My Thoughts
I can't work this one out. Why would someone invest time, money and effort into creating a site that doesn't differentiate itself from other big players out there. From what I can tell, it can't do anything that getafreelancer, getacoder, rentacoder, elance, guru etc can do.
The seller claims to have invested $20,000 in this site and that claim raises two points. Firstly, it doesn't matter to a buyer how much time or money the seller has invested in a project. What they are usually concerned with is how much money they can make from owning the site. How much money a site makes isn't always (usually?) related to how much has previously been invested. To be frank, knowing that the seller had invested millions wouldn't have made the site more valuable to me.
The bottom line is that this site is a startup in a tough market, with no unique selling point. Why would anyone offering work or looking for work use this site? I can't think of a reason. Presumably, the seller had done some research on demand for it, but when asked, they couldn't provide any.
It's a beautiful site though, really good looking in my opinion. But good looks alone won't make it a profitable business.
Auction Details
Marketplace 2.0 (Elance clone for local services)
Selling service provider marketplace. Allows users to shop for local service providers via bidding. Over $20k invested.
- URL: http://www.QuoteTotal.com/
- Established: Mon Jun 30 2008
- Monthly Revenue (USD): 0
- Listed: Mon Sep 22 2008
Description:
The site allows members to post their work requests and receive work orders from local service providers. Fully developed and ready to do business. Getting new subscribers daily. We've invested over $20k on attorneys, developers, and designers. I'm ready to take a loss because its more difficult for people to come with the money given the current market conditions. Great idea and users love it. The company name "QuoteTotal" has ben trademarked. The business can be currently handled by a single person and expanded as needed. The reserve is well below the amount we have invested. Fully developed back end as well, that allows to track members, create members, cancel accounts, request payments, and much more.
Monthly payments consist of the following:
VPS Server - $112
Domain has been paid for another 8 years (expires 05/16/2016), also included is QuoteTotal.net domain
Authorize.net - $20
Currently have no time to manage it as we are also involved in other projects.
Revenue Details:
We are currently not generating revenue, as this is a startup. The site charges service providers a 10% fee per project.