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First Flippa Transaction - am I going to get scammed?

by profitseeker129
27 replies
I'm very close to buying a site on flippa. It is site that sells some niche software (though there is competition) and promotes with google PPC. He is claiming about 6% convert rate, which sounds high, but the site looks good and is pretty convincing, and he claims to have a very unique adwords campaign, so it may well be possible.

Have been in contact with the seller re: terms of sale. I'm very new to this (have never had a transaction on flippa before) and have asked him a bunch of questions about the business (and received a bunch of responses) but only ever via private messages.

I am a little scared about getting ripped off. What can I do to make it a fair transaction? I asked to screen share to prove the business is real (see paypal transactions, emails from customers, etc). He didn't want to do this at first as he has provided screenshots and a video but now has sort of given in.

Anyways, I'm really looking for some advice from some experienced members here on if the following sounds like a typical, fair, non-scam way to do this deal or if there are any real risks for me. The way he wants to do it:


1- I put my money in escrow, or send to his paypal email.
2- After money is secured, we do a 1 minute screenshare, where I am not allowed to touch the mouse or click on anything on my pc or screen. I will be shown the TRANSACTIONS as he shows them in the screenshots, for the month of November. I will get to see the list of transactions, and name of the people who purchased. Nothing else will be clicked or shown a part of that. He says "I have been more than honest and open about this, and you keep asking for more." -- I don't want to be intrusive but want to make sure I'm safe

He then says:
"
Without the funds secured, so that I can see how serious you are about it, then I cannot proceed otherwise. After the screenshare is done, you would get the website files, adwords campaign, contact information for [other person involved]. After the money is released from escrow (or if paid in payPal, after money withdrawal shows as COMPLETED), I will push the domain name to you."

Is this a fair and typical way to do this kind of transaction? Am I risking losing my money or getting scammed or am I overthinking it? I just don't want to be left in the dark here and have heard some bad stories from flippa. Otherwise, I really like the business and want to buy it.


Would really appreciate any help from more seasoned flippa users!
#buy #escrow #flippa #scam #scammed #transaction
  • Profile picture of the author russflex
    Escrow is definitely better for the buyer than Paypal. At least with Escrow, the funds don't get released to the seller until you tell them you are satisfied with what you bought.

    You should post up a link to this auction so I can see the details. I can usually tell just from the auction description if it is a scam or not. A lot of sellers on Flippa claim to have established websites and then it turns out there is no traffic. Then their excuse is that the buyer has to do the marketing themselves to get the traffic. Well you could do that with any site, like one that is new. They usually use commercial quality web templates to make the site look nice. But be very careful about any claimed revenue. Very rarely is there a legitimate site with revenue up for auction.
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  • Profile picture of the author profitseeker129
    Thanks a lot for your reply. Here's the auction. I don't have the "power" to post links or send PMs yet, so I have it as text below with an "a" in front of the https. Very interested to know what you think.

    ahttps://flippa.com/2667196-1600-month-lucrative-iphone-unlock-business-for-sale-must-see
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  • Profile picture of the author profitseeker129
    Note I'm paying almost entirely for the revenue/established business, and in this case not much traffic is really claimed since there isn't much SEO/organic stuff and sales are admittedly being driven by PPC. Also according to alexa this site ranks 721,000th.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anthony W
    Use escrow and try to find out the exact adwords strategy. Make sure he's not using multiple accounts to increase his profit margins. I got scammed with that before.
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    • Profile picture of the author profitseeker129
      He's basically told me that he will not show me the adwords strategy until I pay up. He says I could just go copy him and then his site would be damaged. I do understand where he is coming from there-- in my correspondance with the seller he seems almost as worried about me screwing him as the other way around.

      Overall, this may sound a little too good to be true, but I hate to miss out on a great opportunity if there is one. Does anyone know roughly what % of flippa transactions are legit vs scams? Can any other veterans chime in?

      Thanks a lot for the answers so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hlatky
    I would NOT go through with this transaction myself. There are hundreds of these iPhone unlocking sites on Flippa and they all promise the same thing.

    You have to ask yourself, why would he sell something that is making $1600 per month for only $1300?

    But, if you do decide to purchase the website, you NEED to go through Escrow to severely limit the chance that you get scammed. Like I mentioned above, I would definitely avoid this site.
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    • Profile picture of the author Newbieee
      Originally Posted by Mike Hlatky View Post

      why would he sell something that is making $1600 per month for only $1300?
      1 word, scam.

      simple.

      another?

      fraud..
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
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    Well, I was just going to say don't buy it, and if you do, absolutely use Escrow.com, but I see that it has been sold. These iPhone unlock sites are all over Flippa and they all seem to make $1600/mnth for some reason.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Cohen
    I see its been sold i would be interested to know if you purchased it and if the transaction went OK
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  • Profile picture of the author profitseeker129
    FYI: Hasn't been sold yet to me-- I never placed a bid but the winning bidder is taking an extra day to get his money together. The seller offered me the chance to beat the winning bidder to it, since I'd been asking him lots of questions about the business and said I'd make an offer under the right conditions. I have no obligation to buy.

    Really appreciating the feedback. What do you look for in a solid flippa deal (or is there no such thing)?
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  • Profile picture of the author Seth Bias
    I say do not buy it. Always put it in your head if its to good to be true it prob is. Check all the other listings for those iphone websites all making $1,600 a month... why would you sell a site like that if it was true? And for less than its making monthly. Buyer beware.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    Originally Posted by profitseeker129 View Post

    The way he wants to do it:

    1- I put my money in escrow, or send to his paypal email.
    2- After money is secured, we do a 1 minute screenshare, where I am not allowed to touch the mouse or click on anything on my pc or screen. I will be shown the TRANSACTIONS as he shows them in the screenshots, for the month of November. I will get to see the list of transactions, and name of the people who purchased. Nothing else will be clicked or shown a part of that.
    Unfortunately this much info does not tell you what he is spending to get the traffic that produces the sales. If you don't have access to that, it's easy for the claimed profit to be a wild exaggeration. (sigh)
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  • Profile picture of the author blillard
    Man you find them sites all day on DP at a fraction of what they push for on flippa.
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    • Profile picture of the author IMHopeful
      Originally Posted by blillard View Post

      Man you find them sites all day on DP at a fraction of what they push for on flippa.
      Isn't that the truth... $14.99 all day long!
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  • Profile picture of the author profitseeker129
    Thanks for these comments. I held off.
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    • Profile picture of the author CarmenDA
      It seems like a scam to me. Perhaps these sellers are creating fake "buyers" to make the sites seem more desirable then they should be.

      I know people who do that on ebay. They bid on their own stuff.
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      • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
        I've been making a few videos on Flippa "auction" sites and I will share with you one rule of thumb. If you cannot bring targeted traffic to the site on your own, don't spend a lot of money on it.

        Essentially, when you consider purchasing a site, you are actually buying traffic. If you can't verify the quality of traffic, then you have none. Buy the site only for it's graphic files and domain name - SOLELY! Not on any supposed traffic. Offer a bid based on this alone - not traffic and not supposed income.

        Anyone selling a traffic endowed site should be able to provide you AMPLE proofs of traffic since this IS what they are selling.

        You can't trust any of the rankings since most of them are manipulated using bluefart methods.

        For first time buyers on Flippa, I suggest bidding on any little no traffic site you can use within your marketing scheme. Or one with a product included that you may want for yourself anyway (or modify to make a unique product - or get emails) and don't worry about winning the auction or not. What you want is to win one (easy to do) and see how that transaction goes - this is for learning purposes.

        After your first, you will feel more confident and learn so much about what to expect, etc.
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        • Profile picture of the author no1golfpro
          Thanks for this solid advice. I have been spending a lot of time on Flippa looking for cash flow sites. I had not thought specifically about the traffic angle, but I will now.

          Originally Posted by professorrosado View Post

          I've been making a few videos on Flippa "auction" sites and I will share with you one rule of thumb. If you cannot bring targeted traffic to the site on your own, don't spend a lot of money on it.

          Essentially, when you consider purchasing a site, you are actually buying traffic. If you can't verify the quality of traffic, then you have none. Buy the site only for it's graphic files and domain name - SOLELY! Not on any supposed traffic. Offer a bid based on this alone - not traffic and not supposed income.

          Anyone selling a traffic endowed site should be able to provide you AMPLE proofs of traffic since this IS what they are selling.

          You can't trust any of the rankings since most of them are manipulated using bluefart methods.

          For first time buyers on Flippa, I suggest bidding on any little no traffic site you can use within your marketing scheme. Or one with a product included that you may want for yourself anyway (or modify to make a unique product - or get emails) and don't worry about winning the auction or not. What you want is to win one (easy to do) and see how that transaction goes - this is for learning purposes.

          After your first, you will feel more confident and learn so much about what to expect, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
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      Originally Posted by profitseeker129 View Post

      Thanks for these comments. I held off.
      Good move. His violation of Apple's trademark was reason enough to hold off. Can't tell you how many dummies I've seen pay several thousand dollars for sites that were violating trademark. $10 is one thing; $$thousands is a whole different ballgame.
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    I have been burned before, and right now I am taking a guy to court for over $1000 that ripped me off so consider that a warning. Like can you take him to court? Will he sign a contract in front of you? It is a good idea to know how the law work if you decide to sue.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brock Irish
    Yea dont get scammed you really need to do the research before hand. If anything seems iffy or shady then don't commit.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ben Gordon
    I would not go ahead and purchase the website. It is a very risky business, especially because it is illegal meaning apple can screw you any time they want. Also, there are tons of businesses on Flippa via iphone unlocking and it is a very saturated niche which is another reason as to why you shouldn't purchase the website.

    I would suggest investing more but getting a true lucrative business and making sure it is legitimate. Usually these businesses go for about 8x their monthly profit. If you're looking into a great long term financial business, then that is the way to go.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicelife
    It's incredible how many scammers there are selling websites on Flippa and many of them seem to be very successful in selling their websites.

    They are ruining it for the honest guys by scamming the buyers :-(
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
    When I was a newbie I was also scammed for a $1,000 dollar site I bough on Flippa. I thought I did my work and looked up the "exellent" feed back this guy had plus the earning stats for the website seem to be "legit" Not much I could do since this guy lives in Australia. Flippa was of no help. When I contacted Paypal they told me that it was an "intangible" purchase so there was nothing they could do.

    I really do wish that Flippa would have the integrity to weed out all of these scam websites. Like someone else mentioned - these sites claiming to earn the magical number of $1600 monthly are popping up all over - and they're being sold for $1500?? Okay I guess Flippa doesn't see anything wrong with this.

    I am in the IM game for the long run but I will seriously think of posting a site of value for sale of Flippa or even buy one when I have been burned before. Flippa could have gotten a lot more money from me but instead they chose to partake in this scam game.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Chicas
    On a more positive note I've known people who've gotten a lot more money on eBay than they would have gotten on Flippa (from his experience). And the websites sold from anywhere of half a million to close to a million. So Flippa is not the only flashy game in town.
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  • Profile picture of the author scrupio
    I think Flippa is overrated. If its a legitimate business and you have some solid numbers you'll get way more hits if posting on bizbuysell.com
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    • Profile picture of the author professorrosado
      Sometimes people post things that belong in the VIP lounge. I'm just economy.

      Flippa is NOT big on high end sales - it can be, but most serious sites are steering away from it because of all the low end bottom feeders. However, I don't see why you can't have bottom, middle and top feeders in the Flippa sea.

      We can't limit ourselves or websites just to one level or layer. Flippa is being judged by the plentiful low end interchanges. But anyone can check the stats on Flippa and see that there are high end sales happening all the time.

      Flippa is not overrated just overly misjudged, misused and grossly under appreciated.

      What would be nice is to see some warriors post their mid-range purchase or sales experiences on this thread or if there are threads already on WF of this genre to point us to them.
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