You bring up some great points but I didn’t include due diligence because if you read this post, you’ll notice step 1 starts with the buyer and seller agreeing to a deal. In other words, the assumption is the buyer has already done all the due diligence and wants to buy the site. For the purpose of this series on how to buy and sell websites, I wanted to concentrate strictly on the deal itself – as in what the exact steps are after you agree to a deal.

I have written a couple posts about due diligence, however, and will have more coming in the near future.

Thanks,

Travis

Thanks for your usually valuable material.

Another important set of steps that need to be included in a four part (not three part) series about how to build a web site is how can the buyer perform the proper due diligence so that they know for sure that they are not getting scammed because the screen shots have been faked. Or the seller has set up a traffic driving system prior to selling so that the amount of traffic is essentially real but at the same time phony since it is not passive organic traffic. These kinds of things need to be covered also since the buyer knowing how to do due diligence on an expensive site protects the buyer from a not so honest seller. Thanks for including these kind of things in your three part series and perhaps you will need to make it a four part series if you include covering this ESSENTIAL STUFF.

With much respect and appreciation of you, Marvin

Glad you enjoyed the post! There is more good stuff to come – for both newbies and experienced flippers alike;)

As to your question, you have limited protection with PayPal. PayPal offers two different kinds of programs to protect buyers that use PayPal. One program covers transactions on eBay and the other covers everything else outside of eBay. That program is called their “PayPal Buyer Complaint Policy.” IF you are a buyer and you take advantage of that program (because the seller didn’t deliver everything as outlined in your deal), you are at the mercy of PayPal finding in your favor. IF they find in your favor, they will only refund the amount of money they can recover from the seller’s PayPal account. For example, If you paid $2,000 for a site and sent the money via PayPal and then the seller immediately withdrew that money from their PayPal account and never kept a balance, you wouldn’t see a dime.

If you’re going to use PayPal, send the money via your credit card. At least then you would have a chargeback option but even that option is iffy.

The bottom line is, doing direct deals is high risk if you don’t know who you’re dealing with.

Travis

Cool. Hopefully after this three-part series all of your questions will be answered!

Travis