Looking to buy a done (up&running) app

[DonomaGames]

Originally Posted by bignoggins

No one is going to pay 5x yearly unless they are brain damaged or you are showing hockey stick growth, which is tough for paid apps.

Doubtful anyone would be pay 5x yearly, but as sellers, we'd have to leave room for negotiations.

Originally Posted by dre

Companies buy software not for the software itself but for the client base and recognized brand.

Plus there are other valuable assets in the App Store. Like the SEO in the app store thread, if an app owns a certain keyword, it can be very valuable to a new owner. To take over the top spot in the keyword search, it could be very, very expensive to do it from scratch.

I can think of other reasons that the app may be more valuable than just a straight DCF analysis. As sellers, we'd have to push every angle and get the highest price possible. As buyers, I'd definitely go with the angle that the App Store is unpredictable and everything can change tomorrow.


As a final note, I've bought finished games in the App Store, polished it up a little, and then release it. It can be profitable, but it's mundane work. Who really wants to do that when I can make my own stuff from scratch. For every 10 emails I sent out to app devs, I got about 1 back. Lots of abandoned or semi-abandoned apps out there that will be sold for cheap if you make the right pitch. Of course, this isn't the steady cash as proposed by OP. This is more like refurbing an old car and then trying to flip it. Sorta.