I have bought a text link from a seller and paid him X months up front. Barely a month later, I check on his site and realised that my link is gone!! I emailed him and he said that the site has been sold and I should deal with the new owner directly! Really p*ssed at such attitude. Any ways to recover my money?
If the site was sold, the debts and responsibilities are generally sold with it. Your best bet is to contact the new owner.
I would recommend filing a complaint with PayPal depending on exactly how long it has been. I would then try to talk to the new owner, and explain your situation. As Jennifer mentioned they really should keep up the link from a legal point of view, however the previous owner may not have informed them of the requirement. Tom
contact the new owner and provide him the payment proof that should do, coz the new owner wont mind giving a link to customer who can buy again in future, hope your issue gets resolved
This is another good reason why a simple contract would help. There could have been a simple clause in there about site ownership being transfered. For example, if site X is transfered to ownership of another person or entity, the remaining portion of this deal will be promptly refunded and new ownership will be given [X's] information to pursue a continuation of marketing. You could write it better or simpler. I just typed it as an example. BTW, the new owner is liable. When he bought the site(s), he assumed all liability. It's the same as when I purchase land. If I buy a piece of land that has environmental issues, guess who's responsible for the clean up? Me. It's the purchasers responsibility to perform proper due diligence prior to purchasing. The new owner, if he/she was not informed, will have legal recourse against the seller, but that's a separate issue.
The old owner is whom you paid, and he should ensure your link is up for X months or you be refunded. The new owner is definitely not at fault.
I was actually thinking about this issue the other day. Responsibilities do shift in sales, but Market Junction's idea of a contract to cover such issues is a good one. My fear is that too many people think that selling a site is some kind of re-set button where neither the old owner or new owner have any responsibility to honor paid for advertising. You can contact the new owner, but I would go after the old owner and explain to him you made a deal with him and the deal is not being upheld. It would have been HIS responsibility to make sure that the new honor was required to honor the previous link deals when buying the site. Since the old owner did not do this, he is responsible for this. So he should refund you a pro-rated amount of money based on how much time is left. I see so many of these website deals handled so amateruishly. This is not how real business is conducted. It is unfortunate, but true. So while you can contact the new owner, it is going to be a stickier wicket to go with him. It really depends on what was purchased. If he just purchased the assets of the website, thent he liabilities do not necessarily transfer, and my guess is with no agreement, this is exactly what would be argued. So go after the original owner. He made the deal and he is responsible for it. If he failed to negotiate it as part of the sale, again, it is his fault. So hold him responsible and get a refund.
Also once bought a text link but it never appeared on owner's site. Sent several emails to him. No responce. Also inform PayPal three times. And always get a message they'll contact with seller. Months are gone and I have no link and no answer from PayPal. Fortunately I paid only one month in advance so I could cancel subscription. Also it was not such a big amount of money... It happens and will happen in the future and sometimes you have no chance for your money back.