Archive for May, 2010
yourdreamwatch.com sold by mikehobbs on Flippa
May 26th
I received and email request, here it is…
From: Lee Shen ***
Subject: http://flippa.com/auctions/95185/96-50-per-Month-2-5-yrs-Stable-Passive-Income-000-hrs-Work-100-OrganicIS A: Website for Sale
Message Body:
Hi ChrisI saw this auction and thought it was pretty decent. It’s nicely aged, has a decent PR and earnings seem relatively consistent. What do you think?
My thoughts on this site are…
Well, there is not much here. It is basically a pop-up site that is monetized through the eBay Partner Network. I do believe the income being reported is accurate but it is very little income and (to me) the site seems to have nearly reached its full potential. The problem with a site like this is… WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?
If you are a watch enthusiast you could build upon the foundation here and make a “watch portal”. But otherwise, you could easily duplicate this site for much less than the $1200+ asking price and get even better visibility. I think at ~$100/mth revenue this site has peaked and, more likely than not, this income will slowly drop over time.
So, is this site/listing a scam? No. But I really don’t see too much potential here either. Even at the $800 current bid it is going to take 12+ months to recover the investment.
Although you see the seller’s claim about competing in a broad niche, this site is really competing with much more long-tail terms:
- citizen calibre 8700
- nike watches for men
- rolex platinum watch
- gq best watches under 200
- wenger swiss army knife aqua yacht racer watch 811
- tag heuer kirium
- nike oregon watch
- tommy bahama watches for men
- patek philippe nautilus 5712/1a
And, with a few quick “Googles” even these terms are not really ranking in top positions. So, scam?… Nope – this is a legitimate listing. But worth the money? ONLY if you have a specific plan for the site and how to better position and monetize it. Otherwise your $$ is better spent elsewhere in my opinion.
Two ESTABLISHED Sites on Flippa – I get an eMail
May 21st
Here is the email I received…
Was wondering whether you could help point me out towards some decent resources to learn abt buying a website? I’m thinking of getting started seriously in online biz and would like to buy a mid range site to get started.,,around the $1000-8000 region…
Is it actually possible to get something decent for something in this price range? something that is actually profitable and that I can slowly build up with some effort?
I’ve gone through Ed Dales’s website valuation course and browsed through the experienced ppl forum but still feel a little lost when going through the sites available on flippa…any help would be very much appreciated!Also, what do you think of these particular auctions?…scams?
And here was the response I emailed…
Those two are not “scams” per-se but it is going to be tough to recover your investment there. They are both well past their prime…
If you look at:
http://flippa.com/auctions/85246/Established-Offline-Marketing-Course-Website-Forum-and-Domain—NO-RESERVE
You will see that OfflineMarketingPro.com was just sold in Feb for much less. Looks like the buyer is now selling it, must be a reason why.
The poker site is just an affiliate feed site — it looks like the forums are pretty much dead and the site itself hasn’t been maintained. For $1000 I would say this one might be worth the gamble (pardon the pun). But for $8000 — EECH!
This site was also “sold” for $25k a little while ago but it looks like the buyer did not pay, but it still is a different seller selling it now…
http://flippa.com/auctions/38657/Well-Established-Poker-Site-with-Great-Google-Rankings-and-Good-Revenue
Makes you wonder, no?
NOTE: I will also email this guy and offer him some advice on what he should look to buy!
Email about indopaybay selling xboxfreelivecodes.com on Flippa
May 20th
I just got this email today…
URL: http://www.xboxfreelivecodes.com
This is the flippa auction. The seller is claiming earnings of $15 a day and says he will provide support in building the income. Apparently, you can increase your monthly income to a thousand plus a month with only 1-2 hours work. Do you think this is a scam? I’m extremely green and have never bought a website online before. I went through Ed Dales’s course on valuing a website but it doesn’t seem to help me with telling whether this is a scam site or not…what do you think?
By the way, I think what you’re doing with this site is just fantastic…really appreciate all the effort you’re putting into this…thanks a truckload!
This one was another easy one to look into…
It is a website based on one of the latest trends – having people complete a CPA offer and then giving them something for free. It is a dying model…
The website itself is very poorly laid out and the “free xbox live codes” concept is all over the net. The seller boasts the first page rankings on Google but it is for some VERY rare long-tail terms. Nothing of any value.
The seller seems to be claiming this site is making him $15+ daily but it has VERY LITTLE history and the seller is showing nothing but blocked-out screen shots for income. I would STAY AWAY from this seller and his sites for sure. A quick look through his history will show you that many of the past sites he has sold are “just sitting there” without any activity. A BIG RED FLAG. Also, many of them are automated robot sites… ICKY!
Thanks for the email. I see you sent another and I will address it shortly!
Mr_Jones and eXthusLimited on Flippa
May 20th
Someone contacted me with the following email…
Hello, I stumbled on your site while searching google for flippa scams. I was surprised to see the honesty in your post, and as a website flipper myself, I am surprised at how bad flippa can be. I admit some of my sites were not as good as I wanted to be, but at least I am not a website machine.
Anyways, I think there is someone I saw that you might want to report on. Lots of people are probably selling nulled scripts of wprobot, as it cost 550$, but they usually sell for less than $97.
Also, Â eXthusLimited sells alot of iphone sites, and he also uses nulled themes, Â http://flippa.com/auctions/93176/Super-Cool-iPad-Accessories-Website—1-iPad-Niche-Automated-Income.
Another one I would like to mention if you do not know is Mr_Jones, which seems to offer sites that claim unique content, but in fact are copied on ezine. http://flippa.com/auctions/94815/Generate-300-per-day-EASY–Youre-paid-per-click—4500-backlinks-SEO-package
Anyways, I want to wish you luck on your blog, and good luck writing more articles!
So, of course I looked into it… and, he was correct. Though I do have to wonder if he is just “outing” some Flippa competitors of his.
Nevertheless, here is my breakdown on these two website flippers.
Mr_Jones is currently selling the site www.goodlifeinsurancesite.com on Flippa and has a BIN price of $567 and, he makes the claim “Generate 300$ per day EASY !”
Well, what can I say about this guy — his listing says “it’s built on a wordpress theme that we’ve made from scratch…” but how ironic is it that it just happens to look JUST LIKE THIS SITE! Yes, he is, in fact, using the same theme that I use here! Not created from scratch at all and, the content which he claims is unique is not either.
So this is another case of WHY INVESTIGATE FURTHER? When clearly Mr_Jones is lying about goodlifeinsurancesite.com we can safely assume that he is not a trustworthy seller! A thumbs up goes to the person who reported him to me.
But, what about the second Flippa seller mentioned? Is eXthusLimited also peddling a scam?
Let’s take a look at the sites he has been selling, most of them seem to be fad-cash-ins on the iPhone and iPad. Immediately I see one HUGE (notice the bold AND underline) problem… This guy is selling sites with premium WordPress themes and plugins without the proper license. How do I know this? One only has to ask the plugin/theme creators! What is kind-of humorous is that he even gets called out by one of the theme creators on his Flippa listing.
marquis_uk
your selling a hacked copy of my shopperpress theme! note that the new owner will have no access to upgrade/support or anything. Its very sad when people try todo this.
Buying from this guy is like buying stolen goods from anyone else!? Would you really want a website built on STOLEN goods? So – this seller needs no further investigation — he is YUCKY!
Concerned about 2x billing on Sedo.com
May 6th
Here is an email I received.
From: Q****
Subject: http://sedo.comURL: http://sedo.com
Message Body:
Just check this out yourself. Sedo asks you to verify your account now. An option is to use your credit card to verify. So they charge 7 bucks to verify this,and are suppose to cancel the debit immediately after. Well I checked and sure enough there was the 7 dollar credit and the 7 dollar debit.BUT now I checked today and I have two $7 debits! With 0 credits. I would like someone else to try this out and see what happens. Now I have to contact my bank and get this cleared up. It’s funny a #1 sign to me is when you try to contact a website and there is no easy way to do so.
Try to contact Sedo and see what I am talking about.
On another note how about this….I get the feeling these type of sites make fake listings and juice up there transactions…I mean think about it a site like Flippa gets 20 a pop plus a success fee…Why not just make fake listings all day? I see sites and domains that sell for no reason I could tell you. AND it’s always like 1 bid out the blue who decided to “buy it now”. Check for yourself. I have sites and domains that are really valuable but why would they let me make a sale on their site without some strife?
I think the business model is collecting the registration fee.I also believe Flippa sellers are the same people or team. I am good at recognizing patterns and you can sense something is not right over there.
Anyways I like the site and am just a little angry right now about my cc. Later.
I think you are just a bit shaken from your experience. I think Sedo is a genuine company and, just like the rest of us, not perfect. If contact them and wait, they will likely refund your charges. Be sure you didn’t agree to any other billing.
As to your theories on Flippa. I think doubt they are collecting fees – from themselves. They may have some partners, etc who sell sites there but this is a marketplace. This is what it is all about.
Some Sites I Missed in Gmail SPAM Box
May 5th
Well, I learned a valuable lesson today — that some of my contact requests end up in Google’s SPAM box. He is one that was sitting there.
From: jon
Subject: http://flippa.com/auctions/90673/Art-history-site—10K-daily-uniquesnice-revenue-Requires-little-work-enormousIS A: Website for Sale
Message Body:
http://flippa.com/auctions/89358/15000-month-profit-Lucrative-online-business-Quit-your-day-job-http://flippa.com/auctions/90238/31k-USD-in-March-2010—Industry-Leading-Funding-Company
Here a three sites worth over 10k and they all sound like scam to me!!
Well, I am not going to go into details on the sites themselves I will just say that Jon was smart to take a pass!!Â
Invictus7 was sitting in my SPAM box!
May 5th
I realized I had never checked my SPAM box on Gmail so I thought I would take a look, and I found this email.
Hi Chris,
I read your post about me scamming people, I believe you are  yourassasin from Flippa.
You don’t act like a Christian you claim to be. So much hate and lies from you, it’s disturbing.I believed you crossed the line between just expressing your opinion and defamation.
I can prove everything I said is true and never scammed anyone and never mislead anyone.
I even offer money back if my claims are not true or if it doesn’t work for the buyer.
Is that what scammers do ?I ignored you and did not answer your questions because you attacked me first before you asked
anything, you insulted me first before you even attempted to talk like a normal person. You even violated
Flippa policy and Flippa almost banned you.What you wrote is based on your assumptions, not on facts, just your opinion and foolish belief you are an expert of everything on the internet and that you know it all.
If you stated just your opinion, I would have no problem with that. But you went too far to publicly accuse me of scam and cause negative impact on me personally and defame my name and business, all this without even having any evidence to back it up.I understand you need material for your website, so you desperately looking for something you can call a scam, and in this search for material for your new business venture, you went too far. There are plenty of scammers, posting fake screenshots, fake traffic stats, but you decided to attack me because the way I responded to you and for reporting you to Flippa that almost got you banned.
So now you angry and you made it personal and you went too far. You maybe don’t realize that because you blinded with hate and your belief you know it all. You exploit others for your benefit, bringing others down to have material for your business venture, to try to make you look like some kind of authority and expert on the internet.If you were a honest person and followed what your religion teaches, you would not make such claims and attacks without  verifying the facts first.
I will be nice here and I will give you a chance to reconsider your accusations and resolve this matter without filling a defamation lawsuit against you if don’t have to.
So please respond to this email and state clearly in what way I scam people. What part of my website selling is dishonest ? misleading ? and how exactly my scam works ? how I scam my customers when i offer them money back if doesn’t work for them and if they are not satisfied?
Answer me and I will respond to you and your concerns. Be sure to give me some valid arguments, not just your personal beliefs, your personal beliefs will not stand in court if I decide to start defamation lawsuit.
Show me some facts.For some of my customers I’m often up to 3 AM in the morning to make their wishes, do custom changes for free, help them and teach them. Things that no other seller will do for free.
Is this a scam if I offer them safest and no risk purchase when they can get their money back if not satisfied ?
is this a scam if they can make the money they spend on the site in a few weeks  ? or even longer if they take their time.
Just because you don’t understand where the traffic would come from, how it works and just because you don’t believe me, doesn’t give you the right to make public false accusations against me in order to get material for your scam catching blog business.My customers are happy and they have option to get money back. Who else offers that ? Find me other seller who offers that and has clean record and zero refunds requests. I must be some genius scammer then.
Did you offered money back to your customers if your website you sold doesn’t work for them ? I don’t think so. So it looks like it’s safer to buy from me then from you. At least people can return the website to me if it turns out I lied or overstated something.
As for your question, if they will make money with the sites, any smart person knows that as with any business some will and some will not, that doesn’t mean the business is good or bad.
Some start making money from day one, some will not follow any instructions, some will get some traffic and advertisers quickly and flip it for quick profit.I would like to hear in what way I scam people, so far I did not found any good arguments in what you wrote. In fact I see your lack of knowledge and understanding and your accusations coming from that.
Show me that you are not a fake, and that you are not an angry fool who is doing this to retaliate for me reporting you to Flippa, and  just to have material for his scam catching blog venture. Show me that you are a reasonable person, so far you didn’t presented yourself to me that way.
Step by step, explain to me how I scam people and what gives you the right to call me a scammer publicly,
and why I should I not file a defamation lawsuit ? Do you have some valid arguments ? Â Waiting for your response.Invictus7 on Flippa.
Wow. Quite a rant. First off, I am not even going to address your attacks on my faith or religion.
But, there is really nothing needed be addressed here either as, you are also, in my opinion a liar… So, I guess this is a good time to address one of your points.
I can prove everything I said is true and never scammed anyone and never mislead anyone.
Ok… But here is what you sent to me in a PM (I bolded the key text):
And I stated in my auction description that I’m selling all my sites, I’m not producing any new ones. All my sites and domains were owned by me for many years, and I plan to sell them all until I have zero websites.
So yes I will be listing more sites for sale, sites I owned and operated for past 8 years.
So, is this true? ARE you not producing new ones as you claim? You are only selling them all until you have zero, you are only selling sites that you have owned and operated for 8 years?
You know this is NOT true! So, you lied and misled right there. So, I really don’t feel the need to further engage you. If you want to make a comment here, fine. Be assured I will reply.
SiteSales09 – Just Another Seller of Automated Dreams
May 2nd
This is nothing new, just another seller “flipping websites” on the Flippa marketplace — websites full of nothing but feeds of other sites. SiteSales09 is offering everything from shopping sites fed from Amazon.com to search engines powered by Google Adsense. These sites are advertised as:
- Completely Automated
- Unlimited Income Potential
- Potentially Makes Thousands per Month with Little Effort
- Huge Revenue Potential
- Incredible Opportunity
What the seller fails to mention is that sites like these are a dime-a-dozen. Or, more accurately a dime-a-million!! Folks, I cannot say it enough… When a site offers nothing but duplicate content, product feeds, and ZERO innovation it is going to be nearly IMPOSSIBLE to make money with one of these sites. Next time you see a site like this for sale, ask the seller this question… “Can you give me a few examples of these sites that you are operating and profiting with?”
See what they come up with — ask to see PROOF OF INCOME for those sites. If they cannot provide any (similar) sites that they are profiting with you have some telling evidence. They may respond with “well, I build these sites to sell, I don’t build sites for myself” and then you can inquire why a seller SiteSale09 would pass on a site with “unlimited profit potential” by one that is limited by their ability to produce quality sites. One would assume that “quality sites” cannot be thrown together in a few hours, no?
I pose the same question to SiteSale09… Can you show me some of these sites YOU have and are profiting with? After all, it is easy, automated, and has unlimited potential… Right?

LOOK AT ALL THESE SPAMMERS!
May 20th
Posted by admin in Spammy Spamerson
No comments
On my personal homepage today I found a 9 SPAM comments waiting for me! WOW, I feel so popular. As I always do I thought I would expose the SPAMMERS here…
Each one is in a quote…
SPAM #1
SPAM #2
SPAM #3
SPAM #4
SPAM #5
SPAM #6
SPAM #7
SPAM #8
SPAM #9
As always remember DO NOT give these guys any business! They are SPAMMERS! The blue is where links used to be.