How to avoid getting ripped off when buying websites?

I have bought websites several times, and most of the time they are not as good as the seller says. Sometimes REALLY REALLY not as good. For example, the seller might say it makes $200 a month, but it really makes $3 a month. Or they say it makes $50 a month, but it really makes $0.

For most of these purchases I did get screenshots showing these earnings, but when I got a hold of the site, it still didn't generate any money like they said. How do you buy with any confidence when it's clear that even screenshots can't really be trusted? What do you guys do to verify a seller's claims?

 

Because you are cheated by them. No one will sell their profitable website at cheap cost.
Some says their Google PR is 2,3,4....But they are not really.
I test website value at mysitecost.com
ex: I tested mywebs.in
at mysitecost.com/mywebs.in
Now it will show
Google Page Rank:2
Alexa Rank: 5039390
Will also show Estimated worth $732.00 USD
Don't buy at $732.00 USD
It's the estimated price.
Buy at some less price like $250 to $270 if Google PR2
If it doesn't have a PR value then buy at more less.

 

It can be hard to determine the true value of a site. I've used estibot.com, mysitecost.com and dnscoop.com and gotten 3 vastly different valuations for a site. You have to be able to check keywords, page rank, competing pages and all the rest for yourself. Very honest, confident sellers will sometimes allow a realtime guided walkthru of their site and realtime proof of earnings.

 

A website is worth what you are willing to pay for it. Websites who are trying to value your website are calculating those prices on stats that aren't reliable. E.g. Pagerank and Alexa-rank do not guarantee any kind of traffic or profit by ads.

When you buy a website (what I don't advice) look-up the history of the website but also of the owner. When screenshots with any kind of profit are shown, ask proof of several months at least 6 months or more. Check out backlinks they tell a lot about the website.

You can agree with the old owner to pay 50-75% of the amount at the transfer and after one or two months the rest?

And you can always use a 3rd party for the buy of the website (wouldn't do that for websites which are sold for a few hundred bucks, but would you even bother buying those?).

 

distantstar, yes it is so very hard to know when a seller is being truthful with the quoted earnings etc.

I know in the past on other forums, some buyers have requested actual live stats (that displays sales/commissions and so on).

 

You can quite easily do browser edits to make up earnings, what's harder is to fool alexa rank. You should check whether they match each other.

 

You could always consult a psychic.

But seriously it depends on price, traffic, ect ect. For small amounts its a craps shoot, but for big amounts you have to use common sense, experience and do plenty of research. If the site is claiming good traffic, ask the seller to install google analytics for you. I have done it myself for people trying to buy sites off me. An honest seller wont mind.

I learnt an $800 lesson last year on DP buying a bingo site that ended up having zero traffic and was using a free template, so be very wary of people who try to hurry a sale up with big discounts.

 

You can fool the rankings of Alexa as easy as the so called earnings screenshots. If you search on the web or even this forum you will find enough threads about boosting the Alexa rank.

 

if possible, use escow, pay partial of the payment and release the balance after one month.
This will be the best way if the seller agree that.

 

thanks for sharing this information....I purchased a site recently and have not made a dime yet

 

I am going to leave purchasing a site alone and create my own.

 

I've never purchased a website, as I always create them myself either to run or to sell on.

A site I made a few weeks ago, and I've only just put ads on (using adsense), every valvulation tool I have used estimates my site at being worth at least $5k+. Yet I don't believe it is worth anything at the moment, as it hasn't actually generated any profits (Well its getting around $10 ad revenue a day but unless I get paid out I won't say its profiting).