Okay, so I am asking for basic business advice so I think this is the best section. Anyways, I have come into contact with the seller of a website and offered to buy it. My offer was $3500 and the buyer accepted because he needs the money. I have no experience with buying websites, but thought this price was low. I had way too many problems with paying him yesterday (PayPal verification stuff--on my part) so I asked to pay today, but today he says someone else offered $4500, but he held out because he had a deal with me. I told him to take it and he told me that whoever pays first will get the site (I am still working on verifying my credit card). I find all this just adds reasons why I should not buy the site. As the saying goes, "if something seems to go to be true, it probably is." Or, "you get what you pay for." Here is some info on the site: Basics: Adult blog with someone who posts at least three stories a day (he gets a small portion of the ad revenues which are taken into account below). Site was started and marketed in December. Alexa 3 months average traffic rank: 85000 Yesterday: 50000 3 months average reach: 0.0016% Yesterday: 0.003% 3 months average page views: 2.32 Yesterday: 1.7 Revenue (none of these stays include the ads for the blog poster) Last four months: made slightly over $1000/month on the CPX network (but buyer does have a special CPX account to allow him to only show high paying ads) Ad impressions: Jan and Feb--about 3 million each March--about 5 million 1/2 of April--about 3 million Ad clicks: Jan and Feb--about 30k each March---about 50k 1/2 of April--about 35k Conclusion Well, as you can see, this sounds way too good to be true. Please give me your thoughts. Thanks.
Sounds a bit too good to be true, thats $1000 monthly revenue on a $3500 investment thats a whopping 28.6% return on investment per month, I would say there is some kind of catch or a skeleton hidden somewhere in the closet. Be careful.
You are paying 14x months revenue. If the website is of good quality and has good design then this is not too bad however if it had bad design and crappy content then your money could be better spent elsewhere. $1000 is for the last 4 months.
Hmm, I find it odd that he has said whoever buys first will get the site. What if you both pay at the same time? Will he give a refund to one of you or do a runner with the money? I'd be careful if I were you.
I don't have time to analyze the stats but even without that, 3 red flags for me are: Firstly why would a seller sell a domain for less than four months revenue? $1000/month is great earnings from a site, so why give it up so cheap when he would get more back from it just by holding onto it for a few months if his stats are correct? Secondly "whoever pays first will get the site" It seems to me he has agreed on a sale with both of you? Very unprofessional! (just my personal opinion) When ever I complete a sale I agree with buyer/seller on a time frame ie 48 hours to make payment/complete sale - and the offer is valid for that time period only - a sale is not a race to make payment first and I don't see how he can agree to two sales for the same item. If you have taken too long to pay and he no loner considered your offer valid why would he hold off on an extra profit and then tell you if you make payment first its yours at the lower price? Sounds very fishy to me Thirdly I would not make a sale over $1000 via paypal unless I knew and trusted the seller/buyer - you are pretty much unprotected on either side should something go wrong. Good luck with your deal if it goes ahead - but I would be checking out all the details, requiring proof of stats and finding out more about the seller and the issues that don't add up before sending money if it were me!
Last four months: made slightly over $1000/month I'm reading this as $1000 per month not over four months?
Thanks guys! It is $1000 per month just to clarify. He seller wants to sell the site quickly to make another, larger purchase. Also, in the seller's defense, I was the one who insisted he seriously consider the offer of the other buyer since I was not 100% sure I wanted to buy the site and also because I felt a little guilty making the buyer wait for my delayed payment as well as reducing the price from what he wanted ($4000). My only concern was if another buyer actually existed (although it seems like he does, just from my perspective). The seller has established a payment structure: I pay $1000 first and he transfers the domain, then I pay next $1000 and he transfers database, then files, etc. Also, someone else bought another site this guy was selling with similar revenues for $4000. He offered to let me talk to this other guy, but then again, how do I know it is not just some guy he knows? Lastly, another thing of concern: he is paying $75/month for hosting (he uses 50MB space and 100GB bandwidth/month). Most of the content is not even hosted on the site, but he says it takes a lot of CPU power because of the blog script he is using. This seems like almost the price for a dedicated host and this is not. Any further thoughts?
Aaaargh! Don't do it. At least not via Paypal! What you've written so far sets off so many alarm bells in my head I'm having trouble typing. For that sort of cash use escrow, and only escrow: www.escrow.com. If the seller doesn't want to go that route then let it go. Don't get sucked in.
The $1000 a month for $3500 sounds sketchy. I would ask for a lot of proof of income before I make an ultimate decision if I were you.
"if it seems to good to be true, it probably is" I always remeber that, dig a little deeper but be wary
Hey guys. Thanks for all the help. I decided against it after all. Better I put that money back into my sites.
In my mind this is a scam. Purely because he said he had an offer for $4500 and then when you said you'd leave it he jumped to "well whoever pays first gets it", which is just plain dumb from his point of view. Basically, there is no other buyer and he's trying to scam you for $3500.
Back Off, They’re playing the urgency card. Your getting set up. Tell them to open an Escrow if truly serious and you will deposit Good faith funds to start the purchase process. Karl