Why You Should Never Sell Your Website In Facebook Groups Or DMs

Think its safe to sell your website in a Facebook group? Unless you love getting scammed, think again. Imagine Kevin who once tried to sell his website in Facebook DMs and accidentally auditioned 14 scammers and 0 real buyers. Within a day he had:

one “I can pay in crypto today if you drop the price by 70%” guy,
one “just send me temporary logins to your entire business and bank accounts so I can verify revenue” guy,
and someone who genuinely thought “PayPal Friends & Family” was safe for a five-figure deal.

That was the moment Kevin decided never again. DMs and Facebook groups are the worst place to sell a real online business.

If your site is worth anything at all, you use a proper intermediary and marketplace, like Niche Investor, or you accept that you’re playing asset-roulette with your own work. Let’s talk about why.

Why You Should Never, Ever Try To Sell Your Website In DMs or Facebook Groups

1. Buyers Will Take Advantage of The Fact You Don’t Have Broker Representation, And You’ll End Up Losing Money

Unfortunately, there are some people online who love to take advantage of novice sellers. When they see you aren’t represented by a business intermediary/marketplace, it’s like candy to them.

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They will low ball you, undervalue your website, come up with bogus reasons why their low offer is “fair,” among other things.

You will almost definitely leave money on the table is you attempt to sell your website in a Facebook group or in DMs.

In DMs, the “valuation process” is usually:

Random person: “I’ll do ($x).”
Your brain: “Huh, guess that’s the market.”

The first number you hear becomes your anchor, even if it’s wildly off. And if the potential buyer presented that number to you, without seeing what your asking price is first, then, we can assume its wildly less than your site is actually worth.

Most creators don’t have a clean framework for:

what multiples are reasonable
how growth trends affect value
how to factor in email list size, digital products, sponsorship potential, etc.

A marketplace like Niche Investor looks at your revenue, profit, niche, growth, and business model to help you price like an asset, not like a used couch.

DMs treat your business like a haggle. Niche Investor treats it like the valuable asset it is and we work to vet the right kind of buyers, while protecting you in the process.

2. Payment scams are a very real thing

Here’s where DM deals get genuinely dangerous. Common patterns:

“Let’s use this escrow site I like” (that you’ve never heard of)
“I’ll PayPal you, it’s fine” (hello, they can chargeback a PayPal payment at anytimne and steal your website)
“Here’s a screenshot of the wire, can you transfer everything now?” (easy to photoshop!)

If the buyer reverses payment, uses a fake escrow company, or sends from a compromised account, you can lose both the site and the money. And because it was a casual, undocumented private deal… good luck.

A marketplace like Niche Investor uses proper, vetted payment flows and standard deal structures with actual contracts and legit escrow layers of protection. There’s a clear process for when funds are sent, held, and released… and it doesn’t rely on someone’s “trust me bro” message.

Certainly, you need someone to have your back overseeing all the buyer’s messages, to catch all the buyer red flags that only an experienced business intermediary will pick up on. This is what we provide you with.

3. In DMs, You have almost no legal protection

Most DM deals boil down to: “You send the money, I’ll send the site.” What’s missing?

What exactly is included in the sale
How existing obligations (refunds, affiliates, sponsors) are handled
What happens if traffic changes during the transition
How long you’ll support the buyer afterward
What happens if either side doesn’t do what they promised
and SO much more!

If anything goes sideways, your “contract” is a messy chat log.

I’ve even seen buyers send over their own sale agreements, conveniently written to heavily favour them and come at the complete detriment of the seller. At Niche Investor, we don’t allow buyers to do this and ensure all transactions on our platform follow fair terms for both parties.

But when you list your business with Niche Investor, you get proper deal structure: clear expectations, standard terms, documented agreements, and a trackable process. We always recommend you have your own legal and financial advisors read any contracts too, but you’re not starting from a blank Messenger chat and a prayer.

4. Migration can quietly destroy the deal

Transferring a site is not just giving someone a domain. There’s hosting, DNS, email, plugins, licenses, payment processors, analytics, and a dozen little systems you forgot were connected.

DIY migrations often look like:

site goes down during transfer
checkout breaks
tracking stops working
buyer panics, assumes you sold them a broken asset

Niche Investor supports a guided, step-by-step transfer so both sides know what’s happening, in what order, and how to avoid breaking the business you just sold.

In other words: less “WHY IS EVERYTHING 404-ING?” and more “Cool, revenue stayed stable during migration.”

5. You drown in tire-kickers and energy vampires

The hidden cost of selling in DMs isn’t just risk, it’s time. When you post “thinking of selling my site, DM me,” your inbox fills with:

people who are “just curious what a site like that goes for”
people who want your numbers to benchmark their own
people who disappear the moment you ask for proof of funds

You end up walking ten different strangers through your entire business, re-explaining your metrics, sending the same screenshots, re-living the emotional decision to sell… and most of them were never going to buy.

On Niche Investor, buyers come in pre-framed: they’re there specifically to acquire sites and digital assets. Listings are presented with key info up front, so unqualified people don’t need hours of your time to realize “oh, that’s out of my budget.”

6. You accidentally announce your exit to the world

A casual “thinking about selling” post can be seen by:

your clients
your sponsors
your audience
your competitors
your team

Even if you’re just exploring options, you can trigger unnecessary panic or gossip. With Niche Investor, you can quietly list your business. Public details can be anonymous, and only serious buyers get to see the brand behind the numbers. You keep control over who knows what, and when.

What “listing agent protection” actually means with Niche Investor

Let’s pull it together. When you use Niche Investor instead of winging it in DMs, you’re getting:

Protection on price: guidance so you’re not accepting the first shiny number that slides into your inbox.
Protection on process: a clear, step-by-step path from initial interest to funds released and site fully transferred.
Protection on people: buyers who are actually there to invest, not to poke around your analytics for fun.
Protection on sanity: fewer scam attempts, less back-and-forth chaos, more confidence that this huge decision is being handled properly.

Selling your site is a big deal. It’s years of content, trust, and revenue, wrapped into one asset. That deserves more than a back-channel DM and a “yeah sure, that works.”

The one rule I wish every creator had

If you take nothing else from this, steal this sentence and use it forever:

“I don’t sell my sites in DMs. If you’re interested, you’ll find them listed on Niche Investor.”

That one boundary protects your time, your money, and the business you worked so hard to build — and it makes sure that when you’re finally ready to exit, you’re doing it with grown-up protection instead of hoping strangers on the internet are kind.

Get your free valuation now to start your selling journey!

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