Hi, As part of the site for our site flipping application FlipFilter, we have a blog where our aim is to create original useful content on the subject of website flipping and buying and selling websites. I'm writing an article to try and help buyers avoid the most common traps and tricks when buying a website, but need to know how people are most commonly being deceived. Has anyone here been the victim of a scam / con when buying or selling a site or alternatively, do you know any ways in which buyers and sellers have been tricked?
I once purchased an ecommerce site where the buyer claimed $350 of sales each month and we verified this through his paypal account so it seemed genuine. After paying $2200 for the site, we found the buyer was using friends and aliases to buy his own inventory just to show turnover and inevitably sales dropped of the minute we took over the site. My advice is always check for consistent history over several months - not just one or two months worth of transactions. If you dont have this to hand, be prepared for the worse!
I bought 2 websites on Flippa and didnt have any bad experiences. Make sure you do as much research as possible on the seller and the website.
not had a bad experiance yet . as the above ave already stated research is the word . You have to find out as much as is possible about the site before you buy or commit to buy. If its too good to be true is usually isnt
Back before the DP Marketplace I tried to sell my first site here. I posted the ad and had a good offer. The potential buyer never bought the site even though he bid on it. This was before the current bidding system and all the enforcements now in place. I don't know if this is a trick or a con, but many people will bid on a site or domain just to boost up the price. This is a kind of good will gesture. Sometimes this backfires and the booster ends up being the winning bidder, but that person has no want of the site, they just wanted to help out a seller.
I purchased a high yield investment blog on DP here. The earnings were definitely inflated as I never saw close to traffic or earnings. Granted the site was less than $100 but made me almost nothing.
One of the biggest scams I've come across when researching sites is "fake traffic". The owner is buying traffic to make the site look like it has consistent traffic over time but in reality it's just fake traffic that generates no value - you can't even sell ads on the site because there's no real visitor to click on the ads and then your advertisers leave in disgust. Do a LOT of research before making the purchase. Mike
I very nearly got conned on another site...very briefly the guy was selling a "100% unique" product site with $2000 investment + 160hours as he had other projects Initially $1000 i think, then $750 for quick sale & finally $500 - it fitted with my niche so I enquired & we had a discussion during which he broke down the "$2000". I got a few samples of bits of the "100% unique" product; all of it was readily available PLR (& not even edited!!!) The annoying thing is that this guy is still on the forum, still chatting/dealing & I cannot do anything to warn anyone as it is against the forums T&C (which I didnt realise at the time & ended up getting banned myself for a short time due to posting a full report inc all the pms & evidence). I feel very wary now.
I also bought a proxy site that promises $80+ revenue per month, but saw very little. Probably about $35 only, and this is with the same setup.