Buyer Wants A Refund - Advice Needed

Typically I sell expired domains with Pagerank. I then add a site onto that domain and build legitimate traffic to increase the alexarank

People that buy on Flippa for some reason seem to love the following:

1. Age
2. Pagerank
3. AlexaRank

So like I would optimise a webpage for maximum conversion rate I optimise my sites and flippa listings for maximum conversion rate.

So just a few days ago I sold a site on Flippa and it sold for $500. People just assume that they can add adsense and the site is going to make loads of money, but when the traffic isn't search engine traffic they get upset.

My listing clearly states that I buy Pagerank domains and sell them on and it also clearly states that it was an 11 year old domain.

The problem is that where I state its an 11 year old domain I had also selected on the right hand side of the listing that the site established date was 11 years old when really it should have been established for 6 months. I made a mistake and I know now not to match the domain age with the site established date.

The site and domain has been transferred and he also gave me positive feedback.

He has added adsense banners all over the site and as I already know the adsense profit is minimal. The guy can't think of any other ways to monetize the site so he has decided to ask me for a refund saying that the site isn't actually 11 years old.

I do not want to give him a refund because I have spent my time transferring it for him and paid flippa fees.

If being an 11 years old site was so important to him the he should have done his due diligence properly but I am wondering if he has any chance of getting his money back for this?

Any advice is appreciated.

If I were you, I would'nt really go about giving a refund because it was the buyer's mistake in the first place.

If the buyer wanted Search Engine Traffic, He must have gone to Semrush.com to see if the website was ranking for any keyword.

Just ask him to point links to any of his money sites, or rent homepage backlinks to other people so that he can make his money back.

I have offered him a refund as long as he pays the $45 fees but he has come back at me with I should pay the fees because it was my mistake.

This guy is taking full advantage of my mistake now.

I'm just going to contact Flippa and see what they say.

At any point in the listing did you say that the site in its current state was 6 months old?
- If you stated in the description it was an aged domain but current state is 6 months old then its his fault.

If you made the mistake of putting 11 years established then i think its right to offer the refund and i also think its right for you to approach Flippa if he is being awkward about things.

If you said the site is 11 years old and it's actually 6 months old, then you should refund him in full. You should also pay all associated fees and just take the hit.

meathead1234 said:

If you said the site is 11 years old and it's actually 6 months old, then you should refund him in full. You should also pay all associated fees and just take the hit.

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Even though I don't like it I'll just refund him then. I guess I learn from my mistakes.

Shockingly I have now found out that flippa does not care about the buyer which is new to me. Once a buyer places a bid it is a legally binding even though the auction is misleading. It is the buyers responsibility to do his due diligence before placing the bid.

We have already agreed on a full refund as its not worth the hassle in arguments even though we both made mistakes.

Fathom said:

Shockingly I have now found out that flippa does not care about the buyer which is new to me. Once a buyer places a bid it is a legally binding even though the auction is misleading. It is the buyers responsibility to do his due diligence before placing the bid.

We have already agreed on a full refund as its not worth the hassle in arguments even though we both made mistakes.

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That's probably just because Flippa want their success fee.

Do the right thing, refund the guy and just tell Flippa the sale never went through and that you mutually agreed to retract the auction. Then you won't have to pay the success fee.

Fathom said:

Shockingly I have now found out that flippa does not care about the buyer which is new to me. Once a buyer places a bid it is a legally binding even though the auction is misleading.

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Be assured this is not the case. Bids on Flippa are indeed legally binding however so is providing accurate information about the listing which has evidently not happened here. To this end, there is no obligation on the buyer in this instance.

The right thing to do is return the funds to the buyer.

Given your sincere intent here, we can credit you the relist fee as a one-off. Once the funds have been returned to the buyer, drop our support guys a note quoting this thread, your auction ID, and some evidence that the buyer is happy and we'll credit your account.

I have not been credited the $19 relist fee and I have not been refunded the $30 success fee for a site that I still own.

I am extremely annoyed over this and Andrew who I assume is a partner of Flippa did not do what was mentioned in the post above.

I am not going to waste my time or get stressed out over $49 anymore.

Fathom said:

I have not been credited the $19 relist fee and I have not been refunded the $30 success fee for a site that I still own.

I am extremely annoyed over this and Andrew who I assume is a partner of Flippa did not do what was mentioned in the post above.

I am not going to waste my time or get stressed out over $49 anymore.

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As it was your mistake, I don't think they have any obligation to refund you, so the fact Andrew offered at all is quite generous.

Andrew is the marketing manager so doesn't deal with customer service. Put another ticket in, link to this thread and put "For Andrew" and I'm sure he will sort you out.

EDIT

I don't mean to sound shitty to anyone.

Andrew, as much as I feel cheated by this I have only learnt my lesson. I personally want you to take that $49 and have a drink on me. Thread closed.