Buying Social Media Accounts Is A Bad Idea

[Owen]

I got scammed for a total of $80. I was trying to buy 2 instagram accounts, and they both blocked me as soon as I sent half the money. These kids are like 15 too. Unbelievable. These are the moments I wish I could sue if lawyers were $0.01 an hour. )): I hate humans. We need a plague.

The part that really makes me want to throw my computer out the window is the fact PayPal doesn't have 24/7 calling, so they're useless until tomorrow. >:(

[Fulcrum]

I've never attempted to buy a social media account, but I could've told you it was a bad idea before you made the attempt. You may be better off just writing off the money and say "lesson learned, at least I only lost $80.

[Owen]

I've never attempted to buy a social media account, but I could've told you it was a bad idea before you made the attempt. You may be better off just writing off the money and say "lesson learned, at least I only lost $80.

Nah, I don't go down without a fight. You never, ever f*** with Owen. Ever.

[Harold Mansfield]

Before you cause a stink, make sure it's a legal transaction to begin with. Is it OK with Instagram rules to even buy accounts? If not, I'd maybe try a charge back. Other than that I'd let it go.

In the future, even for small transactions, if you don't have confidence in the seller use Escrow https://www.escrow.com/

[Freelancier]

In 5 years, will this sound like "I have a business directory web site I want to buy" question?

[Harold Mansfield]

In 5 years, will this sound like "I have a business directory web site I want to buy" question?
Probably less than that.

[vangogh]

In 5 years, will this sound like "I have a business directory web site I want to buy" question?

Hasn't it been the same question for the last few years already?

[twoodal]

I have seen tons of websites advertising buying and selling Instagram accounts and Facebook pages. All give me a sketchy feeling that crawls up my spine and won't let go so I have never put in the money. It IS against Instagram's policy to allow buying accounts, so maybe it isn't good in the first place. If you want to grow an account fast, maybe hire a professional. I have some tips if you are interested! I make tons of money growing Instagram accounts for businesses and if you find someone who knows what they are doing, it can help you make lots more money in your business

[Fulcrum]

Nah, I don't go down without a fight. You never, ever f*** with Owen. Ever.

Neither do I. Pick your battles young grasshopper. There is nothing wrong with admitting a mistake even when it costs you a few bucks. $80 is a cheap education. I've got what appears to be an $11,000 mistake (financed at 6%), sitting unusable on my shop floor and this is the last time I buy a "refurbished" machine (what's Visa's time limit on charge backs?) - knock 50% off the selling price and I'll fix it myself.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've lost $50, $80 here and there and even though it sucked I learned something every time, even if it was 'don't do that again'.

[MyBrandBoost]

I got scammed for a total of $80. I was trying to buy 2 instagram accounts, and they both blocked me as soon as I sent half the money. These kids are like 15 too. Unbelievable. These are the moments I wish I could sue if lawyers were $0.01 an hour. )): I hate humans. We need a plague.

The part that really makes me want to throw my computer out the window is the fact PayPal doesn't have 24/7 calling, so they're useless until tomorrow. >:(

Buying social media accounts can be a very risky proposition if you are not dealing with a reputable company. Paypal's refund/return/policy terms when it comes to digital property is also not exactly consumer friendly. That being said we have helped a number of companies get a jump start by providing a targeted social media account for them that has been pre-built. We also grow accounts for companies that prefer starting from scratch. Having a custom grown/targeted account is always the best idea, but not everyone wants to wait 30-90 days for those services, so buying an account, as long as you are dealing with a trusted seller is not always a bad idea.

[vangogh]

so buying an account, as long as you are dealing with a trusted seller is not always a bad idea.

Yes it is. People don't follow the account. They follow the real people behind the account and the content those people provide. The value is in the connection between the real people behind the account and the real people following. If the account changes ownership, that connection is gone. You end up with a a bunch of followers who didn't follow you and aren't necessarily interested in what you have to say. You'll need to work just as hard as someone with a brand new account to make the connection again.

It's also against the terms of service of most social sites, including Facebook and Twitter. The social sites consider it spam.

[MyBrandBoost]

Yes it is. People don't follow the account. They follow the real people behind the account and the content those people provide. The value is in the connection between the real people behind the account and the real people following. If the account changes ownership, that connection is gone. You end up with a a bunch of followers who didn't follow you and aren't necessarily interested in what you have to say. You'll need to work just as hard as someone with a brand new account to make the connection again.

It's also against the terms of service of most social sites, including Facebook and Twitter. The social sites consider it spam.


I do understand your view point and it sounds like a number of my clients viewpoints who have previously purchased a bad account, or an account that is not in the target niche/industry they plan to use it in. Anyone who purchases a random account and tries to convert the account/following to what they plan to post moving forward will not have success, example someone takes a quote account which is easy to grow and subsequently converts it into an account for a personal trainer the users will wither become inactive or unfollow which doesn't help you.

Where I must disagree with you is painting everything with the same brush and saying that is always a bad idea. We have had so many clients that struggled building a targeted niche following and were ready to give up on social media which in the long term will be detrimental to their business. We either grew them an account from scratch (patient clients) or sold them an existing account we had pre-built (not patient clients) in the industry they are doing business in. The accounts we build we take a lot of pride in and invest a lot of research into hashtag strategies, geo-location and competitor targeting. We are very close to being able to get gender via facial recognition programs we are developing. We make sure the people that are following the account will be interested in the same content because they will be the same people the new owner is targeting. I will also agree to disagree on the saying that people follow the person. If its a celebrity, famous or interesting person - I agree. If its a business they are following the content. If the content is the same there is no change on account handover.

I do however agree that it is always best to build an account from scratch, and have a professional build it who has a solid understanding of the algorithms the major social sites use. We initially started off only building targeted accounts but a lot of clients were just not willing to wait 30-60 days, they wanted something right away. Which is why we started building accounts in the most popular industries so the people who didn't want to wait, didn't have to. It prevents people from wasting money on bad accounts and lets the focus on growing their business.

I will also agree with you that selling social media accounts is against the terms and services of most social media platforms, and a major reason for it is to prevent users from getting scammed due to how easy it can be for someone to take the account back if they know what they are doing. So as always buyer beware and try to deal with a company/seller that makes you feel safe.

[Owen]

Update:
I'm getting my money back from the first one because of PayPal's buyer protection. However, I made the mistake with the second one by sending it as friends/family. He told me he didn't want to pay any fees, so I figured that was the reason. Turns out it was because I can't file a dispute for it. Next time I'll just light $40 on fire, that way I'll have some warmth for a little bit.

[MyBrandBoost]

Update:
I'm getting my money back from the first one because of PayPal's buyer protection. However, I made the mistake with the second one by sending it as friends/family. He told me he didn't want to pay any fees, so I figured that was the reason. Turns out it was because I can't file a dispute for it. Next time I'll just light $40 on fire, that way I'll have some warmth for a little bit.

Hi Owen,

For the other transaction (friends and family) if your paypal is linked to a credit card and the payment came from them you can ask for a charge back directly from your credit card provider.

[Bookmemate]

Good advice from the above poster, you can always dispute a credit card payment and even the threat of doing so should be enough to get you your money back as the other party will not want to risk red flags on their payment processing account.

Also to address the main focus of the thread, yes I think buying social media accounts is a very bad idea. Certainly for a business like ours where trustworthiness is key I would not even consider it.

[Owen]

Hi Owen,

For the other transaction (friends and family) if your paypal is linked to a credit card and the payment came from them you can ask for a charge back directly from your credit card provider.

Came from bank account ):