Here are my thoughts wwallace1. You got stung. Plane and simple. It sux.
Sorry to hear that happened to ya.
But you might end up making your situation even worse depending on what moves you make from here on out regarding your new site.
Here's why, humans will spend 500x more effort trying to reclaim lost profits, then going out and finding new profit.
Read that sentence above 3 times. Nearly all humans are guilty of this.
Next: Some of the advice above, is excellent, some is questionable at best.
Pather28 was just being kind. You spent 15k on a site that makes just over zero. That's not good. But know this: Every single dude above me has also been burned tons of times as well. I've been stung too. Sometimes we get burned and it's totally out of our control, sometimes we could have avoided the sting.
Here's why your next moves are very important. In your first post, you mentioned you don't want to reveal the site you bought.
I understand this feeling, but it can lead you to bigger problems. Here's why: I knew in the first 3 seconds of reading your post exactly what happened. So did many others who read your post.
The lead buyer did not disappear - the lead buyer never existed in the first place.
If any of us were sitting beside you when you were about to make the purchase, we could have saved you 15k. Easily.
And the same group of us, would have given you the advice for free.
So, this means, pm a bunch of us, and ask for advice. Give out your web address. You need a rational, smart, non-emotional plan going forward.
Maybe you can monetize it, or maybe you need to ignore altogether. If you pm 5 guys on this thread showing them your site asking for total confidentiality, nobody will violate your wishes.
If you don't show anyone your site, absolutely nobody on this planet is qualified to give you expert advice. Nobody!
You need a few opinions before you make a bad situation worse.
Btw, I'm new to posting at BHW, but I'm not new to making money online.