Hi, has anyone had experience buying established websites on eBay? I'm evaluating business from home projects with view to buying into something that generates additional income, amongst them established, turnkey websites that only require you to market the website itself. I'm especially interested in these because it states no experience necessary. However I have been told by people who have bought these websites that one is merely buying a template, not an established website. Established websites are supposed to have proof of traffic and/or proof of ability to generate income, as in past record of sales. Furthermore, these disgruntled buyers state that the after sales support is nothing but an after sales pitch of further products. A person with no experience cannot possibly know how to market a website. Apparently marketing a website is quite tricky and optimising it for a Search Engine like Google, which is an essential part of website marketing, does in fact require technical knowledge and good, long term experience. It makes sense that the marketing aspect of a website is far more important than the design, as marketing is what generates website traffic, not the design. Marketing cannot be that easy because a lot of people, experienced people, fail. It's easy to design a website but not that easy to make it profitable. It is probably a very good business for the Seller but not the Purchaser. The Seller designs hundreds of templates every month, saturating the marketing with duplicated businesses under a different name, so the profit margin shrinks with every duplicated template. Sell the Templates, sell the Hosting Plans and... once the poor buyer realises that website marketing requires experience and a lot of dedicated time and effort, sell them marketing tools. The buyer loses all the way, because after all that, there still is no guarantee that the website will generate an income. Sounds like a scam to me!
I would stay away from websites on e-bay. When they say "established" they usually mean it's a website that already exists but we think that "established" meand it's a website already making a certain amount of good money and if we buy the website we will immediately start making the income that this website is already producing. The problem though is why would someone sell a high income producing website unless it really isn't making money or if they have a ton of other websites already making them money and just want to clear out some inventory. But usually these sites are for sale because they are NOT generating income. The income comes from win you buy the website from them. So if I were you I wouldn't waste my time or money with it. Tim
Best thing to do would be to look up the website's traffic stats on Alexa.com - you can also get PR information by installing the Google Tool bar.
Thank you for your guidance. I feel so sorry for the victims, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of them. The so called "after sales" support Forum is like a graveyard, where no-one's talking much. That's why it pains me to see how the Seller, using her own words, brags about flipping sites. http://www.workfromhome-internetbusiness.com/blog/my-income-goal-reached-by-flipping- sites/#comment-149 [Post edited - Admin]
Hi Critique, Actually, it entirely depends upon the expertise of the site shopper. If you really know what you are doing and know how to look for value, you can stumble upon excellent finds. I wouldn't touch it if you don't know much about online marketing and being a webmaster. You should also know your max budget and topic choices (don't consider one unless you know the subject quite well) before you shop. There are a lot of scams out there but they can really only prey on the ignorant for the most part. Though I only create my sites myself, there may come a day when I will purchase a site. I'm perfectly comfortable sizing up a potential purchase. Just make sure you know what you are doing before you even consider looking at sites for sale. Until then, keep a lock on your wallet ~Newbie Shield~
