Web site buyers can gain more confidence in revenue numbers.
Flippa, a marketplace for web sites and domain names, has added a tool to verify Google Adsense revenue numbers for web sites.
We all see sites for sale that claim huge Adsense revenue numbers. But how do you know if the person is telling the truth? It’s easy to fake stats. (That was the point behind DNWStats, by the way.)
The new tool allows Flippa sellers to authorize Flippa to snag the numbers through the Google Adsense API. Flippa then presents a three month average to visitors. Buyers can filter auctions to look at only sites with verified Adsense numbers.
It will be interesting to see what effects this has on the overall Flippa marketplace. But it can only be positive.
Gnanes says
Scammers will think twice before posting a website for sale with a cooked up adsense stats.
help says
I believe this violates the Adsense TOS
Seb says
at least this will bring transparency in the business of selling websites.
Ophelie says
Hi help — AdSense’s TOS prohibit making the CTR public, but earnings can be disclosed. We’re getting this information directly from the AdSense API.
WilliamK says
That the Adsense stats are being “verified” doesn’t mean that the seller can’t fake Adsense earnings. It’s still very easy and that’s before you take into account indirect methods such as artificially inflating visitors (buying traffic) to make the earnings look good prior to sale.