Income Store, Legit? NO, A SCAM AS WE PREDICTED.

[transient]

Looks like no one is managing them. Some sites which have hosting etc due went down. Others are still online with no active management.

It's a really tough call. On the one hand they are supposed to be owned by the site partners but on the other hand the domains are in IS accounts and the hosting is on IS paid hosting. The receivership does seem to be making minimum required payments to not lose the assets but maintenance is not being done so they are losing value regardless. It's suggested that with ponzi schemes they claw back profits from early people to pay later people who have lost al of their money. If this is the case, the sites would have to be sold in order to distribute the money. That of course opens up the door to lots of lawsuits against the govt. I can't even imagine how they will deal with this without someone getting a bad deal.

 

[MakMac]

So what's going to happen with all those sites now? Who is managing them?
[/QUOTE
Hopefully they go up for sale quickly with any real value converted to funds for the estate and transferred to parties that can realize on their true value.

 

[MakMac]

It's a really tough call. On the one hand they are supposed to be owned by the site partners but on the other hand the domains are in IS accounts and the hosting is on IS paid hosting. The receivership does seem to be making minimum required payments to not lose the assets but maintenance is not being done so they are losing value regardless. It's suggested that with ponzi schemes they claw back profits from early people to pay later people who have lost al of their money. If this is the case, the sites would have to be sold in order to distribute the money. That of course opens up the door to lots of lawsuits against the govt. I can't even imagine how they will deal with this without someone getting a bad deal.

For early sites that were truly purchased with segregated funds and ownership recognized, I think those owners might have a chance at retention. But sites that were in fact purchased with pooled funds...that is pooled assets...became...pooled assets. Most likely they will remain pooled assets and sold for the benefit of the estate...where those pooled assets will be available for most site owners with worthless websites and distributed as part of any limited recovery.

 

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

[MakMac]

Oh boy, this will really screw those early adopters who said this was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now imagine the SEC coming after you and asking for $56,000 you received over the last 3 years.

They are not going to claw back every single payment ever made. While they might have the power, the time and money to recover everything is NOT A WISE investment given the FACTS of where the case is today. While they also might have the power to y of ensure everyone gets 12 cents on the dollar or whatever, the time and money to ensure exact fairness in loss is NOT A WISE investment too.

Think in terms of representative cases / classes of relative degrees of losses:

Class 1: You got a winner site because you were part of the sham...any of those are on the table for complete claw backs. Example....a sales person.

Class 2: You got a winner site because you were in early when they actually did what they said they were doing. IF you recovered 90% of your investment, a case could be made to simple let that rest. If you recovered 150%, then perhaps a case could be made some portion of your win should be clawed back for sharing. OR much more likely, your site is sold for benefit of everyone.

Class 3: You never got a site or got a loser site but got a portion of minimum payments. You fall into the biggest representative class and share on equal terms with any limited recoveries of that class.

Class 4: You never recovered anything. You might fall in a class that recovers a slightly higher percentage than the main class.

You try to nudge the classes closer together.

It was a Ponzi scheme. No one is going to be whole. And everything is not going to be even steven too. Try to get a reasonable plan that gives some recognition to unequal treatment and tries to get MORE equal treatment...while recognizing that the best that can be done in this loser situations...is rough justice among the losers.

Ponzi is loser...everyone a loser...everyone a little recovery...recognizing reality of your position...but not equalizing any position. It just can't be better than that. If you are still grieving....complete that process...and reread.

Good luck!

 

[MakMac]

For a large percentage of sites I'd bet the most prudent action would be to cancel hosting and put the domains to auction. Any other action would likely cost more in paid skills, hosting, etc than they make.

It's all very interesting and challenging. I really don't envy whoever has to sort this out.

Agreed...most sites are losers. The best thing for losers...is stop the bleeding. Pull the plug as you suggest.

WE have heard that there are a few winners. Which might well be a complete lie. If so, pull the plug. But if some site is generating a $100,000 a month. That site might fetch $2,000,000 to $2,500,000 at market. AS you suggest, sell it quickly before lack of attentions further wastes value.

General rule...spend a little time evaluating...and then quickly realize best value on winners...and pull the plug on losers. No reason that shouldn't be done rather quickly other than the need for the court to sign off..but what is judge going to do....hold a hearing...and sign off.

Then you divide the marshaled assets among wrongful winners (full claw back), rightful winners (limited recovery), partial losers (base recovery) and total losers (enhanced recovery). It's not the first Ponzi...probably wont be the last. Terrible process for investors. But once everyone RETURNS to business on FULLY RATIONAL basis...the ONLY way home is not so unclear or complicated.

 

[MohitT]

I have been helping people invest in websites for almost 8 years now. And the Income Store fiasco will definitely hurt the whole industry in general. It's not easy to sell people on money-making websites, and with this, people are gonna be more skeptical. That's the reason I only prefer to work with people who know about this asset class and are comfortable with the risks involved. To others, I just say no.

In short, here is how we go about it:

• We require a minimum investment of $50k from investors and once we have a commitment, my team and I go out scouring suitable deals for them. We do have our in house deal flow as well as I have made friends with a lot of people who actively buy and sell sites.
• We do not give any income guarantee. But what I have seen is that we are able to give a 20-25% annual ROI to our investors, and that's after our management fee.
• You as the investor, own the asset and we are just a management company.
• We have an in house team of 10 full-time people, ranging from editors, writers, SEOs, tech people and general managers. We solely do content sites. No SaaS, no e-com.
• What I have typically seen over the last 7-8 years is that the investors who have invested with us, end up buying more and more sites and building up their portfolio as they get more comfortable with the business model. I think no one (except maybe 1 or 2) has just one site in their portfolio.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to DM me or reply here. Happy to help

 

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

[AllenCrawley]

7.5 years

 

[MJ DeMarco]

7.5 years

That's not why I bumped it (it relates to a similar type of "investment" that was posted here recently that sounds like the Income Store rebooted).

But yea, 7.5 years works too.

Complete with the swarmy smile to guarantee your returns.

Income Store owner sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison for website development fraud that cost investors $92 million

The southwest suburban owner of The Income Store was sentenced to 7 ½ years in federal prison Thursday for a website development fraud scheme that prosecutors say caused hundreds of investors to lose more than $92 million collectively. Kenneth Courtright, 53, who operated the business out of his...

finance.yahoo.com

 

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