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Questions to the Seller

1. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:28:31 GMT

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   #1

   A few questions:
   1) What are the bandwidth requirements?
   2) Will you help with the transfer of the site?
   3) Where do you source the tutorials from? Do you write it yourself or someone writes it for you? If someone else writes it for you, will they continue to write, also how much do you pay them?
   4) Any other costs involved? Advertising?

   

   Posted by:

   xXDanteXx (60%)

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2. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 06:39:04 GMT

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   #2

   1) The bandwidth usage per month is an average of 200gb per month, you'll want to go with a plan of 250gb just in case though. My brother hosts the website on a virtual server, he has access to this kind of stuff pretty easily. If you want to continue being hosted on this virtual server it will be about $15/mo.

   2) I will do all I can to help transfer the site. I won't stop until the site is transferred to the new owner.

   3) Almost all of the tutorials were written by me, thats 90 odd. I bought a few tutorials from deviantART members, they charged me a one-year dA subscription per tutorial, that's $30 value. It's pretty easy to find decent tutorial writers, and I'll help the new owner with that. I'd also like to provide 1-3 tutorials per month.

   4) No costs involved other than hosting (which I currently don't have to pay for). I occasionally bought a text link when it was a good deal, but most of the SEO for the site would be considered free (link exchanges, onsite, free blog links).

   5) Any BIN in mind? I have no BIN price in mind, as I started it at $1 with a $1 reserve. I would have to be offered an amount I can't refuse though.

   Cheers!

   

   Posted by:

   EJ (100%) (seller)

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3. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:41:39 GMT

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   #3

   It seems you are showing adsense for your whole account. Is there a way to show details for this particular site?

   Also, is there an admin panel to add new tutorials?

   

   Posted by:

   monton (80%)

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4. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:01:12 GMT

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   #4

   Also, can you please explain a little at how you came at the $300 a month revenue figure. Thanks!

   

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   monton (80%)

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5. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:16:39 GMT

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   #5

   Monton: I only showed the whole account because PhotoshopStar is my only site using AdSense that is making anything (anything else is only like 10c). Well, take a look at the ad network screenshots and the general screenshot and add them up, there is also the odd text link that I will sell.

   

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   EJ (100%) (seller)

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6. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:15:19 GMT

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   #6

   Will you accept escrow.com payment?

   

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   wwwbiz (100%)

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7. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:47:25 GMT

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   #7

   I've never tried escrow, but I think it would be acceptable.

   Thanks

   

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   EJ (100%) (seller)

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8. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:25:19 GMT

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   #8

   How much would you charge for your monthly contribution of the tutorials?

   

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   comcenter (100%)

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9. Posted date:

   Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:38:45 GMT

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   #9

   comcenter: Now that would depend on how many tutorials. Let's say 3 tutorials and 2 articles/roundups per month, $110.

   Cheers

   

   Posted by:

   EJ (100%) (seller)

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10. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:25:32 GMT

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    #10

    Beautiful site, great tuts. Hope you'll find a good deal.

    

    Posted by:

    bobmeetsworld (60%)

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11. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:40:00 GMT

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    #11

    I must confess to not having much knowledge of Photoshop, so when I ask this it may come across a bit funny. Is a site like this likely to be relevant in 4/5 years as it is now or would some other better product come by and steal its thunder.

    

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    monton (80%)

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12. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:21:27 GMT

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    #12

    monton: Should still be valid in 4-5 years, as Photoshop has hardly changed over the last 4-5 years, from version 7 to CS 3.

    

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    EJ (100%) (seller)

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13. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:23:26 GMT

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    #13

    I don't think you know what I mean. Snce this is a product/software (Photoshop)related site, there is no danger is there they may stop the production of Photoshop as a whole and people might move on to another product alltogether for producing their graphics?

    

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    monton (80%)

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14. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:33:29 GMT

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    #14

    monton: if you browse the web you'll find out that Photoshop is a household word, and there's basically no competition. :)

    

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    EJ (100%) (seller)

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15. Posted date:

    Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:10:29 GMT

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    #15

    monton, i think that'd be more years to come. cos adobe already eliminate its previous competition (Macromedia Fireworks) by buying it. so far none has come close to photoshop.

    

    Posted by:

    nufoundglory (100%)

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16. Posted date:

    Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:54:44 GMT

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    #16

    Agreed - Photoshop is king, and nothing is even close to it. Won't be for years and years ..... and I doubt Adobe would stop expanding their flagship application.
    ~tasty

    

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    tastysites (100%)

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17. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:03:16 GMT

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    #17

    Can I ask why you are selling the website?

    Also, you mentioned the site is generally in the top 5 for "photoshop tutorials" on google...it appears it is currently #9, which made me wonder if the ranking had slowly been dropping for this keyword in recent weeks or if it was just a bit of recent volatility in Google rankings?

    Lastly, it appears a good portion of traffic comes from referring websites...will the majority of this traffic remain after the sale, or will links/traffic sources be removed?

    

    Posted by:

    seoguy101 (60%)

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18. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:08:23 GMT

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    #18

    seoguy101: the ranking must be fluctuating. It's been steady for a while now, bot occasionally the ranking moves around a bit, hopefully it will be sorted in a day or two.

    The traffic coming from referring sites would be from roundups and stuff like that, not links that are put up by me, so yes, the links will most likely all remain after the sale.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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19. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:32:55 GMT

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    #19

    seoguy101: Sorry about not answering the first question. I'm selling because I have had a serious lack of funds for a while now, I need money to develop other websites and pay for certain things. Although I am also having a hard time maintaining the website, so I think if a new owner hires a few tutorial writers and monetizes the website a little better, this will be a great investment.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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20. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:56:34 GMT

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    #20

    its a nice site good luck with the sale

    

    Posted by:

    sitejunk (0%)

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21. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:27:29 GMT

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    #21

    Im curious on why people are bidding this site through the roof here it makes an unsteady $350 monthly and all the ad space is tied up for a few months? Plus who the hell bids in $500 intervals? Its like we have a buy bidder here just driving the price up. Its a nice site but, if it doesn't have someone working on tutorials then all those google rankings are gonna slip farther and farther back!

    

    Posted by:

    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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22. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:35:56 GMT

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    #22

    sasser0202: There are quite a few reputable people bidding on this (some with 100% trust and some with 60%), and I'm fine with it as long as the bidders are happy with the price they put on it. Don't ask me what's going on here - if you think something suspicious is going on here, we should get an admin to check it out.

    The rankings in Google have been steady over the past few months when I have always been unable to provide many tutorials.

    With ad space such as the one booked for 6 months I'm happy to refund how much that 6 months will cost to the winning bidder, so he can refund their banner and put a different banner there for more $$/month.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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23. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:50:31 GMT

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    #23

    This auction also seems a bit suspicious to me, $500 intervals and unverified identities are VERY unusual. Photoshopstar is a nice web, but as sasser0202 says, new owner will have to invest a lot of time or money to keep traffic coming. For $7500 you can hire someone to write more than 100-200 new quality tutorials.

    

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    garry73 (0%)

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24. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:20:00 GMT

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    #24

    My point exactly Im not trying to be a dick here Im a bidder myself but the $500 bids at a time is a little strange thats all Im saying. This is an auction not make me an outrageous offer and drive the auction price up here. The reserves been met so why do the bidders feel a need to jump the bids up $500 a pop? All you have to bid is over the last persons bid not quadruple his bid. People that don't plan to buy bid like that because any smart investor wants the best price. So if your the bidders jumping the bids $500 at a time keep that in mind. Also, keep in mind the cost involved after you pick up the site, unless your a photo shop tutorial writer your going to have to pay someone monthly to post tutorials, etc... So as of now buying the site now would take 21 months to pay it back at the revenue stream he has now and if you take a look at the screen shots he's tied up all the ad space avaliable for months, so the new owner is going to have to wait until there ad contract is up. So that equals NO REVENUE until september! So think about it while your bidding this through the roof. Also, keep in mind besides no revenue the sites going to cost you money recruiting tutorial writers at $30-100 per post. So look at the big picture folks.

    

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    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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25. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:32:22 GMT

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    #25

    Latest 13 bids (not counting mine) are anonymous, it really looks strange - compare - first four bids were verified.

    

    Posted by:

    landi (60%) (bidder)

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26. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:46:08 GMT

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    #26

    Im a private bidder also and Im the one that bid $6600 last night then 8 hours later its up to $7500. Its a great site with a lot of potential just people are getting a little carried away with the bidding here. There are sites on here that have $2000 a month revenues that don't go for this and this site has little to no revenue. There is always a reason for sale of a site and it him stating "you could easily make 750+ per month with this site," well if it were so easy and you were so confident in thinking it could be this big of success how come you don't keep it and monetize the site himself? Plus, his blog is known in the community so we know he has friends that could post for him for cheap so there are a lot of unanswered questions but keep bidding all crazy. Landi if you have any questions PM me

    

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    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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27. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:17:19 GMT

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    #27

    I think the reason this site is going for so much is because of the traffic, backlinks, overall quality of the website, and the easy potential to hit much higher revenue. Keep in mind if the site currently has 360,000 pageviews and you have a large Google square ad block at the top of the pages all it takes is a 5% CTR and $0.05 a click and that one ad will generate $900 a month. That figure does not even include all the other revenue the site generates....just a few thoughts from a guy who has flipped numerous websites for over a year now. Obviously your expenses will be at least $150 a month to pay for tutorial postings, but the image ads on the right hand sidebar alone will easily pay for those. I am not a friend of, or have any affiliation, with the seller.

    

    Posted by:

    seoguy101 (60%)

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28. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:21:31 GMT

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    #28

    Oh...and to the guy who said for $7,500 you can pay a writer to post 150 tutorials...that still would not get you 2,300 feedburner readers, a well ranked website, and tons of traffic. Not to mention the site is over 2 years old--so the age makes it easier to maintain rankings. There is more to the value of this website then just its content alone....

    

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    seoguy101 (60%)

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29. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:54:56 GMT

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    #29

    Yes, why bid $500 more than last bid when you can bid $50 more? I was interested in this site but the bids kept coming at $500 intervals and now I can't really justify the premium its currently at.

    Potential is one thing, being able to earn is another. One of the reasons why entertainment sites with high traffic do not go for much is because they are very difficult to monetise. This is an excellent site no doubt, but there are costs involved after the purchase price is paid to ensure site keeps getting traffic as quality posts (tutorials) will need to be paid for unless you are a star with photoshop yourself, in which case time might be of the essence instead of the dollar.

    

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    monton (80%)

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30. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:32:22 GMT

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    #30

    I think we all agree that the site is great and has a lot of potential and the price really doesn't matter to me its just the way the bidding has gone. We all have money here or we wouldn't be bidding but no business man bids like a moron specially when it clearly says reserve has been met. So bid and let the best man win but lets be a little smarter about it. Also, Monton made a great point consider all the cost associated after the purchase hosting, post (tutorials), advertising, etc... I don't know about you but 350,000 page views is great but I don't want to stop there! There is value here but its going to take some restructuring and recruitment which = $$$ then this site can make some real money.

    

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    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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31. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:32:38 GMT

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    #31

    It's pretty easy to find decent tutorial writers, and I'll help the new owner with that. I'd also like to provide 1-3 tutorials per month.

    How will I find the tutorial writer? devianart? how much do they charge

    

    Posted by:

    roe23 (0%)

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32. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:03:08 GMT

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    #32

    Re:sasser0202 - Photoshop tutorial sites usually get very good traffic - if you start a new photoshop tutorial website and create several tutorials a week, I bet you will get the similar traffic figures as photoshopstar.com after several month. Go to http://www.good-tutorials.com/ and check Alexa rating of sites posting tutorials there, sometimes even a year old site get the same or better traffic as photoshopstar.com.

    This industry can get decent traffic figures easily, but monetizing is another story (I am old enough to belive phrases like now I make $300 a month, but I could easily make $700, that's very cheap tactics).

    Re:seoguy101 5% CTR is VERY optimistic (and at least one half of traffic comes from third world countries)

    

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    garry73 (0%)

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33. Posted date:

    Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:41:14 GMT

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    #33

    To EJ, the seller, I hope you understand that nobody thats posted is trying to ruin your sale but merely pointing out what, at least on first impression, seems a bit of an anamoly in the bidding.

    

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    monton (80%)

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34. Posted date:

    Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:09:45 GMT

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    #34

    garry73: most of these year old websites will be receiving most traffic from referring sites, not Goolge searches. Most of the websites don't make it onto page one for great key phrases.

    Can't reply to all of the comments above as they're basically stating the same thing. I think it's odd how well the sale is doing too, I just hope the people bidding are happy to pay that price. Some of the top bidders seem to be reputable though, I know one of them from two of my previous sales.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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35. Posted date:

    Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:39:01 GMT

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    #35

    Evidence how easy can Photoshop Tutorial site gain traffic is here - http://www.photoshoplady.com/advertise/ - site was established 4 month ago and now
    has Alexa rank around 30K.

    Re:El: Google searches - it's fine to be on 9'th position on 'photoshop tutorial' - but all people doing seriously SEO now that this is a typical long tail querry -
    most people search photoshop tutorial keyword3 keyword4. It's also shown in your Analytics stats - people come from Google using about 18000 keywords.

    

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    garry73 (0%)

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36. Posted date:

    Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:32:32 GMT

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    #36

    I know the owner of the website, and the guy is legitimate, I don't think he would ask people to bid here.

    Also, bids on sitepoint now have legal validity, so I don't think someone would mess with that. If someone bid in increments of $500, so what? Means the guy is willing to pay that amount. If that is above what you think the site is worth, just stop bidding.

    

    Posted by:

    Brazilian83 (100%)

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37. Posted date:

    Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:56:45 GMT

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    #37

    First off no one said he wasn't legitimate and on the note of $500 jumps no one in the right mind bids like that I don't care who you are or how much money you have! After doing some research last night on blogs like this I found a lot of links stating that Elis Blog was for sale with links to this site point auction. Nothing was said about go bid on the auction but, if Im a loyal reader of any of these blogs and I know Eli I would go be a buy bidder for him and drive the auction up in $500 because people that have no plan to buy bid like that. Notice there haven't been any bids since I stated what was going on I knew that all the bidders has to see it but no one spoke up. Also, take a look the same 5 people have been commenting back in forth what about the 35 other bidders? I know 2 of the bids were mine. Well thats just my 2 cents the blogs great but, the price is getting to high with little to no revenue there is still a lot of work to be done for the new owner to recoup the main investment plus all the money it will take to keep the site up unless by chance your a photoshop expert.

    

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    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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38. Posted date:

    Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:12:35 GMT

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    #38

    OK, as I said before, PhotoshopStar's rank for particular keywords has gone back up in Google searches, it's position 5 for 'photoshop tutorials' and position 4 for 'photoshop tutorial' and has been steadily position 1 for 'free photoshop tutorials' for a long time now. Traffic coming from that position one keyword seems to be the best quality, and the visitors seem to stick around for a while.

    What can I say to the people complaining? The bids are legitimate and it's probably not going to go up much now since it's at its peak. Any worse comments than the above will be deleted. I've now had an admin check out the auction, and hopefully he/she will leave a comment.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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    Adelaide

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39. Posted date:

    Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:54:47 GMT

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    #39

    This little kid needs to learn how to do business! He rejected my bids that were $1 over the last guys and says that he wont accept bids like those. Guess the kid only likes bids of $500 a piece? This auction must be rigged I offered the kid $11000 to end the auction early and he declined my offer said "that he wants the other people to have a chance to win." Is he kidding when I offered this bid it was $5000 over what the bidding was at the time. Guess this is what happens when you do business with a 17 year old kid. Then the little shit said that I should drop out of the auction? Is he serious Im trying to put money in this kids pocket and he says I should drop out of the auction? So good luck dealing with this little kid I think he's gay because he's for sure not about his money.

    

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    sasser0202 (0%) (bidder)

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40. Posted date:

    Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:00:30 GMT

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    #40

    OK, sasser0202 has been banned from bidding. I'll leave his comment here though, although you can't trust a word he says.

    He's offered me 10-11k privately various times, and I always turned him down as it's an auction. I'm going to let it run till the end, simple as that. Reconsider bidding if you like, but there's nothing dodgy going on here.

    Cheers

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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41. Posted date:

    Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:15:28 GMT

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    #41

    Auction is over.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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    Adelaide

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42. Posted date:

    Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:27:59 GMT

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    #42

    AUCTION IS OVER. WWWBIZ HAS WON THE AUCTION. Please do not bid, they will only be rejected.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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43. Posted date:

    Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:42:51 GMT

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    #43

    Everyone should take note that sasser0202 and bgmac239 are the same person, and he's been placing false bids. He's been very abusive and unprofessional.

    

    Posted by:

    EJ (100%) (seller)

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