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I'm an Idiot! My droped domain sold for $1400 on Flippa!

by aniebee
44 replies
I am such an idiot!!!

Long story short, my failure to accept that IM takes HARD work, not just a little work, led to one of my first sites selling on Flippa for $1400 two months ago - not by me!

I started adsense waaay back when a few Ezine articles got you massive traffic & great adsense income. Anyway, I didn't understand at the time that a site earning even just $10/mth might matter to someone. So after having this site and falling out of IM to "regroup" what the H*ll I was doing, I let ALL my established domains go since I had failed to KEEP promoting them.

Little did I know at the time that there is work needed just to KEEP sites ahead of the pack.

So - you know how you get those monthly stat reports from Ezine? Well, I haven't looked at mine since who knows when since I haven't posted there in over a year & this site that sold at flippa still has links from my Ezine articles going to it. One of these articles had 254 views last month! Just ONE! So, not only did I lose out on a HUGE opportunity to sell this site if I didn't want it, I'm STILL giving this site traffic, ranking & REVENUE!

Geez - I feel like SUCH an idiot! OH well, time to change those Ezine URLS! :p
#$1400 #articles #domain #droped #ezine #flippa #idiot #sold
  • Profile picture of the author emdubl
    Ouch. Lesson learned I guess.

    Makes me afraid to go back and see what has become of domain names that I have let expire.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nak
      Many times our focus diverts (in IM % is high )...& we lose attention on some real basic things
      This is such a pain!!
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    • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
      Banned
      Originally Posted by emdubl View Post

      Makes me afraid to go back and see what has become of domain names that I have let expire.
      (Hah.) I've probably lost some money too.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOpsychic
    this is advice for people like me. most times when i lose interests in my old domains, i just leave them be till they expire. seeing this i guess i should take flippa more seriously...
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
    Don't worry about it, I've made a ton of mistakes. This business is all about trying stuff and making mistakes and seeing what works and what doesn't. I'm just curious, would you mind disclosing the domain?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lori Kelly
    Sorry. I know how it feels when something like this happens. Don't beat yourself up too bad. We all make mistakes. You can take what you learned from that experience and start something new. It's the mistakes we learn from that separate us from ignorance.
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  • Profile picture of the author LBO
    Ouch! Take it as a learning experience, your next site will be much better so good thing this happened now!
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Paule
    Don't beat yourself too much, these things happen. Learn from it so thatit does not happen again.

    Just by sharing this, you have helped others like me
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
    Banned
    Don't worry. Some people have lost much (much) more doing that.
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    "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Take a good look at the site that sold and it will be a learning experience on what is needed to bring your next site to that point.
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    • Profile picture of the author fluffythewondercat
      Wait a minute...

      If your articles still point to that URL, can't you contact the new owner and let him/her know ever-so-nicely that you're about to yank those articles but could be persuaded (in coin) not to?

      Failing that, aren't you a subject matter expert on this niche now? Can you sell more articles to the new owner?

      fLufF
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      • Profile picture of the author legitebiz
        Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

        Wait a minute...

        If your articles still point to that URL, can't you contact the new owner and let him/her know ever-so-nicely that you're about to yank those articles but could be persuaded (in coin) not to?

        Failing that, aren't you a subject matter expert on this niche now? Can you sell more articles to the new owner?

        fLufF
        --
        I loved this comment, this might be a way to redeem yourself a little
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  • Profile picture of the author aniebee
    Aw - thanks everyone! It's kind of funny really, it was just that initial shock of "whaaat?!!!"

    The site is: yougodog@com - I'm NOT giving them another link! :p

    That's not even the worst sin I committed. My other site that I was earning $250-$300/mth - sometimes $500-$600 from adsense (now this was in 2006, so that was pretty good back then), I just let go. My account was banned for who knows why, I only submitted articles to ezine and it was a credit site, but who knows. So I just let it go. I mean, Seriously!

    Oh well - lots of lessons learned here!
    Ann
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  • Profile picture of the author wealthydon
    Don't ever spread yourself thin in any business.

    Only bite what you can chew because there are
    people waiting to snap up your vomit. You can call
    them domain speculators.

    My advice is that register ONLY one domain at a time,
    build content and traffic and see it to the end. If you
    are fed up with it, you can take it to flippa and recoup
    your investment even if you don't make profit.

    I know you will not be beaten the second time!
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  • Profile picture of the author angela99
    You've made me feel much better about the hundreds of domains I'm letting lie fallow.

    As soon as I get an idea (I get lots of ideas, heaven help me) I register a domain. Then I keep paying the registrations each year.

    I always look on domains as an investment. I figure sooner or later I'll get the time to work on all those domains. In the meantime, I just let them sit.

    Angela
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Rankin
    Originally Posted by aniebee View Post

    I am such an idiot!!!

    Long story short, my failure to accept that IM takes HARD work, not just a little work, led to one of my first sites selling on Flippa for $1400 two months ago - not by me!

    I started adsense waaay back when a few Ezine articles got you massive traffic & great adsense income. Anyway, I didn't understand at the time that a site earning even just $10/mth might matter to someone. So after having this site and falling out of IM to "regroup" what the H*ll I was doing, I let ALL my established domains go since I had failed to KEEP promoting them.

    Little did I know at the time that there is work needed just to KEEP sites ahead of the pack.

    So - you know how you get those monthly stat reports from Ezine? Well, I haven't looked at mine since who knows when since I haven't posted there in over a year & this site that sold at flippa still has links from my Ezine articles going to it. One of these articles had 254 views last month! Just ONE! So, not only did I lose out on a HUGE opportunity to sell this site if I didn't want it, I'm STILL giving this site traffic, ranking & REVENUE!

    Geez - I feel like SUCH an idiot! OH well, time to change those Ezine URLS! :p
    I'm new and have a handful of sights that we don't use anymore and were probably going to just let go, thanks for the info, were going to double check them now.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I always look on domains as an investment. I figure sooner or later I'll get the time to work on all those domains. In the meantime, I just let them sit.
      Same here. One of these days I'll get to them.

      Aniebee -

      Don't think of it as a dumb mistake on your part. Think of it as a high end coaching session. Taught you something, didn't it? You will profit in the future from this lesson.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        Don't think of it as a dumb mistake on your part. Think of it as a high end coaching session. Taught you something, didn't it? You will profit in the future from this lesson.
        Nice. : ) Good advice Kay.

        P.S. It’s good that you can be “positive” about it Aniebee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Wilson
    Hi!

    Try not to think too much of this. Just take it as a lesson learned. I've too made a bunch of stupid purchases but it doesn't matter.

    Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    Change the links in your articles to a new domain... one that you own.
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    • Profile picture of the author aniebee
      Originally Posted by E. Brian Rose View Post

      Change the links in your articles to a new domain... one that you own.
      Yeah - thought of that, just not interested in promoting a dog site right now. But, oh well!

      I had no idea the seller was banned! Geez - sounds kind of crazy over a dog site

      Anyway - just thought I'd share with people who understand my pain. I find it interesting how few IMers I run into in the "real world." Ok, that being zero. It seems like there's so many of us . .
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    Oooo aniebee, sorry to hear that. But thank you for the reminder. I had just turned off the auto-renew on a group of domains, and your post encouraged me to go back and rethink some of them.

    :-Don
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  • Profile picture of the author terryuk73
    I wouldnt beat yourself up about it too much. Its definately worth taking a hard look at exactly what the new owners did to rank the site and improve it. When you look at it as a whole you may find that you just wouldnt have been prepared to put that much work into it for the return.

    We all make mistakes and as long as you learn from them thats all that really matters.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hlatky
    It's not that bad, the sale of your site never went through.

    https://flippa.com/users/438419

    The seller was banned and the money was disputed in Paypal. Hopefully that makes your ordeal better
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  • Profile picture of the author ronaldmd
    Look at the bright side, at least you get the $1400 and a lesson not to make mistakes again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    Been there and done that ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Kupad
    Don't worry. Not only U make this mistake.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrjosco
    It is a learning experience. When I was 18 I had a website that sold vintage clothes. It was my full time job and I made about 30,000 in profit a year. Not a ton, but not bad for an 18 year old. I decided I didn't want to do the business anymore. I didn't sell the site, I just closed it.

    What ignorance of a stupid 18 year old kid. The site was worth something - but I will never know what. I regret it now, but I learned a lot from that mistake (and the many more that followed)
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    • Profile picture of the author aniebee
      Originally Posted by mrjosco View Post

      It is a learning experience. When I was 18 I had a website that sold vintage clothes. It was my full time job and I made about 30,000 in profit a year. Not a ton, but not bad for an 18 year old. I decided I didn't want to do the business anymore. I didn't sell the site, I just closed it.

      What ignorance of a stupid 18 year old kid. The site was worth something - but I will never know what. I regret it now, but I learned a lot from that mistake (and the many more that followed)

      Ok - I think this one wins for biggest -

      Man - it's interesting to hear what everyone has stumbled or failed out along the way - we should have a "Biggest Duh! Moments in IM!" thread
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  • Profile picture of the author nicolas simpson
    ouch that must hurt. after all that work. after all you can go ahead and change those urls to one of yours, the problem now is to make sure the content relates to the site that you are changing them to.

    best regards
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    • Profile picture of the author adamze
      I have had a similar experience a few months ago. One of my PR 2 domains expired as I had a different mail account set up for it, which I forgot about. Someone else snapped it up for flipping. Sold for 250$. Lessons learnt...
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  • Profile picture of the author xxxJamesxxx
    Bummer ain't it. Just learn from your lesson make sure you don't do it again.

    James Scholes
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  • Profile picture of the author cleanerupper
    Everyone has a different view of value. Think of future website valuation like the stock market: some think the value of a certain company will rise, while others believe the same company will lose its value over time. There are tools given to assess value, but it's your job to combine these tools with your experience and make a final decision whether to buy or sell.

    Unfortunately, the most useful experience comes from negative events. Use the experience of this lost Flippa sale to your advantage and it will never happen again. Make sure your next website has a selling price of $2800!
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    • Profile picture of the author kashem
      Thanks for sharing . From your situation , we all have learnt a good lesson .
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  • Profile picture of the author Anang Andriana
    if I were you, I’ll feel so hurt I think, because I’m newbie here, I would try and learn from all of you, thanks for your share.
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  • Profile picture of the author learnrope
    The thread starter Aniebee said in post #1:
    Geez - I feel like SUCH an idiot! OH well, time to change those Ezine URLS!

    I did not think you could unless they were dead links. I believe that Hubpages you can change them, but I can not confirm this.

    In Post #30 above, a gentleman by the name of Nicolous Simpson said :
    after all you can go ahead and change those urls to one of yours, the problem now is to make sure the content relates to the site that you are changing them to.

    Can anyone confirm this action please.
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    • Profile picture of the author learnrope
      Originally Posted by learnrope View Post

      The thread starter Aniebee said in post #1:
      Geez - I feel like SUCH an idiot! OH well, time to change those Ezine URLS!

      I did not think you could unless they were dead links. I believe that Hubpages you can change them, but I can not confirm this.

      In Post #30 above, a gentleman by the name of Nicolous Simpson said :
      after all you can go ahead and change those urls to one of yours, the problem now is to make sure the content relates to the site that you are changing them to.

      Can anyone confirm this action please.
      Anyone have any input on my question here?
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  • Profile picture of the author hgy
    lol ' feel bad for you
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  • Profile picture of the author jaiganeshv
    Time to time ezine will send you emails about dead/broken links did you not fix that time?

    I think the other person was smart IMer
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  • Profile picture of the author KingMedia
    Wow, sometimes it is not the site that makes the money, BUT how valuable it may be to someone else!

    If it makes you feel any better, your old site will get G-slapped due to massive keyword stuffing if and when it gets in front of a Google reviewer.

    Lesson learned. Before I let a site expire I may put it on flippa and see how it goes!
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  • Profile picture of the author tlrix
    Though luck ... $1400 for a crap domain... hehe.. you'll never know ...
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  • Profile picture of the author JustinDupre
    Ouch! That's a really heartbreaking story.
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  • Profile picture of the author 3000
    Really makes me reconsider letting my "junk" sites just die off. Like the saying goes "another man's trash is another man's treasure". Only thing that's holding me back from selling on flippa is transferring all the files to the new owners hosting. I suck at that kinda stuff.
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