Inconvenience To Sellers... is this really too much to ask for?

**TrustButVerify** · May 15th, 2010, 11:47 AM

Do you ever find it funny that when you ask for documentation from a seller it's like the worlds biggest inconvenience to them?

As if they just expect you to take everything they say as complete and utter truth with no proof?

Like installing google analytics and adding me as a user is a huge pain in the ar se to them.

You think that someone who wants $xxxx - $xx,xxx for their website would be a little more willing to cough up information, right?

I'm willing to pay more for a website when the seller is transparent as a piece of glass... even so far as to give me access to their adwords account (not a great idea but I was happy to check everything out and see history).

I find that a lot of people who I suspect to be scammers get defensive along with providing crappy information.

This is also what's good about an auction format with a seller who doesn't want to provide tons of information (either scammer, just dumb, or doesn't want to reveal all of his data).

He can sell to the person who is willing to pay the highest price and request the least amount of documentation.

Take this example:

I asked a seller to install google analytics, add me as a user and send me proof of revenue. Website claimed he was making $over $5k per month.

He sent me a copy and pasted text file of his recent orders as proof.

You know... like copy and pasting all the text off of the screen and putting it in a file... as "proof"...

I asked for screen shots and here is what he said:

Thats ok. I have another buyer who is interested. He plans on taking it. Thank you for your time.

Feel sorry for that seller

**mgallone** · May 15th, 2010, 12:03 PM

Being new to the game, it has shocked me browsing through sites like flippa and DP and seeing the most basic template sites going for four figure sums. Websites that I'm sure could be put together by anyone purchasing a domain name and with any knowledge about web design, or failing that, hiring someone for a tiny fraction of the sales price. The worst part is those that don't even have revenue with a domain name along the lines of myonlineshopnow.info that seem to fetch decent amounts.

Actually, scratch all that... The worst ones are those that claim income of $300 a month, but are attempting to sell at $1000, with some lame excuse like 'I don't have enough time'... to run an autoblog. Hmm. As I said, it's shocking the apparent number of scams out there.

**Clinton** · May 16th, 2010, 03:07 PM

I agree with you guys. In fact, there are a few lower earnings sites that I'd like to get rid off and the only reason I haven't put them up is because of the time it would take to do justice to buyers' questions, collect and organise stats, describe what the site does and assist with the handing over. The way I figure it is that the time spent on all of that is not worth the $500 or so I may get for the site.

As a buyer, I walk away from sellers who can't be bothered. They're even less likely to be bothered when/if you need some post-sale assistance.

**TrustButVerify** · May 19th, 2010, 11:50 PM

To conclude my story:

I asked for google analytics, seller then offered me some crappy free stat program that came with his hosting account.

I asked for google analytics AGAIN and he said the site is only one page so it doesn't matter. He showed me screen shot of all the people linking to his site within awstats (not even keywords or traffic).

I again asked for analytics, I told him this is a BUSINESS to me, I have checklists, things I need to see before buying a site... I don't care if the site is new or is only one page...SHOW ME THE MONEY

If he won't give that data then he can ignore this email.Then I see he's trying to sell it again. This is after no bids in a couple places including flippa.
He did show me some very good paypal data... but that was it.

It was only a small site but very annoying.I just want to point out to some of the guys here - on things they can do as part of due diligence to protect themselves...

BEWARE OF SELLERS WHO ARE SELLING A SITE (ACTIVELY PROMOTING IT IS FOR SALE) AND THEN WILL NOT PROVIDE KEY DATA BECAUSE IT IS "INCONVENIENT" OR "NOT NEEDED" OR THEY "NEVER GOT AROUND TO IT"

You need to be that annoying guy who says hey, I still need that information... the sale can't proceed without it.If anyone here remembers my investigative thread PART 1 and PART 2 about three guys getting ripped off for about $33,000...all of the buyers never pressed the seller for all the information... they saw one of two pieces documented and they thought "He showed me paypal statements, this must be legit... who would ever fake paypal statements?"

Trust Buy Verify... EVERYTHING

By the way, the guy who said this (from my post above, I asked for proof of revenue):

Thats ok. I have another buyer who is interested. He plans on taking it. Thank you for your time.

Just relisted his site....

He refused to show screen shots on income.... hhhmmmmm... can you say SCAMMER?