Could you tell me whose fault?

[wappy]

Hi, all

I just met a dissension in a domain business. I am not sure about the tradition here. Could you give me some suggestons?

I bought two typo domains from a senior domain name investor/company. The two domains are both the typo of one site. One is www type, so obviously they are typos.

I asked the traffic stats of these two domains. The seller told me there were 4,000 IP/day, and they gained stable revenues from these domains every year. And they also showed me around two weeks of traffice stats, the average was ~3,700 IP/day.

But when I got these two domains, I found that there were only ~1,200 IP/day. It was less than one third from their descriptions.

So I asked them about that. They said they use google for stats. I think they meant google adsense in the original webpages. But I think we know, and also they know, the stats of google is PV, NOT IP. And they said they could give me another three typos of the same website, but I know there should almost no traffic of these three typos.

So I want them to give me some more traffic, or refund all or part. However, they said I bought the domains, not the traffic, so they did not answer for the huge differences of traffic stats. I think it is ridiculous. I know, also they know, these domains are typo, one of them was even www type. If I do not want traffic, why I ask them about that, and buy these domains?

I made my offer depend on their descriptions, now the traffic is much less than their description (only 1/3). Who should answer for this problem? What should I do? I just throw my money away or I am crazy? Could you give me some advices?

Thanks

 

[Biggie]

i think the terms "buyer beware" and "due dilligence" are appropriate here.

if buying typos, you have to consider if the name will endure the test of time or if it's a popular subject/event that will fade soon

also, you need to test traffic if unsure of whom you're buying from or you've never done biz with that person before.


if that seller has other typos of the same site, it's quite possible they could have inflated stats to sell you the one's you bought, by redirecting traffic from others to them.

there are lots of ways to pump stats and a buyer should know what he's in for before sending payment.

one thing stands out though

"However, they said I bought the domains, not the traffic, so they did not answer for the huge differences of traffic stats."

the domains are the traffic or what brings in the traffic, so that statement by them would give me the impression that stats were inflated.

imo...

 

[wappy]

Thanks biggedon.
I did not test the traffic because the seller is really a senior and maybe famous investors. I know that they have a lot big typos. So I choose to trust them.
During the trade, they want use paypal but not escrow, I aslo followed their suggestions. I paid them via paypal directly, and then they push me the domains after paypal was clear.
I never thought they did like that. It is my problem, I should not trust a unfamilier guy.

Thanks

If most of your think the seller should answer for or at least partial answer for this problem, I will tell the seller's company's name and their whois/email here. Is it allowed?

 

[Gregcyber]

I see alot of reported scams posted on these forums.

Before you post... be sure to have true and documented facts.

What you describe is not a total scam, the seller might have had a paid promotion running to get traffic.

 

[draggar]

HOW the traffic is calculated can make a difference.

I had a domain parked with Sedo - it got (according to them) 15-20 hits a day. I moved it to Parked - it went down to 1-2 hits a day.

All I did was change the DNS.

 

[Biggie]

Before you post... be sure to have true and documented facts.

What you describe is not a total scam, the seller might have had a paid promotion running to get traffic.

i agree with first part, but second part...hmmm

if the seller had a promotion running to get traffic, then that should have been divulged as part of "origins of traffic".

when one is buying typos, all traffic is assumed to be type-in.

imo...

 

[katherine]

One problem is that unique visitors are computed differently depending on the parking company. For example Sedo might consider one IP address over a period of 24 hours to be one unique visitor. Others would use 18 hour periods in their calculations etc.
Also some parking companies may allow more than one click from one unique visitors, it does not seem to be the norm though.

Basically there is no standard way of computing UV stats and the stats we get are pretty much useless most of the time.
The best would be to have raw stats and examine them. You may have to host the domain to be able to produce these stats.
Perhaps you could try the same provider (google) for a while and see if you get comparable results.

 

[GAMEFINEST]

research before you buy, if you are not sure what you are doing you will get scammed.

 

[Gregcyber]

research before you buy, if you are not sure what you are doing you will get scammed

I think one reason DNForum.com is so active / read is to offer each other advice to avoid scams.

 

[sashas]

may we know who the domain investor was? a member of DNF?