Buying "traffic domains"? - stats/screenshots you rely on might be fabricated !

[greenlake]

When buying domains based on traffic revenue, a few months stats screenshots are used by sellers to prove revenue. I recently lost large amount of money to "stats scam" I would like other members to be aware of.
Bought few domains from a seller based on 2-3 months screenshots he provided, kept them parked exactly where seller had them, but noticed that revenue WAS NOT EVEN HALF of what seller showed. I contacted both parking companies and both told me (in writing) that the screenshots seller provided had been altered/fabricated, basically false.
My account manager at the parking company said the way to avoid such scam is to have the seller give permission to parking company to send screenshots/stats directly to buyer.

 

[Jeffreyw]

I will never buy "traffic domains" anymore. Most of the are inflated.

I bought a domain that the seller said it gets 200 visits a month. He was selling it for 20$, but i offered 8$. He sold it to me for 8$. The domain doesnt even get 50 visits a month.

I only buy at drop domain sites.

 

[fab]

My account manager at the parking company said the way to avoid such scam is to have the seller give permission to parking company to send screenshots/stats directly to buyer.

That's a great idea!

 

[gingeman]

The scum who inflate stats are basically stealing money through fraud. If all parking companies had a system where you could provide a password to a potential buyer so that they could see the stats for a particular name/time period in your portfolio the practice could be eradicated. (Similar to enom allowing you to set a password to give others access to a particular domain you have registered there)

 

[shiffy]

The scum who inflate stats are basically stealing money through fraud. If all parking companies had a system where you could provide a password to a potential buyer so that they could see the stats for a particular name/time period in your portfolio the practice could be eradicated. (Similar to enom allowing you to set a password to give others access to a particular domain you have registered there)

Thats a great idea, similar to google analytics where you can add a user to "view reports only".

 

[David G]

An even more common negative than false screenshots is accurate screenshots but the traffic depicted in the screenshot is not valuable or the stats are simply misstated. Often it is the result of proxy traffic. In addition sometimes a seller will offer a partial screenshot or post traffic stats where for example hits are counted as uniques and there may be say 20 images and other content on the page so 10 genuine visits counts as 200.

I have purchased quite a few names here as a result of being mislead by either proxy traffic or misstated stats. In a recent case the seller posted (and offered a confusing screenshot from Sedo) regarding the hits vs uniques example because he honestly did not know the difference himself and even after I educated him and gave him the genuine stats he still did not believe it was so and said I must be the one who is confused. He simply did not understand the issue.

The best solution is to ask seller to change dns for a few days to our own dns but the problem is some sellers don't like doing that, don't know how, or get upset if after the test you decide to not buy it.

 

[Sonny Banks]

I see everyday fake Adsense screenshots also.

 

[Tia Wood]

My account manager at the parking company said the way to avoid such scam is to have the seller give permission to parking company to send screenshots/stats directly to buyer.

What about scammers who pump and dump their sites?

 

[britishbulldog]

Yeah buy your traffic pump it then dump.......it happens many times on sedo,i think the best way is to test the domain yourself before you buy ! but you get this on websites as well as domains.........

 

[greenlake]

I would suggest members stay away from go1llc who is the guy who stole thousands of $ from me by fabricating screenshots.

The seller/scammer/fraudster is : andrzej wegrzyn . He is from Brooklyn, NeW York

his email is : [email protected]

He fabricated/falsified stats of Domainsponsor and BODIS.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

I would suggest members stay away from go1llc who is the guy who stole thousands of $ from me by fabricating screenshots.

The seller/scammer/fraudster is : andrzej wegrzyn . He is from Brooklyn, NeW York

his email is : [email protected]

He fabricated/falsified stats of Domainsponsor and BODIS.

This kind of shocks me. I do not know Matt or his brother personally but have done a little biz with him and everything was always ok.

Care to elaborate on what he sold and fabricated?

 

[Focus]

Definitely would like to know more details on this one, please Pm me if you cant post

 

[greenlake]

This kind of shocks me. I do not know Matt or his brother personally but have done a little biz with him and everything was always ok.

Care to elaborate on what he sold and fabricated?

noticing his trader rating on DNF I did not have reason to suspect him.
I did not intend to mention his brother Matt , but since you did that, I would like to say that Matt and his company (BODIS.COM) are in no way involved. Matt has been trying to help me solve this with his brother ( who is not associated with Matt's business or with Bodis) and is mad at him, but so far we could not get Andrew (go1llc) to even acknowledge what he did.
Matter of fact - Matt/Bodis confirmed to me IN WRITING that the Bodis stats/screenshots Andrew provided me were fabricated and untrue. Matt even gave me access to the original/real stats which showed revenue was NOT EVEN HALF of what Andrew showed me.
Both me and Matt tried to convince Andrew to take back the domains and return the money he stole. However - he is not returning call or emails anymore.
Domainsponsor also confirmed to me that their screenshots/stats were untrue, basically fabricated by him.
He sold me 3 domains, but since they might also have TM issue (of which I was aware when buying) I'd rather list them here.

 

[TheLegendaryJP]

Wow very sorry to hear this and glad to hear Matt was not involved.

Not sure what to say besides hopefully Matt can help you out and get it resolved.

 

[yue]

Unbelievable... We have bought 4 domains from Andy in 2008. Smooth deal, no problems.

I think Andy should come to give a explain.

 

[tetrapak]

That is shocking indeed. Before I've read the whole story, I was saying to myself that the buyer should have only bought from reputable member, and there you go.. I myself would always let a buyer ask for traffic stats from my parking companies, or give the analytics visitor login, especially if I get a better price.

 

[mike031]

.....just found out i was doing an escrow.com transaction with this scammer

Buyer: Andrzej Wegrzyn ([email protected])

he contacted me via dnf: http://www.dnforum.com/member-ydnaemsti.html

the username ydnaemsti reversed is its me andy

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for pointing that out Mike. I will get rid of him

Chuck

 

[David G]

I recently purchased a name here with false traffic stats which were wrong by a huge amount :veryangry:

 

[silentg]

I only buy traffic domains that are dropped. If you're going to buy a traffic domain then ask the seller to list the domain on Sedo for a week so you can get an idea of traffic.