What to do in this situation...

13 replies
Hi,

Last year i purchased a website on Flippa which has a number of facebook fans and twitter followers, i have been trying to get in contact with the flippa seller to transfer the accounts however no contact from him.

The transfership of the website was successful, so i have the domain, hosting and email accounts associated with the website.

How would i go about claiming the facebook group and twitter account when the owner doesn't respond?

Best Regards
#situation
  • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
    Perhaps the previous owner is still utilizing these accounts. I don't know what the terms of your agreement were, but maybe they thought they could still use the account. If nobody has been using them for a year, you might be better off starting a new Facebook and Twitter account to attract more fans and followers.
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    • Profile picture of the author MattStrange
      Originally Posted by Michael Shook View Post

      Perhaps the previous owner is still utilizing these accounts. I don't know what the terms of your agreement were, but maybe they thought they could still use the account. If nobody has been using them for a year, you might be better off starting a new Facebook and Twitter account to attract more fans and followers.
      Hi Michael,

      Part of the agreement was the ownership of the accounts, no luck in contacting the owner on these though. I preferably wouldn't like to open new accounts as the current names are taken and already there, i wouldn't like to confuse visitors with multiple facebook groups or twitter accounts.

      Hmm...
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        Originally Posted by MattStrange View Post

        Hi Michael,

        Part of the agreement was the ownership of the accounts, no luck in contacting the owner on these though. I preferably wouldn't like to open new accounts as the current names are taken and already there, i wouldn't like to confuse visitors with multiple facebook groups or twitter accounts.

        Hmm...
        Not wanting to confuse people but . . . what do you think about a new Facebook group, like facebook.comOriginalNameOfGroup
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        • Profile picture of the author MattStrange
          Hi Mike,

          I managed to reserve the group... facebook.com/orginalname, fortunately the owner never seemed to change the address, which is why i'm baffled that i can even create a group under this address. But any who the current 1.7k plus facebook followers will be missed, i got a feeling anyway these were purchased

          Thanks for the help.
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          • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
            Originally Posted by MattStrange View Post

            Hi Mike,

            I managed to reserve the group... facebook.com/orginalname, fortunately the owner never seemed to change the address, which is why i'm baffled that i can even create a group under this address. But any who the current 1.7k plus facebook followers will be missed, i got a feeling anyway these were purchased

            Thanks for the help.
            That sounds good.

            You might be able to target members of the group or fans of the other page with a low cost ad so they would see there is some new activity going on.
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          • Profile picture of the author onSubie
            Originally Posted by MattStrange View Post

            Hi Mike,

            I managed to reserve the group... facebook.com/orginalname, fortunately the owner never seemed to change the address, which is why i'm baffled that i can even create a group under this address. But any who the current 1.7k plus facebook followers will be missed, i got a feeling anyway these were purchased

            Thanks for the help.

            1.7 K fans is tiny for a group to be of any real value. As you said, many are probably purchased.

            If you are going to work the social networking angle to build up a FB page, then lost followers to a new one likely won't hurt much.
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    If you have the emails (and presuming he used one of them) go the the accounts and select "Forgot password" and maybe the password reset link will come to one of your addresses.

    Once you have the password you have the account.

    Edit: I would also leave negative feedback on Flippa. That should get his attention unless he's a fly-by-night seller and has just disappeared..
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    • Profile picture of the author MattStrange
      Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

      If you have the emails (and presuming he used one of them) go the the accounts and select "Forgot password" and maybe the password reset link will come to one of your addresses.

      Once you have the password you have the account.

      Edit: I would also leave negative feedback on Flippa. That should get his attention unless he's a fly-by-night seller and has just disappeared..
      Fantastic! Getting somewhere now, this has worked for the Twitter account, but not for Facebook, i believe this is because he used his personal FB account to create the group and i would need the password for this, darnit.
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      • Profile picture of the author onSubie
        Originally Posted by MattStrange View Post

        Fantastic! Getting somewhere now, this has worked for the Twitter account, but not for Facebook, i believe this is because he used his personal FB account to create the group and i would need the password for this, darnit.
        Yeah that's why I added the edit... after rereading your post, I realized a facebook 'page' would not have a password but be tied to a facebook account.

        Do you know his facebook profile? Have you tried reaching him that way?

        Glad the idea worked for twitter though.
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        • Profile picture of the author MattStrange
          Originally Posted by onSubie View Post

          Yeah that's why I added the edit... after rereading your post, I realized a facebook 'page' would not have a password but be tied to a facebook account.

          Do you know his facebook profile? Have you tried reaching him that way?

          Glad the idea worked for twitter though.
          Thanks

          Nope, no luck in contacting the group admin, i'll have to investigate further.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bartle
    I honestly do not think you can do anything, even if he did agree, twitter and facebook's policies differ from flippa's.
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  • Profile picture of the author goindeep
    That's a tough one. Depending on the value of the site I would suggest getting a lawyer. Its a very grey area.
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  • Profile picture of the author masonisabella794
    It needed to take the FB & Twitter password during that time. You may not get the password. If you do not get the password & if the FB & Twitter accounts used your domain email id, then you can reset the password. Otherwise you must contact to the previous owner of the site. Thank you very much.
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    cool

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