I bought some magic beans

[JEdwards]

Don't listen to MJ, Your idea is brilliant.. Keep at it..

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Amail]

You're right, until MJ demonstrates he understands internet business I'll take his opinions with a grain of salt.

 

[CryptO]

Why would you want to salvage a FN turd?

The site is worthless. Even the domain is worthless.

It's a typical "money chasing" site created with a bunch of overstuffed keyword articles in hopes to earn a few bucks from AdSens3. It took me 2.5 seconds to realize this was one of the many thousands of BS sites designed to arbitrage ad revenue - in other words, it's a site that's useless and should result in an immediate "BACK" or "Close Browser" user reaction.

Where's the NEED? Where? There is none except for your own personal need to make money.

And your reaction is to throw more GOOD money (and time) after BAD? IMO, don't make a bad decision worse.

You're trying to build a structure on swampland and asking "Should I use STEEL or WOOD?" -- WTF does it matter? You're foundation is crap and whether you follow with steel or wood is irrelevant.

Consider the $900 well spent in a multi-experiential case of obtaining wisdom: Due diligence, site metrics, scams, and most important, acquiring something that should have a solid need.

My cold hard opinion.

Hallelujah!!!

I wanted to say something similar but I don't think I am in a position to yet.

(sorry Amail but it is surely for you own good!)

Speed +

 

[Amail]

MJ, thanks for the considered opinion. It was well and truly a money chasing exercise, and lack of any due diligence burned me good.

I appreciate the dissenting view, especially considering the source. This would be a waste of time better spent developing other pursuits, and I've got a couple ideas I'm working on that would benefit from the additional effort.

So, I think the magic beans turns out to be nothing more than just beans.

PS - if anyone wants to do something useful with this domain, let me know.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Likwid24]

I see this being worth it for a number of reasons. Mainly because you learned not to chase money, not to get scammed like that again and a number of web building skills. Some may look at it as a failure, but I see it as a success if you learned from your mistakes. The only way to truly learn is to fail first. It's a blessing in disguise.

 

[alanchavez]

You're right, until MJ demonstrates he understands internet business I'll take his opinions with a grain of salt.

I'm not sure if that was sarcastic or not. MJ started the limos.com site, isn't he? So I'm pretty sure he understands internet business pretty well.

 

[yahdmon]

This reply made me laugh out loud... classic reply, shows you not only have a sense of humor but you have mucho kahonas too. You will succeed.

You're right, until MJ demonstrates he understands internet business I'll take his opinions with a grain of salt.

Ok -- now thankfully you have learned from this.

You can use the experience to your benefit. Happy to see you were neither shy nor ashamed to share your experience and it has served us well so the monies invested have not gone to waste. It shows us what we ought not to do and also what the common return to money-chasing is.

Now, hunker down and start the process to fastlane millions.

Stop trying to jump to and cut corners so you can have the experience and benefits of the event.

It works sometimes but the cost of trying cut out the process is always costly and generally not worth it... as such, for you Amail, for the rest of the year, your new word shall be P R O C E S S.

Work it and when you have gotten to your eventual "event", we will all gladly celebrate with you because, after all, we all know your path.

Best to you.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[andviv]

Well, I think it is settled then.

However....

You have a family member who is about to enter the workforce in this field.

Have her write a lot of articles.

and have her create a page in Wordpress with her resume.

Have her post all her links to her linkedin and facebook profiles.

She could take this domain and make it a great way to build her resume and establish herself as an expert online.

just saying....

 

[kwerner]

I think he meant that sarcastically boss.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I think he meant that sarcastically boss.

I deleted my comment -- my bad.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Amail]

MJ - no disrespect intended whatsoever. For a self-proclaimed communication zealot I sure step in it sometimes!

 

[Amail]

Thanks yahdmon. I'm glad you pulled the lessons from this failure - that's exactly why I posted it.

 

[CryptO]

Just to tell you about my own little experience with .info domain names

I once owned FinancialBusiness.Info

I thought I'd struck gold LMAO

Guess how much I got for it in auction on Ebay?

$2 pathetic dollars!

It is for sale right now on SEDO. I think the seller who bought it from me wants $500

.info's in general are very low value

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CommonCents]

how bout putting together an ebook, "how to not get ripped off on flippa".

 

[Amail]

Ha! Yeah, there's a need! Maybe I'd call it "Magic Beans".

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Consider the $900 well spent in a multi-experiential case of obtaining wisdom: Due diligence,

I'm glad you pulled the lessons from this failure - that's exactly why I posted it.

From the scammer's perspective, do you see how HE SCAMMED you?

He portrayed value, or in this case, misrepresented value. Scammers can only scam if they misrepresent value and let greed take over. If the site was indeed earning $450/mo and you paid $900, then YES, it was a good deal.

But one might ask, if I'm earning $450/mo, why would I sell this income stream at way below it's market's value? An average multiple on web properties is usually around 2X net YEARLY income ... had you known this, you'd would have recognized "too good to be true" and passed.

What most people fail to understand is this: Greed is a two party transaction: 1) The scammer's GREED for money and 2) the victim's greed (desire) to secure an incredible value.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Amail]

Let's really drill down here.

How the sale was represented

1. "Verified" income of ~$450/mo (screenshots of Infolinks earnings)
2. Demonstrated ranking for certain keywords
3. Dismissal of previous failed sales as "Deadbeat buyers"
4. Since it was my first auction, he actually denied my bid due to insufficient feedback. I had to plead my case to him.

Signs I should have recognized immediately

1. Claims of no Google analytics analysis
2. Big yellow Yield sign by auction
3. Claimed income versus Buy It Now price way too high
4. Proclamations of "No Escrow Allowed" on this sale

Due diligence failures on my part

1. Did not investigate seller's feedback
2. Did not evaluate keyword relevance
3. Did not confirm originality of content
4. Did not realize I couldn't dispute the sale with PayPal because it was an intangible goods sale

This was a classic example of letting greed get the better of me. I had no interest in "building a valuable site" - I wanted the easy $450/mo. I was blinded by the income statements (which were very credible - normal distribution around a slowly growing trend) and let that affect my judgement. I had never bid on websites before, so I really didn't know what I was getting in to. Being unfamiliar with Flippa, I didn't understand the feedback system. Finally, I figured the "It's too good to be true" argument was moot because I could dispute the sale with PayPal if it turned out to be fraudulent.

These were my immediate lessons from this debacle. If I were to "Get back on the horse", I would look for websites that actually offer value, make verifiable claims, seller has good and deep feedback history, and use an escrow service. Since this was really just a lark and was never my long-term goal, I won't be getting back on this horse soon. It's proved to be too much of a time, money, and energy sink. Perhaps another time.

 

[Mike39]

Let's really drill down here.

How the sale was represented

1. "Verified" income of ~$450/mo (screenshots of Infolinks earnings)
2. Demonstrated ranking for certain keywords
3. Dismissal of previous failed sales as "Deadbeat buyers"
4. Since it was my first auction, he actually denied my bid due to insufficient feedback. I had to plead my case to him.

Signs I should have recognized immediately

1. Claims of no Google analytics analysis
2. Big yellow Yield sign by auction
3. Claimed income versus Buy It Now price way too high
4. Proclamations of "No Escrow Allowed" on this sale

Due diligence failures on my part

1. Did not investigate seller's feedback
2. Did not evaluate keyword relevance
3. Did not confirm originality of content
4. Did not realize I couldn't dispute the sale with PayPal because it was an intangible goods sale

This was a classic example of letting greed get the better of me. I had no interest in "building a valuable site" - I wanted the easy $450/mo. I was blinded by the income statements (which were very credible - normal distribution around a slowly growing trend) and let that affect my judgement. I had never bid on websites before, so I really didn't know what I was getting in to. Being unfamiliar with Flippa, I didn't understand the feedback system. Finally, I figured the "It's too good to be true" argument was moot because I could dispute the sale with PayPal if it turned out to be fraudulent.

These were my immediate lessons from this debacle. If I were to "Get back on the horse", I would look for websites that actually offer value, make verifiable claims, seller has good and deep feedback history, and use an escrow service. Since this was really just a lark and was never my long-term goal, I won't be getting back on this horse soon. It's proved to be too much of a time, money, and energy sink. Perhaps another time.

This might be frowned upon but you could try and sell it to someone else using the same process, maybe charge less for the site but at least then you get some of your money back... i know, that's bad to think that haha

 

[Amail]

The only person I'd feel comfortable selling this site to is the guy who sold it to me. I doubt he's interested.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Bruce]

From what I read so far I wouldn't bother trying to continue polishing the turd. Just take this experience as a expensive lesson.

I suggest you take Mike's advice and sell it off WITHOUT deceiving anyone. Sell for it's real value.

 

[Amail]

You know what, I just might post this on Flippa, complete with full disclosure of its shortcomings. I'd put this up there with a summary of my buying experience, a warning of what seller to be wary of, and a roadmap of how to avoid a scam. I wonder what the response would be.

I need to review Flippa's TOS.

 

[kurtyordy]

The only advantage I would see to polishing the turd would be that if you can learn to polish a turd, you darn well can learn to polish a diamond. You could learn some nice seo lessons here if you attack this, but not sure if it the financial reward on this site will be worth it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[socaldude]

But one might ask, if I'm earning $450/mo, why would I sell this income stream at way below it's market's value? An average multiple on web properties is usually around 2X net YEARLY income ... had you known this, you'd would have recognized "too good to be true" and passed.

If you do the math thats a price to earnings ratio of 0.16! If you were investing in a stock; alarms should have been going off like crazy.

The S&P 500 is currently trading at almost 95 times the price to earning of your purchase!

I'm sorry you had to throw $900 down the toilet. Thats a lot of money. That sucks. But consider it a lesson learned.

Hopefully your focus shifts to being what I call a "Michelangelo of Economic Resources(The inputs to producing products/services)" or a Value Producing Entrepreneur. Your goal is to mold the clay of economic resources into a masterpiece that all men can benefit from AKA an Entrepreneur.

Capital and Economic Resources are the main weapons in the Entrepreneurs arsenal. And this is how wealth is created. THIS is how the standard of living advances in a country. The incredible standard of living we experience is today is the direct result of VALUE minded Entrepreneurs. NOT money minded Entrepreneurs. THIS is what Adam Smith called the: Wealth of Nations. Great read, I recommend it.

I know I sound like a castigating jerk but I think this is more help than harm.


I'm Currently in college and I was at the library about 2 months ago and I found this great essay from this noble prize winning economist who STRAIGHT up PROVED mathematically that WEALTH(individual wealth and society wealth) CANNOT be created without RESOURCES(then converted into goods/services). Then I reflected to myself after the reading: Does MONEY have anything to do with wealth creation? F*ck NO!!! The molding of economic resources by entrepreneurs into goods/services NEEDED by society AKA consumers creates wealth!! AKA VALUE!!!

I always say to my Wantrepreneur friends(i have plenty of them) that focusing on money/money chasing is like cheating on your wife(the market). You usually end up losing BOTH your money(your mistress) and the markets approval(your wife). LMAO

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Bump.