Is it worth it?
Buying a newsletter: list health, sponsors and platform transfer
Short answer: a newsletter is worth buying when readers click, not only open, when no single sponsor carries most of the revenue, and when readers come for the topic rather than the writer. It is not worth it when the list was bought or imported, or when the seller's voice is the product and they are leaving.
Why do newsletter open rates mislead?
Apple's Mail Privacy Protection prevents senders from seeing whether a reader opened their email.1 Readers who use it can make open rates look higher or less reliable than they are. Clicks, replies and paid conversions are harder to inflate. Ask for click rates for the last 10 issues and how they moved over a year, and where new subscribers came from.
Why does sponsor concentration matter when buying a newsletter?
Sponsor concentration matters because a sponsor who books through a relationship with the seller may not stay after the sale, and on a small newsletter one sponsor can be a third of revenue.
Many small newsletters earn most of their revenue from a few sponsors. If one sponsor is a third of revenue and books because of a relationship with the seller, that income may not survive the sale. Ask which sponsors are booked beyond the sale date and whether they expect the seller personally.
How do Substack and beehiiv move a publication to a new owner?
- Substack. The owner starts a transfer from the publication settings. Both the owner and the recipient must confirm, and the recipient's email link expires after 6 hours. After the transfer the new owner has full control, including settings, subscribers and billing.2
- beehiiv. Transfers between workspaces with different owners go through beehiiv support, which collects written confirmation from both owners and checks for outstanding paid subscriptions, recommendations, ad network earnings or payouts first. The publication takes on the plan and limits of the destination workspace.3
For other platforms, ask whether the terms allow a change of owner and whether paid subscriptions move with the list.
What do small online-business listings ask in October 2026?
Too few newsletters priced $10k–150k appeared in FirstPass Memo's October 2026 listing sample to publish a median (0, against a minimum of 8). Across all 36 listings in that sample, collected 6 September to 6 October 2026 from the WebsitesForSaleOnline public API, the median asking payback was 26.8 months of profit, or 2.23 times annual profit.
Payback and multiple for newsletters, October 2026
Not enough listings to show a fair median. Only 0 listings of this type priced $10k–150k appeared in the data we can publish (we need at least 8). Use the overall figures on Is buying a website worth it? as a rough guide, and work out payback for the listing in front of you with the true payback calculator.
Source: our aggregates of listings featured in the WebsitesForSaleOnline public API daily collections, 6 September to 6 October 2026. Empire Flippers listings are excluded. Asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices; each listing is counted once, at its latest price. Full table, CSV and method: listing benchmarks.
Checker rules that matter most for newsletters
- Concentration. Flags a top customer or sponsor above 25% of revenue.
- Channel concentration. Flags one channel above 60% of traffic.
- No churn figure. Flags a paid newsletter without a churn rate.
- Very high margin. Flags margins above 90%, often because the writer's time is not counted.
Each rule links to a page that explains it. Run them on any listing with the free red-flag checker.
A worked example
Composite example, not a real listing
Asking price: $58,000
Average monthly revenue: $3,300
Average monthly profit: $3,150
Top customer: largest sponsor is 35% of revenue
Business age: 3 years
Owner hours: 8 hours per week
What the red-flag checker returns: payback of 18.4 months on average monthly profit, and these top three flags (the benchmark comparison is left out here):
Top customer is 35% of revenue High
Ask: Is that customer under contract, and have they been told about the sale?
Email is about 70% of traffic Medium
Ask: What is behind the email traffic, and how durable is it?
Very high margin (95%) Medium
Ask: Can you list every recurring cost, and what it would cost to replace your own time?
Also raised: No churn figure for a recurring-revenue business; No connected data source mentioned.
An 18.4-month payback looks attractive. The largest sponsor is 35% of revenue, and the 95% margin suggests the seller's writing time is not counted. If the seller writes every issue, ask what it would cost to replace them and whether readers would notice.
Eight questions to send the seller
- What were monthly customer churn and revenue churn for each of the last 12 months?
- How many subscribers pay, and how many are on free or trial plans?
- What are open and click rates for the last 10 issues, and how have they moved over a year?
- Where do new subscribers come from, and were any bought, swapped or imported?
- How much revenue comes from sponsors, and are any sponsors booked beyond the sale date?
- How much of the content do you write personally, and would readers notice a change of author?
- How many subscribers are on annual plans, and when do they renew?
- For a subscription box: what are product, packing and shipping costs per box, and are they all in the P&L?
Get the subscription and newsletter seller checklist
Join the FirstPass Memo waitlist and the next page gives you the subscription and newsletter seller question checklist (web page and PDF) straight away, along with the other free files: seller question checklists for eleven business types, the 72-hour vetting plan and a deal-tracker spreadsheet. Nothing is emailed; you download them on the page.
We will write when paid memos open, and occasionally before. Unsubscribe any time by replying "stop" to hello@firstpassmemo.com. Looking at a live listing priced $10k–150k? Apply for a free beta memo instead; its confirmation page has the same downloads.
Frequently asked questions
Can a Substack newsletter be transferred to a new owner?
Yes. Substack's help article describes a transfer started from the publication settings, confirmed by both the owner and the recipient. The new owner then has full control of settings, subscribers and billing.
Are open rates a good guide to a newsletter's value?
Not on their own. Apple's Mail Privacy Protection hides whether a reader opened an email, so clicks, replies and paid conversions are a better guide. Ask for click rates over the last 10 issues.
What should I ask about sponsors?
The share of revenue from each sponsor, which are booked beyond the sale date, and whether any expect the seller personally. One sponsor above about a quarter of revenue is a concentration risk.
Check a listing now. Paste it into the red-flag checker, and count the writer's time with the true payback calculator. For a full memo on a live listing priced $10k–150k, apply for the free beta.
FirstPass Memo is independent and is not affiliated with Substack, beehiiv, Apple or any marketplace. Policies are as published on the dates shown and may change. The example is a composite. This page is not investment, legal or tax advice.
Sources
- Apple Support, Use Mail Privacy Protection on iPhone, read 7 October 2026. Back
- Substack Support, How do I transfer ownership of my publication to a new email address?, updated 5 March 2026, read 7 October 2026. Back
- beehiiv Help, Transferring ownership of a publication or workspace, updated 8 July 2026, read 7 October 2026. Back