Flippa.com Is Live!

[TimPhelan]

That phpprobid script is one of the best for an auction site. It has a lot of features. I used one last year when I made a blog flipping marketplace usedblogs.com. I ended up flipping the site though. Now, the site seems to be offline.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by LMC

Hey,

Thanks for all the kind words Suzanne. I'm loving your store, and your such a great user of the site already! Just like in every marketplace a "buyer confidence" must strike the potential buyer of the product, our goal was to create a system that the seller can do just this by creating a About Me page, Store, and Reputation System...

Fraud Protection is coming to SiteDeal with a few features, one is, the Block Users feature. Suzanne, if you look in your member area, you can see the feature.

Basically, if we ever grow as big as SP, controling SPAM and crap would get tough, but if someone is annoying you with PM's and bids, and fake BIN's, you simply block them from any of your stuff inside of SiteDeal.

We then get notified of the Blocking, and check to see what is up for ultimate deletion or suspension from the site.

We were going to allow upen comments as well, but have made the final decision to only use Private Messaging. Our goal is to reflect a true marketplace, one where your not getting interrogated on your listing, but being asked true questions, and you can choose to answer at your own discretion.

Once again, thanks for the comments,

Steven

I noticed the blocking feature and am grateful for it. The store is a great feature and the site looks like an auction site, which is what people expect from an auction site. Great job, so far.

[Matt Mickiewicz]

Originally Posted by Kezz

To Matt, I have one suggestion from a seller's perspective that I think would be a great addition to the marketplace. I'd like to see the ability to report a non-paying bidder after a reasonable duration of time, and that buyer should then not be able to bid on other people's auctions until the transaction in question has been resolved. I had multiple experiences where an individual placed bids on my auctions with no intention to buy, and then even after my reporting them, continued on deliberately ruining other people's auctions as well. There should be a function whereby a fraudulent bidder, very often a seller trying to eliminate competition, is automatically prevented from running around sabotaging listings.

Do you think the current feedback system is inadequate for flagging non-payment & fraudulent bids?

I would also like to see an approval process on site listings that checks for violations of IP and TOS, to the extent that is reasonably possible, before an auction goes live. Even if I had to wait a little longer for my sites to be available for sale, I would think the extra protection and reassurance offered to both buyers and sellers would absolutely be worth it.

Do you know of any 3rd party services that could integrate, that would be able to accurately screen for IP violations?

Fraud is such a huge problem on both sides of the coin, and I really do think it has had something to do with the decline in the marketplace, over and above any economic downturn. My number one piece of feedback as a seller is that you should take that extra fee you'll have on each listing and put it towards some preventative moderation of the marketplace.

Verified stats via Google Analytics API is coming soon, I've also pitched the idea of verifying the names & addresses of bidders in a post above but received very negative feedback to that idea.

Do you think it'd be worthwhile for us to force first-time bidders to verify their name & address with us via a CVS/credit card check?

The result would be a stronger marketplace overall, which will result in higher success fees for you, which people won't have a problem with if they are buying and selling a higher quality of site due to your vigilant administration. Then, you still end up with more revenue over all by raising the quality level of the marketplace and hence the amounts that sites are selling for, and nobody feels jibbed by the extra listing fee, because you are doing something extra to earn it.

I agree 100%. That's the ultimate plan.

[Kezz]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your response. I'll try to get in quickly while you're still online here.

Yes, I do think there are some inadequacies in the feedback system at the moment. I think that a problem that has been increasing is sellers trying to reduce competition by attacking other people's listings. It's common on ebay and I think it was growing more common on Sitepoint. My main suggestion is that there should be some clear cut "Has paid" or "Hasn't paid" type of status against every auction. If a bidder fails to pay, they should thereafter be prevented from bidding on other people's auctions.

In regards to 3rd party systems to flag IP violations, I'm assuming you mean to automate the process? I'd have to leave those specifics in your capable hands. Are you suggesting that if there is no 3rd party application, you wouldn't be able to have a moderation process? My suggestion is that you should consider having each listing run, even if only very briefly, before human eyes. That in itself would be a discouragement to sellers who know in themselves they are doing the wrong thing, because when human beings are approving each listing, no-one can know when they might be flagged for illegally selling material they don't own.

For me personally, I am willing to double the listing fee I pay if I know that at least a portion of that goes to paying an individual to screen my listing, and all of the others that go online. I don't mind if its just a cursory check, I understand this would still provide no guarantees, but it would be like having a security guard standing at the doorway of a store. Even if the security guard can't do a lot, how many people does his mere presence deter from trying to sneak something past him?

It's a tricky question on verifying bidders via checks like the ones you mention. I'd have to agree it would probably make most people not bother bidding - I wouldn't jump those hoops myself. The other tricky part is that the horse has already bolted with Flippa given that it went live so quickly. I wonder if it's too late now for some suggestions, but I'll make them anyway.

There really ought to be some kind of system to ensure that bidders are serious. I actually have just come up with an idea that could have some legs. Could the credit system you use for sellers be extended in some way to be used for bidders as well? If a bidder has to put some money up front in the form of credits, then it shows they are serious and gives that extra layer of protection that sellers are looking for. I doubt an individual whose only plan is to sabotage listings would be willing to buy auction credits, then risk losing their money with fraudulent bids.

A full escrow system would be ideal, but I think it's probably a little late for that with Flippa now. Perhaps your existing infrastructure could be adapted though. You could then actually secure your success fee payment as well. Bidder purchases auction credits and gives money to you. Seller auctions a site. You take funds from the amount given to you by the bidder, keep your success fee, and pass the rest onto the seller. This would also solve the non-paying bidder issue I described above. Plus, I think we'd all feel much more like the 10% was highly deserved then, as it would become in a sense a transaction fee as well. You don't have to wait for your fees, sellers don't have to wait for payment, everyone is more secure, and we all live happily ever after.

What do you think?

[Lucas Adamski]

WOW
It's the WORST transformation of the website I've saw in my life!

This is like changing good, proffesional looking websites to some junk, seriously...

I dont get why they want to this web 2.0 style. I'm not saying that web 2.0 is wrong but in flippa it's horribly implemented. I hoep they wil change it to the last design. I read on the home page they got some bad comments already so I hope they will go back to previous design. I liked sitepoint because of simplicity and clearity...

[TimPhelan]

Yeh, it wasn't a good move the way they did it. I see them losing a lot of business, but mostly because of the added fees. Sitepoint is an established brand. Why move one of their most valuable assets, the marketplace, to another domain? Then at the same time raise prices?

Originally Posted by deadastronaut0

WOW
It's the WORST transformation of the website I've saw in my life!

This is like changing good, proffesional looking websites to some junk, seriously...

I dont get why they want to this web 2.0 style. I'm not saying that web 2.0 is wrong but in flippa it's horribly implemented. I hoep they wil change it to the last design. I read on the home page they got some bad comments already so I hope they will go back to previous design. I liked sitepoint because of simplicity and clearity...

[Stephen Root]

Originally Posted by TimPhelan

Yeh, it wasn't a good move the way they did it. I see them losing a lot of business, but mostly because of the added fees. Sitepoint is an established brand. Why move one of their most valuable assets, the marketplace, to another domain? Then at the same time raise prices?

To illustrate this, I have to confess I didn't even know SitePoint.com was Flippa.com nowadays. I really don't understand why some companies become so obsessed with their image & brand that they forget business values. I found it profoundly astonishing when I learned that people who open up a restaurant spend most of the "startup time" planning the logo. That's just absurd. Who cares about the name or the brand if there's no customers.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by TimPhelan

Yeh, it wasn't a good move the way they did it. I see them losing a lot of business, but mostly because of the added fees. Sitepoint is an established brand. Why move one of their most valuable assets, the marketplace, to another domain? Then at the same time raise prices?

I wonder also what it will do to the traffic to the sitepoint marketplace. The only reason I ever browsed (and made purchases) in the other sections was because I was already there to buy and sell websites.

In addition, now that I can see who is buying and selling what, I see that the price gouging hasn't deterred all the scam sellers. They're sticking to Flippa like warts. I can only assume that all the scam buyers and auction spoilers are as well. The free-for-all marketplace that was the old Sitepoint, is now the ree-for-all WEB 2.0 marketplace ... it just costs a lot more to do business there.

The old Sitepoint's biggest problem was one of reputation. More and more buyers were getting ripped off and the same with sellers. I heard the stories over and over again in different forums and communication with customers. All the fraudulent buyers has created the need for me to add this disclaimer onto my auctions:

Due to Paypal fraud attempts from previous buyers, domain name will be held for 46 days from buyers not having 100% feedback rating from numerous transactions. I will point the nameservers to your server during the waiting period. Alternatively, buyer can pay for Escrow service for the transaction or wire cash or pay by check (site transferred when check clears).

I had more than one buyer and seller try to rip me off.

[TimPhelan]

According to Alexa it's dipped quite a bit in the last week. To 1606 yesterday in fact. The Warrior forum has passed it up this week.

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

I wonder also what it will do to the traffic to the sitepoint marketplace.

[patricialin]

I've not gone back to list at Flippa ever since I had the trouble of having 3 successful BINs for my auction that went through. The management did not reply my ticket to resolve the matter. Needless to say, I had 2 disappointed customers who went away without getting the site they thought they had won.

Glad to see a few recommendations along the way while I was reading this thread. Looking forward to better auction sites available online!

[razztek]

Since the final prices for sites on SP has been dropping significantly over the past 6 months to a year, the new inflated prices will take a huge chunk out of profits, especially for sites that sell on the low end. I have not and will not ever post an auction there. My $0.02.

[LMC]

I truly think Sitepoint had a good idea creating a separate entity away from their forum, especially if they had "big corporate" in their mind like Ebay, and being purchased for millions from the Big G, etc.

However the process of converting marketplaces was all wrong, they should of let users use both for a while like when AOL and Facebook did their transitions.

I don't mind the fee when selling a site that will sell over $10,000, but still a $1,000 site is going to take a big hit, and back during my avid site flipping days most of my sites were between $800-$2,000.

In overall, it is just a messy launch, but I think they will get back on their feet when they fix everything.

[sbucciarel]

In case anyone missed Mark Harbottles' apology for calling his customers whiners and complainers and telling to go to Digital Point, here it is:

Mark Harbottle says …. Ill stop by here Allen. Perhaps a poor choice of words, but I stand by message

[Matt Mickiewicz]

Originally Posted by patricialin

I've not gone back to list at Flippa ever since I had the trouble of having 3 successful BINs for my auction that went through. The management did not reply my ticket to resolve the matter. Needless to say, I had 2 disappointed customers who went away without getting the site they thought they had won.

Glad to see a few recommendations along the way while I was reading this thread. Looking forward to better auction sites available online!

Hi Patricia,

We're investigating this right now. I'm going to try to rack down your support ticket and find out what happened to it and why you didn't receive a response. By the way, you have 5 feedback invitations left in your account...

By the way, we're now seriously considering disabling the auction comment across all auctions. Please let us know what you think of this idea on our blog (linked below).

[Christopher Hooper]

I do not like the new format. I think sitepoint made a mistake with this.

[LegitIncomes]

Originally Posted by Matt Mickiewicz

By the way, we're now seriously considering disabling the auction comment across all auctions. Please let us know what you think of this idea on our blog (linked below).

I think it's a great idea. I absolutely HATE having to check up on my auction throughout the day, just to see that no idiots or competitors trying to ruin my auction have left negative or misleading questions/comments.

If anyone is SERIOUS about the purchase, they can easily send a PM.

[sbucciarel]

Originally Posted by Josh Kulp

I think it's a great idea. I absolutely HATE having to check up on my auction throughout the day, just to see that no idiots or competitors trying to ruin my auction have left negative or misleading questions/comments.

If anyone is SERIOUS about the purchase, they can easily send a PM.

Yeah ... you notice it's the "buyers" who want them and not the people who are paying for the auction listings. Sellers have always known that it was just sabotage from idiots and competitors ... saw some messages on the blog from brokers that they won't even list their client's sites on Flippa/Sitepoint because of the comments ... they think it's an unprofessional format, and of course, it is.

There's already a report button for people to use if they are concerned about an auction being legitimate and they can pm if they have any real questions.

The site is still lacking information that was present in the Sitepoint site that people in a hurry found useful and necessary for conducting business. They added sellers names to the "ALL" listings page, but not any of the others views, such as Featured or Ending Soon, etc. For the same reasons that people wanted that info available, they want it on all views. A great deal of attention is focused on filters. I never wanted and still don't want filters. I want a fast and informative listing of all the auctions as they flow in. Filters just filter out something that I might find tempting if I read it. Just because I may be looking for something under $500 doesn't mean that I couldn't be persuaded for the right site.

As an aside, here's my experience with accepting someone's offer on one of the auctions that was imported into Flippa when it changed ... a really a confusing experience.

Just got an offer for a website that had been automatically transferred to Flippa and was in private offer state. I accepted the offer, even though it was a lot lower than I had originally listed it for. I then got an automated email from Flippa giving me a link to contact the buyer to arrange payment.

Clicked on the link.



So I go to "My Listings". Nowhere on that page is the buyers' name or a way to contact him. It says 0 bids because it wasn't a bid but nowhere is there "offers" on the auction page. I keep clicking around and finally find him in my pms because he had contacted me earlier about the site. Extremely messy way to do business.

[Kate Anderson]

This surprises me, really. I had a problem the other day with a listing and I directly communicated with a support rep (David, great guy) who helped me out quickly.. in fact, I didn't wait more than 10 minutes for a resolution to the issue.

Sorry you had a different experience, but perhaps as they continue to iron out the bugs, it will get better.. Launch is always crazy and I'm sure they were doing all they could to keep up, but if you lost two buyers because of it, I can see why'd you be fuming..

Originally Posted by patricialin

I've not gone back to list at Flippa ever since I had the trouble of having 3 successful BINs for my auction that went through. The management did not reply my ticket to resolve the matter. Needless to say, I had 2 disappointed customers who went away without getting the site they thought they had won.

Glad to see a few recommendations along the way while I was reading this thread. Looking forward to better auction sites available online!

[mikecorp]

I liked sitepoint better.

[new guy]

It would be nice if there was some way to verify buyers - before they posted a comment or whatever. I often noticed that buyers were "new" and not verified. causes a lot of problems for sellers. If someone wants to bid on my listing, they should have to identify themselves and not be able to get a new username every day. Verify who they are and require them to use the same username. Then when someone is a non payer, everyone can see it. There will be fewer auctions that get messed up.

[yommys01]

Is there any warrior here who has sold a site on flippa ( the new one not sitepoint). I have got some sites to list but I am a little skeptical about the new market place.

[marmo]

IMO if the content is good it wont matter much how the site colors ect look, content is still king online. As long as the colors ect do not hurt the eyes it's all good. However with them fee'ing people to death that isn't good either. Some of the policy's suck there too such as not being able to use $ in the titles. Seems they are inviting competitor sites to overtake them on the market, that can often happen when one just gets to dam sure of themselves and starts to get greedy / slack off.

[markfail]

I have to agree, the new website isnt half the old one was, i for one have stopped using it since the change. Real disapointment since i was an active paying customer.

[sbucciarel]

Just made my first sale through sitedeal.org ... That is nice to see.

[yommys01]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Just made my first sale through sitedeal.org ... That is nice to see.

Great news. Can you tell us how much was it and it is an established or start up site? If you don't mind give link to the auction please.

[sbucciarel]

It was one of my Niche Blogging Treasure Store Dutch auctions of which I sell numerous copies of start-ups Niche Blogs ... a small sale, but a sale none the less. I'll be listing some more of my bigger sites, which are startups later today or tomorrow. Got a couple of killer blog/minisite combos that have just been launched.

[yommys01]

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

It was one of my Niche Blogging Treasure Store Dutch auctions of which I sell numerous copies of start-ups Niche Blogs ... a small sale, but a sale none the less. I'll be listing some more of my bigger sites, which are startups later today or tomorrow. Got a couple of killer blog/minisite combos that have just been launched.

Great. Guess I should give site deal a try and see how it goes. I will update my progress here.

[patricialin]

Originally Posted by Kate Anderson

This surprises me, really. I had a problem the other day with a listing and I directly communicated with a support rep (David, great guy) who helped me out quickly.. in fact, I didn't wait more than 10 minutes for a resolution to the issue.

Sorry you had a different experience, but perhaps as they continue to iron out the bugs, it will get better.. Launch is always crazy and I'm sure they were doing all they could to keep up, but if you lost two buyers because of it, I can see why'd you be fuming..

Hi Kate,

Actually I do understand that this isn't a small site transfer but a huge one. Bugs are inevitable however, I think that they should have allowed more buffer time and perhaps had more beta testers to try out the site before they officially launched it? It's certainly a lesson that most of us, internet marketers can learn from, with regards to mega site launches.

Originally Posted by Matt Mickiewicz

Hi Patricia,

We're investigating this right now. I'm going to try to rack down your support ticket and find out what happened to it and why you didn't receive a response. By the way, you have 5 feedback invitations left in your account...

By the way, we're now seriously considering disabling the auction comment across all auctions. Please let us know what you think of this idea on our blog (linked below).

Hi Matt,

I certainly wasn't expecting a personal reply in this thread but thanks. I can see throughout this thread that you're really doing as much as you can to present things from the point of view of the Flippa management. Kudos to that.

Anyway, I and my client each submitted a ticket to the support desk but that was more than a week ago. Mine's Ticket #1392 under Bug support. But I've since settled the issue with the others and refunded them their BIN payment.

Btw, just to let you know, is there something wrong with the link to your blog in your signature? It should be flippadotcom.wordpress instead of flippadotcom.flippa right?

Well, am looking forward to seeing the site being finalized and stabilized. Looking forward to that!

Warm Regards,
Patricia

[himanuzo]

I prefer the old design of SitePoint.com than Flippa.com design.

[John Hixson]

Just sold my first site via sitedeal as well... as a relative newbie it was very easy to use and the 'recommended' and other options they award some sites are great - I am sure the recommendation technique will help many sites sell.

Good stuff, going to be listing a few more this week I think.

[Cerberus]

I managed to sell a site just 2 hours after listing it. Big plus. Is it because the marketplace is now flippa? I doubt it.

The cost is just way too expensive. $24 to list the site then $24 for the success fee. (split 50-50 with buyer). Damn $48 to sell a $1000 site. What if the buyer fails to pay?

[robdocherty]

To everyone: I am currently developing the only US-based site: domain flip central as well as AffordableFreelance [add dot com to both, no spaces]

I'm the owner of GoogleSEOExpert - and have spent a long time planning and building this out. I'd love any interested parties to contact me via telephone and/or email.

502-287-3302

Please, disregard the colors if you do not like what you see yet. It looks very clean, and I'm a usability consultant so it isn't thrown together.

I hope to hear from you all. Good luck!