Safest way to buy/sell a website?

PLEASE tell me how you all protect yourselves when you buy or when you sell your websites.

Buyers want "proof of revenue" but I truly doubt screenshots really mean anything. Seems like anyone proficient in Photoshop could come up with a great looking screenshot.

Sellers can get into trouble by assuming a paypal payment to be gold, and from what I understand the process at escrow.com doesn't really protect the seller either.

The best method I can figure is to trust the reputation that people gain from from being active on the webmaster forums, like NamePros and SitePoint, etc. But even that isn't foolproof...I suppose someone could make little transactions to get a good name then make big money by selling junk for a lot of dough, then jump ship from there.

I've come to the point of either looking for some kind of super web expert/lawyer guy (do you know of any?) or only spending what I can afford to loose.

What is the real proof? How do you guys do this without getting screwed???

 

I was ganked by some dude who sold me a pr3 site that was registered in India (from this board) and the only form of payment to renew it was by mail!! So i lost the site a few weeks after I had paid $25 for it.

 

I think the best way to buy or sell a site is to at least talk to the person over the phone, that way you have a traceable number incase you have to sue

 

Hey I had problems as well!! I owned this one site for about three months and then it was stolen from me! It was very very frustrating!!

 

The phone is a good way get there address so if they rip you off you kick there ass

 

I which I would have known that before...but yes that's very good advice. But, what if it's just a cell phone number or something. Is there anything else you could get from them?

 

Good advice for selling site, check out this; http://www.searchengineforums.com/a...ead/forum::buy-my-website/thread::1147145629/

 

Damn good questions for newbie like me.

Phone each other seems like a good idea. But i can use Gizmo or Skype, you know, to fake the number. There're services that spoof Caller ID as well. And, mobile phone number is easily bought anonymously to make call. There's no way to trace who's behind mobile phone in some countries.

How about webcam? You'll see who you are talking too.

 

If you're talking about a website / web business (not just a domain name), I would not buy anything for under $2K because it's a loosing proposition to begin with. When you are at the $XXXX or above level, you can afford to hire an attorney (lawfirm) to handle the transaction and be an escrow fiduciary to protect both parties. These services usually cost about $750+ (e.g. 3 hr @ $250/hr), and would only make sense for more expensive websites.

 

I have come to the conclusion that, after doing due diligence, it has to ultimately be based on gut feeling. Do you trust this person? If you say to yourself, "I don't know, I don't know this person", then you are risking a lot to go through with your transaction.

I believe that if the seller is not willing to spend the time with the buyer on the phone discussing both business and off topic stuff then the seller doesn't really want to sell anything and it is not worth the risk. Another way of feeling like you know the seller is by checking his/her online reputation in the webmaster forums, and reading his/her past posts.

 

In the process of selling my first site ever. Thanks for the good info

 

Use a site like Fippa.com to buy and sell sites safely. They verify sellers and have systems in place to help prevent fraud, you could also use an escrow company to ensure a good transaction.

 

I too suggest using a site like Flippa. I have used Flippa without any problems. I've read good and bad reviews about the site, but it's been nothing but good for me.

 

K, a bit more detail.

Make a video of revenue to help give more confidence to buyer that it's not faked or photo shopped.

Flippa has a rating system to show who are good. You could look to see if a buyer has bought more than a few websites already.

You could use a service to sell your site, they could handle everything from beginning to the end. They know who are good buyers and sellers.

Checkout http://www.sellyoursiteformore.com Currently it's sold out but you could get on the waiting list and plus they have a service that can
sell your site for you. That may take some of the stress out it for you.

wiscrown

 

I think DigitalPoint works better than Flippa.

 

To be frank I have no experience selling or buying websites on Digitalpoint.

 

I have used sedo.com in the past and they have a good escrow system as well

 

a lot of things are made in China.I work for the site www 228trade com which sells replica brand apparel and fashion accesories.People keep criticising about the knock offs made in China.But I gotta say,they are really cheap but super quality replicas.And don't forget they are sold to countries out of China.Lot's of people like to buy them,because they are cheap and look and feel authentic.Where there's demand,there's supply.No that buyers and sellers don’t know it’s illegal,but they need it,and we’d love to be of any help.

 

Hands down, I suggest using flippa. It seems to be the safest.

 

Yes, I usually pick the phone up and call the seller. If he's the shady kind, he probably won't pick up the call...

Anyways, for value less than a grand usually I'd just go for it.