How do I check an online directory’s listing owners and their renewals?

Request the full listing database as a spreadsheet. You want who owns each entry, how it was claimed or added, the plan chosen, the price paid and the history of renewals. Check whether some listings were added by the seller without the owner’s request, and whether those owners are even aware of them.

Look at renewal behaviour in detail. Which groups renew without prompting, which need reminders and which drop away? Ask what the seller does to encourage a renewal, and how much of it is personal contact. Check refund requests, complaints and listings that were removed on request.

Then check the machinery. How are payments collected, and does the system send reminders? Ask who owns the payment account and the email list. Also look at how owners prove they control a listing, and what happens in a dispute between two claimants. Ask your lawyer about the promises made to listing owners and the privacy of the information held, and confirm that the terms shown to owners will carry over to you. Ask also about listings that are free, since a directory with many unpaid entries can look larger than its paying base.

Key takeaways

• Get the full listing database with owner, plan, price and renewal history.
• Compare renewals across groups and ask what drives them.
• Check how ownership is proven and whether owner terms transfer.
• Separate paying listings from free ones when you judge the income.