Newbie questions

Hello

I am considering buying a website and I would be grateful if someone could give me some hints on what aspects to pay attention to.

Some of the sites I see offered here are said to give good constant revenue (for instance that car blueprint site), so I am wondering why are they being offered in the first place?

Also, how do you protect yourself against fraud? How can you be sure the seller is actually the owner of the website?

Are there any other forums / sites for buying websites?

Many thanks

 

You could try www.dnforum.com for a better idea of what's involved, including scams.

Things you need to look out for (in no particular order):

inflated PR (easily done)
someone selling a website they don't own
inflated or forged 'proofs of income'
sites which break the terms of advertisers, e.g. Google Adsense
ghost forums
fictional traffic​

People do sell websites all the time for genuine reasons. There are people who specalise in developing a website then selling it on.

 

As to why they're being offered, some are definitely scams, some are people who are afraid that the revenue stream will be shutdown in the future (competitors, adsense problems), or they just want money now. I would make a couple of sites on my own first before buying one - there is a ton of stuff you'll need to know how to do without realizing it, and you'll be much better equipped to operate one somebody else made and actually assess it to see if it's worth it.

 

I think important issues are:

Revenue
History (any problems)
Sites age

Also make sure the site isn't breaking any laws.