Ok - I have had success in buying traffic. Not life changing, but success. Im not gonna weigh in to an extreme - Im not an xpurt and dont claim to be.
#1 sending feeder, skimmed, noref, proxy bs - blah, blah to a paysite is BAD for you.
#2 sending feeder, skimmed, noref, proxy bs - blah, blah to a FHG's is BAD for you.
#3 non US, Canada, or Parts Europe traffic, is not gonna convert (at least not very often).
#4 so what does that leave?
#5 buying traffic, should include selling traffic
#6 buying mixed niche skimmed traffic, proxy, no ref, no cookie traffic - only serves to bring your visitor count # up. Thats not a bad thing from what i found, depending on how its used.
I think i have used them all, and most i will never use again - but there are a few good apples in the traffic selling game. I have converted with both trafficadept (DamageX) and trafficholder.
Here is a shameless plug (but not for me), rather for juicy -
http://www.juicyads.com/ref2.php?ref=1589 <-- with my referral code, so emmm ... you can go ahead and get me the credit for it. But regardless - before you say its all shit, try this, try topspots.
Juicy shows stats for locations and %'s of where the traffic for the ad placement your buying is coming from - this might help you pinpoint where conversions are likely to take place. Emmm... high %'s in United States is a big plus. If you buy traffic primary from a country where the living standard is 1$ per day, meaning they make 300-500$ a year ... Do you really think they have the disposable income to purchase a subscription to your bigtitstinydick.com sites? Just a joke, stolen from Dwreck.
This may not make you rich, it will bring visitors - a very necessary ingredient to conversions. If done correctly you wont lose your bank, or feel like its a complete waste of time.
My 2 cents - again, Im no genius - you think im retarded - tell me, but logically tell me where you feel i have errored. This works for me.
Truth is the old timers are right, its not the "Good 'Ol Days" - Oh Shit, now your gonna have to work for it! That works for me, might clear some of this damn saturation out.
Good Luck All!