Flippa Review
Posted 10th June 2013 at 06:20 PM by imarkedy
Rarely is there a Flippa review written which combines large website purchasing experience with professional and skilled due diligence services. I claim to have done both and it is with such experience I offer a critique with hard, documented evidence as well as research experience enough to back up any claim made.
Being a buyer of profitable websites on Flippa.com for years has taught most important to successful purchase of a profitable website, above every other consideration, is conducting simple yet effective due diligence discovery. As was said on my Tumblr blog and believe me, that post has caused a storm of feedback back by pointing this out; Flippa does very little, if anything, to either educate or protect buyers and it is up to the buyer to assure effective purchase.
Sure, there are ‘disclaimers’, threats made by Flippa against scam artists but truthfully there is no consequence to scam sellers. Getting banned from Flippa? HA! Getting a fresh, new account takes about 3 days and changing a few personal details and Flippa is none the wiser.
The next observation made was not well received by the Vice President of Marketing and Integrity at Flippa; this company does their utmost to isolate ‘buyers from buyers’ offering no recourse for onsite discussion. I believe this strategy is born out of necessity more than ignorance on their part. On the Warrior Forum and admittedly, these two platforms are quite different but Warrior allows ‘buyer to buyer’ and ‘seller to seller’ communication and Flippa shuns any open community discussions.
Flippa does offer customer support but again, should someone prepared to spend serious money trust an ‘insider’ or another seeking to build a profitable online business as are they with nothing to lose and everything to gain by deception (like commission and keeping their job). Many Warrior entrepreneurs are quite different from Flippa wage slaves. While some Warriors hold a day job, they dream of a day when escaping the ‘rat race’ and working for themselves is a reality. I love dreamers!
However, what both Warrior and Flippa have in common is offering a platform for two different sorts of people. The first are, and like I once was before building an online income, ‘starry eyed’ dreamers searching for quick ways to launch a successful, money making, online business. Second are those who make claims to deliver on this dream by exchanging services for the opportunity. What I love about the Forum is most understand the stakes with HYPED claims but willing to take a chance that it just might work out and often, it does.
Flippa is another matter altogether. Nevertheless, buyers must first have the education necessary to make an informed decision while transacting business on Flippa and this is sorely lacking. Of course and as was stated previously yet in another way, this benefits mostly sellers (providers of Flippa product) and Flippa while buyers – well, enough said. Is Flippa a legitimate place to buy a serious website with profits already built in? YES! However, like any other business venture, entrepreneurs must have the necessary information to determine whether the deal is worth pursuing.
Here are just a few things learned over the years with Flippa;
- Sellers rarely know how to properly value their websites
- Buyers rarely understand how to quickly interpret website data
- Buyers rarely understand the right questions to ask outside of PayPal screenshots and traffic statistics
Is asking for sales results (PayPal screen shots) and traffic stats enough? NO! Here’s the issue with relying on such limited data to make such a large purchasing decision;
- PayPal screen shots are often clipped from Google image search
- There exists training videos teaching how to design either fraudulent PayPal results
- Google Analytics data is easily faked using simple Photoshop programs
Many more issues could be listed and certainly more data than just these items are required for sound buying decisions but here are tips to help avoid fraud;
- Ask the seller to provide the last 6 months of PayPal data in PDF form only
- Match sales results with analytics data where possible
- Ask the seller for bank transfer statements (tell them to redact account information)
- If paid search based revenue; demand a sample of keyword groupings
- Match Google analytics data up with current HTML code
Again and let me be clear – even these are hardly enough to prove claims but is a great start. What is most important is buyers are informed and realize the only person in this three-way transaction who has something to lose is YOU!
B.D. Dale
Curious Online Courses
Being a buyer of profitable websites on Flippa.com for years has taught most important to successful purchase of a profitable website, above every other consideration, is conducting simple yet effective due diligence discovery. As was said on my Tumblr blog and believe me, that post has caused a storm of feedback back by pointing this out; Flippa does very little, if anything, to either educate or protect buyers and it is up to the buyer to assure effective purchase.
Sure, there are ‘disclaimers’, threats made by Flippa against scam artists but truthfully there is no consequence to scam sellers. Getting banned from Flippa? HA! Getting a fresh, new account takes about 3 days and changing a few personal details and Flippa is none the wiser.
The next observation made was not well received by the Vice President of Marketing and Integrity at Flippa; this company does their utmost to isolate ‘buyers from buyers’ offering no recourse for onsite discussion. I believe this strategy is born out of necessity more than ignorance on their part. On the Warrior Forum and admittedly, these two platforms are quite different but Warrior allows ‘buyer to buyer’ and ‘seller to seller’ communication and Flippa shuns any open community discussions.
Flippa does offer customer support but again, should someone prepared to spend serious money trust an ‘insider’ or another seeking to build a profitable online business as are they with nothing to lose and everything to gain by deception (like commission and keeping their job). Many Warrior entrepreneurs are quite different from Flippa wage slaves. While some Warriors hold a day job, they dream of a day when escaping the ‘rat race’ and working for themselves is a reality. I love dreamers!
However, what both Warrior and Flippa have in common is offering a platform for two different sorts of people. The first are, and like I once was before building an online income, ‘starry eyed’ dreamers searching for quick ways to launch a successful, money making, online business. Second are those who make claims to deliver on this dream by exchanging services for the opportunity. What I love about the Forum is most understand the stakes with HYPED claims but willing to take a chance that it just might work out and often, it does.
Flippa is another matter altogether. Nevertheless, buyers must first have the education necessary to make an informed decision while transacting business on Flippa and this is sorely lacking. Of course and as was stated previously yet in another way, this benefits mostly sellers (providers of Flippa product) and Flippa while buyers – well, enough said. Is Flippa a legitimate place to buy a serious website with profits already built in? YES! However, like any other business venture, entrepreneurs must have the necessary information to determine whether the deal is worth pursuing.
Here are just a few things learned over the years with Flippa;
- Sellers rarely know how to properly value their websites
- Buyers rarely understand how to quickly interpret website data
- Buyers rarely understand the right questions to ask outside of PayPal screenshots and traffic statistics
Is asking for sales results (PayPal screen shots) and traffic stats enough? NO! Here’s the issue with relying on such limited data to make such a large purchasing decision;
- PayPal screen shots are often clipped from Google image search
- There exists training videos teaching how to design either fraudulent PayPal results
- Google Analytics data is easily faked using simple Photoshop programs
Many more issues could be listed and certainly more data than just these items are required for sound buying decisions but here are tips to help avoid fraud;
- Ask the seller to provide the last 6 months of PayPal data in PDF form only
- Match sales results with analytics data where possible
- Ask the seller for bank transfer statements (tell them to redact account information)
- If paid search based revenue; demand a sample of keyword groupings
- Match Google analytics data up with current HTML code
Again and let me be clear – even these are hardly enough to prove claims but is a great start. What is most important is buyers are informed and realize the only person in this three-way transaction who has something to lose is YOU!
B.D. Dale
Curious Online Courses
