Sedo Pro questionable traffic stats and slow verifications

[David G]

I purchased a name on dnf based only on traffic value and seller stats showing 77/visits a day. However, when I put the name on a temporary webpage my two stats programs show only about 5 visits a day, far short of the stated traffic.

Seller now says he got the 77/day stats from sedo and its not his problem since I did not ask for a traffic test, which test was not asked for since it was a low priced name.

Anyway, at sellers suggestion for verification the sedo stats are so high vs my own I put it on Sedo but still not verified so not resolving there. In fact, I put a group of other names on Sedo Pro before and they are also not verified after about 2 weeks of waiting. Anyone know why Sedo is so slow at that?

As a side note, I am 95% certain the Sedo stats are way too high because it looks like they are counting image hits, proxy hits and 404s as valid traffic according to my 2 server stats programs running on that site which do not count that as legit traffic. Anyone else know about that aspect?

[David G]

Based on no replies I assume no one else has these kind of issues with sedo.

[exxe]

The verifications are a bit slow on sedo, however I never waited 2 weeks.

Regarding the traffic, with my names sedo shows a bit more visits than Parked , but not 10x more (IIRC it's about 1.5x)

[Glamorama]

http://www.dnforum.com/f129/slow-dom...ad-409691.html

[katherine]

sedo reports totally inaccurate stats for some domains. When I park them I barely get 1 hit a day bots included vs 100+ UVs according to sedo. Those names are often easy to spot: high traffic, zero CTR.

[INFORG]

On verification, I send an email after a couple days to ownerverification@ and usually gets resolved quickly.

Stats can be off, but for previously linked domains, you have to look at 404's and sub domains as potential traffic sources. Set up sub domains to redirect, and create a custom 404 that redirects traffic to main domain to capture what could be legit traffic.

Image hits and bot traffic can suck though.

[south]

I have 1 name that sedo reports 150-200 uv per day where parked only showed 5-10, so yes, I have seen the same regarding the traffic.

[David G]

I was not aware that was happening with sedo. My bad for buying names based on their stats (which I have done a couple times).

If that is correct there should be a dnf required warning on all offers involving sedo that the stats can not be relied on and are likely heavily exagerrated.

The name I purchased where Sedo said 77-day but my stats programs show just 5-day has now been put back on Sedo parking at sellers suggestion so we will soon see if they still report that high traffic.

P.S. Upon further review it looks like mostly the fault of counting hits to images as visitors more than any other reason.

[biggedon]

If that is correct there should be a dnf required warning on all offers involving sedo that the stats can not be relied on and are likely heavily exagerrated.

there is already a warning

members should perform "due diligence"

when buying domains with stats from sedo, they are just what they are

they are not heavilly exagerrated, it's a matter of interpretation and expectations


you cannot expect nor should you expect the same results on your server in comparision to how sedo counts traffic

you should take into consideration what sedo counts or does not count, if you rely on stats published by them

everybody knows or should know that you won't get the same results, for the same domain across the ppc spectrum, so why expect it on your server?

such a statement, could undermine the reliability and trust of sellers who have domains at sedo with stats.

such accusations can also shake the confidence of buyers who use these stats to make purchasing decisions.

imo...

[David G]

reply in bold.

there is already a warning

members should perform "due diligence"

when buying domains with stats from sedo, they are just what they are

they are not heavilly exagerrated, it's a matter of interpretation and expectations

77-day on that name was not correct. 5-day vs 77-day sure sounds exagerrated to me

you cannot expect nor should you expect the same results on your server in comparision to how sedo counts traffic

obviously.

you should take into consideration what sedo counts or does not count, if you rely on stats published by them. everybody knows or should know that you won't get the same results, for the same domain across the ppc spectrum, so why expect it on your server?


Such a dramatic difference is NOt something everyone would expect to see Don. This seems to mostly happpen at Sedo - with other parking firms more closely matching real traffic..

such a statement, could undermine the reliability and trust of sellers who have domains at sedo with stats. such accusations can also shake the confidence of buyers who use these stats to make purchasing decisions.


and rightly so Don, Sedo stats allegedly count total page hits including image hits and are worthless BS and buyers need to be aware of that. You almost sound like someone with a vested interest in Sedo with names parked there and relying to a degree on their worthless stats as a sales tool

imo...

[biggedon]

every domainer who has domains parked at sedo, should have a "vested" interest


and stats can't be worthless, when we are getting paid monthly





i don't buy domains based on traffic stats, i buy based on revenue...big difference

i've posted in ppc discussion about domains i have at sedo, with more than a thousand visitors and only 1 click, but that 1 click turned out $11.00

the traffic numbers are worthless, when compared to earnings, but what it earned is what's important considering it's a hand-reg.

when i buy based on revenue and don't get the same $, above or close to, at the same ppc service....then it becomes questionable



and i don't rely on the stats as a sales tool, because i'm not selling domains based on multiples of traffic or revenue.

it's provided as additional information only.


however, i do rely on the revenue produced, because that may affect my need and/or desire to sell.

[David G]

the traffic numbers are worthless, when compared to earnings.......

Strongly disagree Don.

One reason is the name may be not optimized well, or not optimized at all (i.e. the non-valid 77-visits a day name which started this thread had no oprimization and likely no revenue to speak of). Based on revenue it was worthless, based on the stated (but later discovered non-valid) traffic it was worth over $100 at time of sale. If traffic was valid it is worth that much regardless of prior revenue.

Another reason revenue pricing model does not work well for sales is the steep 65% or so declines many have seen over past few years.

How can names be sold based on revenue in view of the above? I know I would never sell names based on the under 10-yr revenue numbers I am hearing about lately. For me to sell a traffic name based on revenue it would take 50-100 years ratio.

However, trafic is traffic. If a name gets natural traffic now the revenue can later increase by better optimization, nice website, potential product sales, and a general improvemnet in overall revenues.

The value of typein traffic is far far more important vs current revenue numbers. Really no comparison Don. Surprised you do not appear to know that.

[simon]

Anyway, at sellers suggestion for verification the sedo stats are so high vs my own I put it on sedo but still not verified so not resolving there. In fact, I put a group of other names on Sedo Pro before and they are also not verified after about 2 weeks of waiting. Anyone know why Sedo is so slow at that?

I often talked with Sedo people about the same. Instead of manual verification, they would automate the process. ( ie. send a link to click to the admin email listed in the whois) this way the domains would be verified instantly and they dont have to do it manually.
I guess they dont want any more domains to be added in their system....

[biggedon]

Strongly disagree Don.

One reason is the name may be not optimized well, or not optimized at all (i.e. the non-valid 77-visits a day name which started this thread had no oprimization and likely no revenue to speak of). Based on revenue it was worthless, based on the stated (but later discovered non-valid) traffic it was worth over $100 at time of sale. If traffic was valid it is worth that much regardless of prior revenue.

Another reason revenue pricing model does not work well for sales is the steep 65% or so declines many have seen over past few years.

How can names be sold based on revenue in view of the above? I know I would never sell names based on the under 10-yr revenue numbers I am hearing about lately. For me to sell a traffic name based on revenue it would take 50-100 years ratio.

However, trafic is traffic. If a name gets natural traffic now the revenue can later increase by better optimization, nice website, potential product sales, and a general improvemnet in overall revenues.

The value of typein traffic is far far more important vs current revenue numbers. Really no comparison Don. Surprised you do not appear to know that.

Dave

when you take a quote out of context, without reading the statements preceeding....this you miss the whole point

i was speaking about "one" specific domain that i own which gets lots of traffic, but is worthless compared to the revenue....because of the low ctr.

since you don't know the domain, you couldn't know whether any optimization technique would change those stats

you don't know where the traffic comes from, what region, whether it's type-in, link, bot, se, etc....

so there is nothing that you've said above that i don't know

and i don't agree with "traffic is traffic"

if you make distinctions of "typein traffic" vs se traffic, link traffic, bots, paid traffic, etc

each will have a different value of their own...or not

[David G]

i don't buy domains based on traffic stats, i buy based on revenue...big difference

I see your point Don that you were referring to a specific domain. I did not intend to take it out of context whixh I apologize for doing.

With that said, I still got the impression you feel revenue data is more important than traffic stats in general. Of course that is a good approach when acting as a buyer

[biggedon]

I see your point Don that you were referring to a specific domain. I did not intend to take it out of context whixh I apologize for doing.

With that said, I still got the impression you feel revenue data is more important than traffic stats in general. Of course that is a good approach when acting as a buyer

Thanks

yes, revenue data is more important, when i have the benefit to view stats