Various

If you have a personal interest in the website’s thematic, it will be easier to maintain in the long term.

However, not being interested in the niche in itself is not a red flag.

Note high if you have a personal interest, low at the opposite.

A seller will never admit that he/she thinks that the traffic will drop in the future to explain a sell.

So, getting the “official reason” of the sale is not the objective, but it might be worth asking. Some sellers give additional details.

Try to be creative to incitate the seller to disclose the real reason.

If you obtain some information showing effectively that the sale can be an opportunity, rate this criteria high. If the seller discloses some issues with the website, rate this criteria low.

If you obtain no information, dismiss this criteria in the overall notation or leave it at 2.5.

It’s often best to buy a website from a first sale. If the website had many sales in the past, it may be difficult to manage.

Ask the seller and cross-check with Archive.org and domain history.

You can also check if the website has been sold in the past with Google requests like: site:site.com flippa.

Review the website to identify other potential assets, such as ebooks, PDF files, training courses, videos, etc.

The goal is to know if they are included in the deal and if you will be able to modify them if needed.

For a promotional video, ask how it was built (a particular service? Fiverr?). For a PDF file, request to include the native file (Word or other) in the deal.

Ensure that after-sale support is offered by the seller. Usually, it’s 30-days support, by email. If this is the case, leave the rating at 2.5.

More you have information about the seller, better it is to avoid being scammed.

Perform Google searches, try to find its real identity, see what he/she is doing in life, where he/she come from, etc.

Before making a firm offer on a website, it’s important to review monthly revenue screenshots from all major sources.

If a seller is unwilling to take the time to put together screenshots (or a video overview), then it could be a red flag. It’s not worth the risk or effort.