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fraud, click fraud and revenue statistics

Discussion in 'Domain Name Scams' started by aqls, Mar 5, 2006.

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  1. aqls

    aqls Well-Known Member

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    I expect whilst domain dealing to meet 99% honest dealing.

    I have now bought 4 domains from different people on this forum based at least partly on the traffic and revenue statistics they have given me. (This does not include the domains bought for the "snappiness" or generic relevance value.

    I even paid £x,xxx for one of them.

    100% of these purchases have been in some way fraudulently classified.

    1/ revenue figure mentioned £xx per month, next few days after purchase I got a fair bit of traffic from people on this forum clicking to see it, and one click through - quite possibly again from someone on this forum or from seller.
    Now it has almost no traffic to speak of and zero revenue.

    2/ revenue figure mentioned £xx per day, I paid £x,xxx. Whilst I am getting revenue and traffic, it is less than 1/5 of the quoted £xx per day and I have a feeling it is still being "pumped" to keep it looking ok for a while.

    3/ traffic figure quoted of several xx per day unique visits. Actually 100% are all spiders and bots, probably directed from other pages. Zero person traffic.

    4/ content site offered, subsequently (too late) found to be nicked content. Just domain bought now without content.

    In all these cases I cannot be 100% sure, e.g. I may have different keywords set thereby reducing click throughs, Traffic may have tailed off naturally from some prior marketing effort to when the previous owner bought it.

    i.e. It is not for me to start posting bad deals on people's reputation.

    so.

    I know I have been a bit trusting in this regard, but the lessons are clear.

    ALWAYS get some sort of proof of traffic and revenue - like a screen shot or whatever.

    Don't trust a screen shot or whatever.

    Maybe get them to direct the name to your nameservers for a while so you can see where the traffic is coming from - make sure it's from a diverse range of ips and not all proxies.

    Don't trust your logs or click throughs as even all this can be and is often bludged.

    A long term trend of traffic would be nice to see. If a domain has x traffic and click throughs last October and now in March it has many more and is suddenly making lots of money per day. This is a sure sign that you are not buying natural type-ins, but a result of some sort of SEO, or fraud.

    And comparison with any other domains you already own would give you an impression as to whether the claims were a little high. Given, this is difficult because a slight variation in the domain can make a huge difference.

    Get third party advice on what sort of traffic to expect.

    Maybe a contract that allows for a "redemption" period or guarantee period could be set up and start to become standard, though all this can be useless too as the fraud can continue for as long as the fraudster cares to continue it.

    Large figure domain deals are now priced and justified according to parking traffic figures. Be warned.

    100% bad for me to date.

    -aqls-
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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    IWA Meetup
     
  3. wwwdomain.name

    wwwdomain.name Well-Known Member

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    Great post -AQLS- Newbies take note...

    Please PM me your s**t list so I know who to avoid...
     
  4. rob

    rob Founding Member

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    Name and shame... as you have left positive feedback for other people so assuming this is other deals?
     
  5. aqls

    aqls Well-Known Member

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    Anyone who's got my positive feedback is safe!

    But obviously past behaviour is only a partial guide to the future!!

    -aqls-
     
  6. aqls

    aqls Well-Known Member

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    For the same reasons I haven't given neg ratings, i.e. I cannot be 100% sure.

    I won't be sending neg pms around the place.

    -aqls-
     
  7. rob

    rob Founding Member

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    Nicked content is quite hard and fast , it is a tad worrying that there are 4 dodgy people on here actively selling sites / names :(

    Likewise no domain drops from £xx to zero likewise to a 5th of prior traffic.

    Or it might do :)

    Posting further information could be useful to us all, either domains can drop off legitamately (ie. sellers can show prior stats) or there are some dodgy ba*tards around here :(

    The point of trader ratings etc is so people will not con others as they know they will get found out, I think making this public could be useful for all of us as it will display that people cannot fleece others on Acorn without getting found out.

    Just my 10p :)
     
  8. retired_member27

    retired_member27 Retired Member

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    I agree with rob, use the negative feedback on the Domain Trader Rating if you know you have been conned, it will help us as well to avoid them.

    There will always be fluctuations in traffic but never as much as what you have mentioned, does seem dodgy to me especially if the domain is priced specifically on times revenue.
     
  9. SF

    SF Well-Known Member

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    If it was a traffic name you was buying aqls - Then it should be a traffic name now? :confused:

    Its actualy possible to sell a domain name without giving a single scrap of traffic or revenue infomation, I have done that for the past 3 years right up until a month ago, although out of my 700 domain names there are a couple which get high volumes of traffic, and to sell them would now be on that basis!

    So.. If you did buy on revenue or traffic, and the domain name is really not performing as it should, you should definitely let us know who these people are so that we are atleast aware of what to expect, or not to expect in future tradings.

    I would suggest that if anybody is to sell a domain name of NameDrive.co.uk then a simple email to ED would certainly confrim traffic/revenue? I dont think Ed would mind at all, although I am not a 100% sure. :???: That would be something I would do anyway, providing the domain name was sold on traffic basis
     
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  10. Mendis

    Mendis Member

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    Duly noted. I'm learning. Thankyou for the warning aqls
     
  11. paymatters United Kingdom

    paymatters Active Member

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    MAbe do a table showing stats quoted and actual stats and who owned domain originally? i.e. keep it factual and then others can make up thir own minds?
     
  12. retired member 1

    retired member 1 Retired Member

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    If buying a domain purely on the basis of traffic (Usually higher traffic and the x,xxx domains) and you do not know or have dealt with this person in the past a 3 day paid traffic test is the way to go.

    If the seller has nothing to hide then they shouldn't object to this.
     
  13. charlie United Kingdom

    charlie Well-Known Member

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    between optimizing the domain for parking, dealing with enquiries
    and looking for the next purchase as well as the day job I dont know where anyone finds time to do some extra clicks! :D

    I find traffic a mystery all the time - some domains of mine get nothing the whole month then 2 days of 100 hits a day - odd. Anything sub 5 is normall nettrends or some other search type engine. Personally i use "top referers" stats as a better guide. Even if you only get one or two links - a least you know is a quality referal and the type of traffic a domain is getting eg: if the link is from bigtits.com you know what they're looking for :D
     
  14. 3cats

    3cats Active Member

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    Very odd, isn't it. I had one name that did literally nothing, then for 2 days pulled in something like 85 uniques a day (only 1 click, though). Then, after that, back to nothing. Spooky!

    Also, another name was earning me about 1.50 a day and then the traffic just stops. It wasn't a gradual decline or anything. I'm lucky if I get 0.10 a day on it now.

    Ah, the delights of domain parking! :p
     
  15. forcefulone

    forcefulone Member

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    Never "trust" any ONE stat when buying traffic. Look at the objective stats first like Overture with extension, alexa, see where its linked by searching for the whole domain in google, etc., etc. Then see if they're Kosher.

    A domain with a high alexa and really no or low overture with extension is a red flag.

    This is a good easy to read article about how to buy traffic:

    http://www.namenewbie.com/How_to_Find_Money-Making_Domains.html

    Looks at all the basics and tells you what each score is worth.
     
  16. stender United Kingdom

    stender Well-Known Member

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    I can see one issue with reporting traffic. An example is.....
    I post on several forums to do with a catagory, and I have 2 or 3 of my parked domains in my signatures on those forums. I get quite a lot of traffic from doing this and hence could sell them as traffic domains.

    I then sell said domains, and take them out of my signature and hey presto traffic disappears.

    Could this not be a reason?

    p.s. It wan't me aqls is referring to. I haven't dealt with anyone yet! :(
     
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