Hello, I bought a website on eBay for $5k. The seller originally stated that it makes around $4k per month. It's been about 2 weeks and I only made $200 so far. When I contacted him, he said that it is due to my lack of marketing skills. So I was wondering if there is anything I can do legally? I would appreciate any input. Thanks. P.S there was an earnings disclaimer in the listing that stated that the results of the site will ultimately depend on my marketing skills.
It sounds suspicious and unlikely that someone making $4000/month off a site would sell it for $5000. Your best recourse is small claims court or Judge Judy/Peoples Court.
You should have asked to see revenue statements, traffic stats, and had an attorney review the paperwork before you forked over $5k if this was your first time...and you also should have used escrow. Sounds like the guy got you. Everyone on Ebay swears their site is a million dollar idea, or makes thousands...most of them do not, which is why they are on ebay, instead of marketplaces with experienced webmasters and domainers that will put their claims through the ringer before making any money transactions. I would certainly try and sue the guy if he is in the U.S., but is it worth it ? You could file suit in your hometown, and force him to show up, which he probably won't..and the judge may even rule in your favor in his absence, but how do you get the money from an ebay ghost ? I have dealt with many people that purchased sites on ebay in the past, asking how to make more money with them, only to investigate and find out that the seller has sold multiple sites just like it. Unfortunately It's not illegal. Unethical, yes. but the reason people like this list on Ebay is because they know they will get noobs who have no idea how the web really works, yet believe that a site making $5k a month is common. For future reference, a site that truly makes that kind of coin is worth at least $30k even in a bad economy. That deal was too good to be true from the beginning, compounded by the fact that you didn't do your homework. Hate to not have better news, but the web is still like the wild wild west in many ways. I would buy a lot of things off ebay , but the one and only thing that I would never purchase there, is a domain or website. Ever ! Too many shysters.
Well if you keep earning at your current rate you will break even in 12 months so it wasnt a bad buy just not a great one either.
There's nothing much you can do about it I guess. You can just go ahead and develop the site further so that it really will earn $5K. Everyone likes a great comeback won't you agree?
Sounds like you were taken although I have seen worse. Back when i did web design I had a client come in looking for help with his website, he had paid ~$7500 on ebay for this MLM newsletter website that "included" an email list of 200k. When I looked at it there was a grand total of 3 emails on the server and the built in "emailer" was a simple java script pop up that said your message has been sent to 200000 people. There wasn't even an emailing function attached to it. Not to mention the fact that there was almost no traffic going to the site. I really felt for the guy, but there wasn't much he could do except attempt to go after the seller in court.
Maybe the new owner of the site didn't change to the new marketing userID's for example, if the site layout has adsense on it, and you run it how you got it, then your adsense account won't be credited for the adrev.. Little mistakes like this can account for rev loss. Make sure you check everything on the site. Also a site he sells making 5k a month would never be sold.. hehahah, normally you take the total monthly average rev and multiply it by 11-12 times and multiply that by 5-8 years and that's how much you should sell your site for. So if my site brought in $200 a month in rev, it would be worth 19-20k..
No. Not legally unless there were binding contractual revenue agreements signed. But... Can I help you? Maybe I can take a look and we can come up with a strategy? I would love that.
You are way off here, lol a $200 a month site for 19-20k. I have lots to sell man for only 19-20k. The first part is correct 10-15 time would be right.
says $200 in 2weeks so $400 a month. Not that bad, specially if the guy is not putting 4 hours a day in. You mind sharing the site?