its customer base, take on its traffic, absorb its content or utilise its online real estate. Those things may be worth more to them than annual site-generated revenue times 'x'.

A larger competitor may want to purchase a site to acquire its customer base, take on its traffic, absorb its content or utilise its online real estate.

Or just eliminate a competitor. Or someone in a completely different space may have decided the domain name would be perfect for what they are doing.

Different people will use different valuation models depending on what they intend to do with the domain/site/intangibles. Again, it all boils down to a site is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Approximate prices can be seen on websites selling websites and compare with their

The difference in this scenario is OP is attempting to MARKET a site for sale. (Gotta ask why)

Sellers can set any price they want but the BUYER'S determine the final sales price by what they are willing to pay.

One of those no real suggestion possible because the MARKET is what the MARKET is...