Selling a Japanese Affiliate Site for ¥950K in 21 Days — the Full Playbook
A telecom-niche affiliate site sold on Japan's Rakko M&A marketplace: listed at ¥1M, closed at ¥950K in 21 days, at roughly 20 months of monthly profit. 12 inquiries, 3 real negotiations, zero seller fees — with the preparation checklist made public.
This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version and cited primary sources are authoritative for all figures.
The numbers
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| List price | ¥1,000,000 |
| Sale price | ¥950,000 (≈$6.3K) |
| Time to close | 21 days |
| Inquiries | 12 (only ~3 became real negotiations) |
| Multiple | ~20× monthly profit |
| Seller fees | Zero (buyer pays 5%, min ¥55,000) |
What made it sell fast
The seller’s core advice: disclose everything up front — screenshots of affiliate dashboards, revenue history, Google Search Console data, article count, PV/UU, monthly profit. Buyers fear being deceived; evidence eliminates the fear and compresses the timeline.
Buyers asked three things: purpose of purchase, decision timeline, and handover schedule. The buyer was an individual preparing to start a business — purchasing “a head start plus peace of mind.”
Lessons
1. ~20 months of profit is the market’s midpoint for Japanese content sites. (Western sites trade higher — Own The Yard sold at 40× monthly revenue.) The rate reflects search-algorithm risk: content assets are priced at just ~2 years of earnings.
2. Expect 70% of inquiries to vanish. 12 → 3 is normal. Plan around 2-3 serious buyers.
3. Sellers should price the buyer’s time saved, not the site’s income. The buyer paid ¥950K to skip 1-2 years of building from zero.
Related cases
Sources
This article summarizes and analyzes the public sources above. Please refer to the primary sources for details.