Websites For Sale

**taketherisk** · 10:54 PM

Hi everyone,

Here are some tips on how to find out if a seller is fraudulent.

1. Google "thesite.com for sale" and see if the price etc is consistant on other forums

2. Go to the site that is for sale and find contact, then contact them asking whether the site is for sale or not.

3. If you cannot find contact information, do a whois lookup on the domain to find their contact information and then contact them asking if the site is for sale.

4. Check if the price is 'too good to be true'.
- look up the alexa ranking (only use as a general guide)
- Google "site:thesite.com"

5. What type of content is/was on the site? (http://web.archive.org is great in that regard, although not always accurate or up-to-date).

6. Has the domain been banned from a search engine?

7. Is it listed in any of the major spam blocking services (Spamhaus, SpamCop, etc.)?

8. What type of revenue does it/can it generate?

9. Why is the owner willing to sell it?

10. Use a bit of common sense. Have a look around at other sites and what they are selling for and take into account what they offer. (learn the prices before you buy).

11. Check the referers(pages that link to the site) using link:site.com

i. There's a myspace link or several. Possible indication that the seller has run a campaign by sending out notices of his site. These are usually bought from people who have alot of contacts in their myspace accounts.

ii. A link in the referrers might be a traffic generator site. You usually buy traffic from these kind of sites. (traffic not always the greatest from these kind of sites)

iii. Links to the site which you find by following the referrers, might of been bought to either drive traffic to the site or to increase pr.

If others would be kind enough to add to it i would appreciate it and so would everyone else buying sites on WT

Thanks to everyone who has submitted tips

-Brett

**david05** · 03-11-2007, 05:30 AM

some domains is protect by private information, in this case you can't contact the owner, so it is 99% sur that is a fraud seller. If the seller want sell their domain he must take out the private protection to show public information.

**internetking** · 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david05

some domains is protect by private information, in this case you can't contact the owner, so it is 99% sur that is a fraud seller. If the seller want sell their domain he must take out the private protection to show public information.

Rubish Man
I appreciate you have just had a rough time,but you cant go around telling people if thier whois is private they are 99% fraudsters!
I register about 15 names a day of which half opt out of the whois so is half my client base con artists NO i dont think.

Once again i have read what has happended to you and am sorry about it as it makes honest web sellers like my self look bad,but please be carefull what you post!

Mark

**Miki** · 03:30 PM

I agree with InternetKing.

By saying that 99% of private whois domain owners are fraudsters, you are probably calling somewhere like 50% of the Webmaster-Talk forum members (who own a domain) fraudsters (me included).
I know that you have had a bad experiance as I have been watching the thread closely, but to come out with such a statement like that I find totally absured.

In fact, even the domain http://www.webmaster-talk.com is listed as registered by "Domains by Proxy, Inc."

@taketherisk: Very nice list and I'm sure some people will find it very useful. I've got a few I could probably add. I'll edit this post later with them.

**taketherisk** · 03-11-2007, 02:23 PM

I also have whois cover...

@Miki: that would be great

**ADAM Web Design** · 03-11-2007, 06:58 PM

I'd agree with everything EXCEPT for the Alexa rank. The reason is because the toolbar is noted for both webmaster skew and manipulation, and as such doesn't make much of a metric for anything.

Other things I might look for:

1) What type of content is/was on the site? (http://web.archive.org is great in that regard, although not always accurate or up-to-date).

2) Has the domain been banned from a search engine?

3) Is it listed in any of the major spam blocking services (Spamhaus, SpamCop, etc.)?

4) What type of revenue does it/can it generate?

5) Why is the owner willing to sell it?

**internetking** · 03-11-2007, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

I'd agree with everything EXCEPT for the Alexa rank. The reason is because the toolbar is noted for both webmaster skew and manipulation, and as such doesn't make much of a metric for anything.

Other things I might look for:

1) What type of content is/was on the site? (http://web.archive.org is great in that regard, although not always accurate or up-to-date).

2) Has the domain been banned from a search engine?

3) Is it listed in any of the major spam blocking services (Spamhaus, SpamCop, etc.)?

4) What type of revenue does it/can it generate?

5) Why is the owner willing to sell it?

Some good points made there !!!!

may i be so bold as to add a number 6

Common sense!!!!!

A site getting 0000's of hist for sale for just $300 £150 ish

NO common sense tells me this is bull **** !
as said in my earlier post i am sorry for what has happended to David05 but alas the dude gave the stats which were worth £1000 IMO not £150...

Still we live and learn ....The wife has just left me

**taketherisk** · 03-11-2007, 10:48 PM

Great!

Lets hope everyone reads this before they go straight into buying a site.
Thanks for your tips/points (or w/e you want to call them). This list is starting to take shape

If anyone else has more, i will gladly add it to the list.

-Brett

**-Maverick-** · 03-12-2007, 12:46 AM

Another thing to ask to see from the seller would be the referrers. It's amazing the information you can garnish by looking at those. Plus you should be able to tell if it's a 'pump and dump' sale or not.

Useful thread. Kudos to the original thread starter for this helpful thread.

**Ballinmything** · 03-12-2007, 03:35 AM

Thats Nice,good thread to post

**fresh start** · 03-12-2007, 02:57 PM

Maverick
Would you elaborate on the amazing information you can garnish by looking at the site's referrers? I know to look for the obvious(visitors all coming from a few sites that may be connected to the seller), but what else can we tell from referrers?

**-Maverick-** · 03-12-2007, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fresh start

Maverick
Would you elaborate on the amazing information you can garnish by looking at the site's referrers? I know to look for the obvious(visitors all coming from a few sites that may be connected to the seller), but what else can we tell from referrers?

Examples:

1. There's a myspace link or several. Possible indication that the seller has run a campaign by sending out notices of his site. These are usually bought from people who have alot of contacts in their myspace accounts.

2. A link in the referrers might be a traffic generator site. You usually by traffic from these kind of sites. (traffic not always the greatest from these kind of sites)

3. Links to the site which you find by following the referrers, might of been bought to either drive traffic to the site or to increase pr.

The list goes on... All in all there's so many scams going on in the internet marketplace that one really needs to do their homework when they're considering buying a site or anything else in the marketplace for that matter. Checking referrers is just another tool to use to help safeguard yourself.

**taketherisk** · 03-12-2007, 10:59 PM

Thanks Maverick some good advice there

The list is growing everyday.

and i'm looking to add more... there are so many scams out there

Maybe we should list what sort of scams are out there aswell?

-Brett

**grafx77** · 03-15-2007, 10:36 PM

Good post, there are a number of things I check when purchasing a site:

1. Age- Check Alexa "Wayback" Database
2. PR (Means very little but good to check)
3. Backlinks, Backlinks, Backlinks
4. Check to see if most their pages are in the Supplemental index of Google.
5. Why owner is selling
6. Web stats and Ad revenue proof
7. if the site has been properly optimized for SEO. If they took the time to optimized the site, generally means that they had good intentions for the site when building.

Just a few general guidelines...thats all.

**eurochamp** · 03-16-2007, 05:25 AM

thansk for the good advice sir!

**david05** · 06:05 PM

For every body, this is a proof : i see webmaster-talk is for sale on http://www.websitebroker.com/site_show.php?siid=999939411&return_url=%2Ffeature d.php%3Fp%3D13%26n%3D1 so please say me it is a joke ?

And the fraud seller who sell me upload2.net is list on this site too, i have never seen transfer to me, i have lost money with this seller, i think he operate on many site.

I think this is a fraud seller.........

**internetking** · 03-16-2007, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david05

For every body, this is a proof : i see webmaster-talk is for sale on http://www.websitebroker.com/site_sh...p%3D13%26n%3D1 so please say me it is a joke ?

And the fraud seller who sell me upload2.net is list on this site too, i have never seen transfer to me, i have lost money with this seller, i think he operate on many site.

I think this is a fraud seller.........

I bid $10 for it lol

**taketherisk** · 03-17-2007, 06:57 AM

Its very sad that people would rip people off like this. I wonder what the minimum jail sentence for fraud of this kind is? :S

It would have to be in years :/

david05, yes he is a fraud... i would really like to know why WT doesn't give you his IP then you can take appropriate action to catch this low life scum!

-Brett

**david05** · 03-17-2007, 10:57 AM

Thank taketherisk, Not only WT must give me his ip but administrtor must banned this user too.... If not he go on to scam other honest people here... And people affraid to come back too this forum because fraud seller is not banned ....

**unlisted80** · 03-17-2007, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by david05

Thank taketherisk, Not only WT must give me his ip but administrtor must banned this user too.... If not he go on to scam other honest people here... And people affraid to come back too this forum because fraud seller is not banned ....

what happen is proxy ip or workplace?