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BuySellAds literally just said to me in an email that...

by Nathan Bumstead
6 replies
I'm always a positive guy and make it a point to never complain. I was complaining once and a very smart man said to me "If you ever actually found out all of someone else's problems, you would probably want yours back."

So with hesitation I need to make a negative post about BuySellAds.com.

I am new to paid media, but I read some books and had some training on it. I started with BuySellAds. I purchased a couple small priced ads, only like 20K impressions per month. By the next day I saw I was getting good CTR's. So then I get super pumped. I wanted data faster so I purchase a few ads with 200K impressions per month (the little websites were taking too long to split test banners). I go crazy over the last week creating like 15-20 banners a day. Monitoring which ones are doing good, which ones aren't getting any clicks. I was optimizing my ad dollars and having a blast!

Although I noticed that one of the websites I purchased a banner on wasn't showing up in Google Analytics. So I manually went to the website, refreshed the page until I saw one of my banners, and clicked on it. Behold! The next day I had exactly 1 click through from that website in Google Analytics - Me!

I messaged BSA support. They responded and stated 1) They believe the website owner is doing things on the up-and-up. 2) The false clicks are from bots. 3) I can't have a refund because I'm still getting my value. 4) I shouldn't trust their statistics and I should rely on Google Analytics.

I'm a little heated about this. Why do they even offer statistics if their customers can't trust them? I'm not even that mad about the money I feel I wasted. I more upset because I just spent a week optimizing my banner campaign on false clicks! There are large differences between BuySellAds and Google Analytics on all 6 websites I have banners on through them.

So for you IM'ers out there that do a lot of paid media, is false bot clicks something that you contend with? Do you take Google Analytics as the gospel if they state you got "x" number of referrals from a website?

Hopefully this post helps someone else out there that is thinking about using BuySellAds.com...

Thanks.
#buysellads #email #literally
  • Profile picture of the author surreal
    Unfortunately, this is pretty well known.
    You must do your own research - a lot of stats are fake, and site owners LOVE to lie saying they get 1% CTRs.

    Sadly, you just keep on moving.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nathan Bumstead
    Thanks Surreal. In your opinion, should I trust my Google Analytics first and foremost then?

    BTW, I like your signature. I remember reading it a couple weeks ago on a post.
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    -> My YouTube Channel <- "Find out why everyone is talking about it..."

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    • Profile picture of the author MTVida
      Originally Posted by Nathan Bumstead View Post

      Thanks Surreal. In your opinion, should I trust my Google Analytics first and foremost then?

      BTW, I like your signature. I remember reading it a couple weeks ago on a post.
      I would most definitely take GA's numbers over BSA's stats.

      Setting up a campaign tracking system like Prosper202 would be a very good idea too. It's more suited for tracking and analyzing paid traffic. Matter of fact, Prosper + GA will give you the best data.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cristy94
    This actually happens to me these days. I purchased ads on a site with 1mil impressions/month and I have ~0.08% CTR which looks legit, but out of the 250 clicks I got so far only 30% appear in Google analytics and only 3-4 clicks actually reached my site (tracked with userTrack so bots are filtered).

    Is there any way you can report a specific publisher for selling fake traffic/clicks? Otherwise, the next guy that buys will have the same problems as I had.
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  • Profile picture of the author Martin1977
    I tried BSA site a few years ago. I had no success at all with that site. I purchased 20k impression per month, and 50k impression in two different niche. No opt-n and no sales So I had negative experience. I won't never again use this site.
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    • Profile picture of the author 55sadhikar
      Originally Posted by Martin1977 View Post

      I tried BSA site a few years ago. I had no success at all with that site. I purchased 20k impression per month, and 50k impression in two different niche. No opt-n and no sales So I had negative experience. I won't never again use this site.
      Wtf, no optins and no sales and u just moved on? Without figuring out why the campaigns bombed! Is there any offer that could have worked? There is lot of things u need to know about a website before putting an ad. A weight loss offer wouldn't necessarily work unless u know if male/female visit the weight loss site. Weight loss by supplement and weight loss by exercising is also different; 1 is geared towards older and the other geared towards younger. People over 40/50 are too resistant towards exercising. They want to take supplements and lose weight. Because they are prone to knee pain and arthritis etc.
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