Want to buy a website from eBay? Sure, buying websites on eBay can be a real challenging task as there are many factors that you have to look into. Ignoring these factors can cost you a lot of money. As a seller, I want to help my buyers to have a great buying experience and I also want to help them with the transition.

Here are some of the factors to think about before you buy those sites.

1) Minimal technical ability is a must
Yes, you still need to know basic HTML and some other technical skills. If the seller says "Hands-free operation", that's a pure lie. Why is that so? You see, everyone will have to modify a little of the sites that they have bought. Let me give you an example: When you buy over a website that sells ebooks, what is the first thing that you need to change? The PAYMENT BUTTON. The seller will have no way to configure the payment button to make money go to your account. Setting up a Paypal button for your new website does require basic knowledge of HTML.

Another example: If you buy an Adsense website, what is the first thing that you need to change? Obviously, it's the Google Adsense Publisher ID. The seller will not know your publisher ID, unless he offers to change that for you but that will be rare.

Knowing how to use FrontPage, FTP software and Photoshop will also help.

2) Do they offer domain name with the website?
In some auctions, the sellers offer the FULL website: HTML pages + Hosting + Domain Name. One good thing about this is that you can start promoting the business the very moment you buy it. However, the bad part is that if you don't like the domain name, you are STUCK with it.

That is why sometimes I prefer offering my buyers just the HTML website. They will get the flexibility of hosting the HTML pages on a domain name that they want, on a hosting account that they are comfortable with. This brings us to another important point: Hosting

3) Beware of seller who tie you down with hosting
You will notice that many seller will have clause like "You have to host with our servers for X months upon purchase of the website". This is marketing gimmick to build their hosting client database. While this is a good method, I think that as a buyer you should have the right to choose whether to host your new website with them or not. They should give you the HTML pages AND the domain name if you don't want to host with them.

I have heard too many horror stories of people LOSING their websites AND domain names because they break the auction agreement! You should not be a victim of such stories!

As a seller, I always provide an offer for my buyers to host with me after they buy a website package from me. It's up to me to sell my hosting package to my buyers. To me, that is fair for both parties.

4) Do not get tempted by the promotion offers
Some sellers will offer free promotion tools like "Free submission to over 1000 search engines!" or "We will send visitors to your website". Ignore them. They should not be consideration points for you. Such tools are outdated and useless. Stick to proven methods like forums promotion, article writing, directory submissions and links exchange.

As a seller, I am in the process of offering a HUGE marketing package for all my buyers, separate from the selling of the website because I know many of my buyers are experienced webmasters. These promotion packages are made for new guys who needs initial marketing efforts. Perhaps by the time you read this guide, I will have them ready. Check out my eBay store for any of my marketing packages.

Conclusion
As a buyer, always consider your rights. This is much more important to you as you are buying intangible products (Remember: it's hard to produce proof for intangible stuff). Ask the right questions, read the auction description carefully and you can have a good experience buying websites from eBay.