Buyer Beware When Purchasing a Web Site or ……

Posted on | September 19, 2009 | 1 Comment

We see a lot of websites dedicated to telling people how to make money online.

As entrepreneurs we understand this concept completely however feel that most of the persons who are newly un-employed are not exactly able to do this quick enough to replace their old salary.

In reality most websites don’t make much money at all. As entrepreneurs we have bought and sold website businesses’ but it is not that easy.

This is an area where “Buyer Beware” must be highlighted.

It is very easy for someone with very little “internet operating” experience to be fooled.

There are many less than honest persons who will sell you a website claiming it makes thousands of dollars a week or month or whatever and it’s on autopilot and you don’t have to do a thing.

Wrong. All the claims about (all you have to do is be able to check your email) is BS.

Please remember the old saying; if it sounds too good, it is.

All businesses must be treated as such, run as such and the internet is no different.

If you are considering buying an internet based business great, however PLEASE use a fine tooth comb when looking at the details of traffic and income and make sure it is not fabricated.

Ok so what do we mean fabricated?

There are many out there who can make an income statement look very official, especially to someone coming in from an outside industry, you/we tend to be a little gullible.

As promised on our home page here is an exact example.

Four years ago we were looking to expand our business holdings and decided to venture into the world wide web, after all it was the future, geeze look at how Google was doing…..

We were looking at all the different websites with “websites for sale” and reading articles etc and doing our homework.

At the time we owned a large landscaping company as well as multifamily real estate investments so we were looking for something different and found the Google Adsense model.

Seemed interesting and easy enough as our first web business to get our feet wet so I identified a business that was for sale based on the adsense model; the numbers looked good and we spoke to the seller who seemed ok enough…

I am experienced in buying businesses however I was in Florida so I drew up a contract and had the seller who was in Ohio sign it and even had a copy of his SS Number and Drivers License.

I thought this was safe. But it wasn’t, I made a big mistake which changed me forever.

I gave the seller a deposit to show my good faith, which I was used to doing with a “Brick and Mortar” type business.

Never saw my $7,000.00 deposit again.

Found out I was one of many people scammed by the same couple.

Remember the names Carl and Amanda Newlin. They are wanted by many including the authorities.

I sued in court and won a judgment against them for what they claimed in our contract we would make over a 5 year period. And the collection agencies are still hunting them, but it taught us a lesson.

The internet is not like other businesses at all.

And believe me not only for this episode; as we will go into details about other internet businesses we have been involved with.

Some very good and some not so good

This brief example only demonstrates how brazen some are out there, and how they can hide behind their computer screens.

White collar crime is big so beware; even those who are selling their own website may not exactly be out to rip people off……..but manage to twist the truth o meter a little when it comes to making claims of income.

As always we’ll have a lot more on this as we go along and feel free to email with any questions as we’ll be happy to help.