Buying a website is unusual. Most business owners do it once every few years, so they do not know what to ask, and the provider does most of the talking.
These ten questions change that. They work for any provider: a freelancer, an agency, a platform, or us. A good provider will answer every one of them easily, and in writing. Where the answers turn vague, pay attention.
Ownership
Whose name will the domain be registered in? The answer you want is "yours", with your own login to the registrar, which is the company the domain is bought from. If the provider registers it in their own account, the address on your visiting cards belongs to them. Many do this purely for convenience, but it makes leaving much harder.
Can I download my listings and my enquiries myself, whenever I want? A good answer is "yes, here is the button", followed by a demonstration. A worrying answer is "just email us and we will send it". You should never need permission to see your own leads. There is a fuller checklist in who owns your leads and listings if you switch providers.
Money
What will I pay in total over three years, including GST? Ask for one figure, in writing. First-year prices can look very different from the three-year picture, in either direction, and you want to compare every provider on the same basis.
What costs extra? Get the list. Common extras include changes made on your behalf, more listings or photos than a plan allows, email accounts, a second domain, and features kept for a higher plan. None of these are unfair in themselves. Finding out about them after you have paid is.
Day to day
Who updates the listings, and can you show me adding one from a phone, right now? This is the most revealing question on the list. Watch how long it takes and how many screens it needs. If the answer is "send us the details and we will do it", ask how quickly, and at what cost.
When something breaks, who do I contact, and how fast will they reply? Ask for a name or a channel, not just "our support team". Ask about hours, and whether you can reach them on WhatsApp, by phone or only by email. Ask how they would handle something urgent on a Sunday, when plenty of site visits happen.
Where do enquiry alerts come from, and will they reach my inbox? You want to hear that alerts are sent from your own domain and that the provider helps you authorise it, so the alerts are not filtered as spam. If this question gets a blank look, read why enquiry emails land in spam before going further.
Being found
How will Google and AI assistants read my listings? A good answer is specific. Each property has its own page with its own address. The page arrives complete from the server, rather than being assembled afterwards in the visitor's browser. The price, area and location are published as structured data, a machine-readable summary that search engines can use directly. If that last part is new to you, we have explained structured data for brokers. A worrying answer is "we do SEO", with nothing behind it.
Do you guarantee rankings? The right answer is no. Nobody controls Google's results, and a provider who promises page one, or a set number of leads, is either mistaken or hoping you will not check. We explain why that promise should end the conversation in why a guaranteed page one is a red flag.
Leaving
How much notice do I need to give, and what happens on the last day? You want to know whether the site stays up during your notice period, whether you get a final copy of everything, and whether the provider will help you point your domain elsewhere. A provider who is confident in their service has no reason to make leaving difficult.
Before you sign
Put all ten questions in one email and send the same email to every provider on your shortlist:
- Whose name is the domain in?
- Can I download listings and enquiries myself?
- What is the three-year total, with GST?
- What costs extra?
- Show me adding a listing on a phone.
- Who fixes things, and how fast?
- Will enquiry alerts reach my inbox?
- How will Google and AI assistants read my listings?
- Do you guarantee rankings?
- What notice do I give, and what happens on the last day?
Then look at two or three live sites each provider runs today, on your own phone. Lay the written answers side by side. The provider who answers clearly and plainly, including about what they cannot do, is usually the one who will be easiest to work with after you have paid.
