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Is Site Flipping Still Worth It? Sheer Frustration

by Dave d
18 replies
Yes profits are getting smaller on starter sites but if you can push volume and make quick sales as well as add on's there is decent profit.

So profit is not my gripe its dealing with the buyers, sheer frustration doesn't even come close and I would love to hear from other warriors on how they deal with difficult buyers.

The last 2 buyers have been a complete nightmare to the point where I stopped listing just to deal with these. I took a lot of time to lay out the most basic steps to getting buyers up and running fast and I understand what its like to be new but they want everything yesterday.

It seems my instructions were completely ignored. I tend to respond to most messages within 12 hours and the amount of messages I got from each buyer in that time was unbelievable.

"Where is my site" "Why have you not sent this" etc etc

I sold one for $55 for a quick sale and I kept asking him to change the nameservers on the domain I pushed and he would not, so I could not set up the site for him and he called me a scammer, He now wants full on coaching via skype.

Another contacted flippa support about 13 hours after I sent full instructions requesting his hosting details, saying I was unresponsive and not delivered the site.Within that time frame he bombarded me with messages. I have requested his hosting details at least 4 times and still waiting.

If I start to ramp this up I don't know if it will be worth dealing with people like this, reminds me of ebay buyers.

Are there members that sell starter sites in volume, how do you deal with these people. They don't understand there is a process of changing namservers getting hosting set up etc

They expect you to push a button and their site magically appears on the interweb.
#flipping #frustartion #sheer #site #worth
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    I don't deal with "clients" anymore, at all.

    I used to do 30 - 60 second video ads for under $10. They took me on average 15 minutes to produce from the client's website with background music.

    I finally shut it down completely because of ignorant, demanding clients.

    One lady said I needed to hire three voice actors, two men, and a woman. The production needed to be "Hollywood" quality and BTW she needed it by Thursday.

    For under $10!

    Maybe this is trying to tell you to take a different path, my friend.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Brent Stangel View Post

      I don't deal with "clients" anymore, at all.

      I used to do 30 - 60 second video ads for under $10. They took me on average 15 minutes to produce from the client's website with background music.

      I finally shut it down completely because of ignorant, demanding clients.

      One lady said I needed to hire three voice actors, two men, and a woman. The production needed to be "Hollywood" quality and BTW she needed it by Thursday.

      For under $10!

      Maybe this is trying to tell you to take a different path, my friend.
      Jesus dude still doing the $5 Fiverr Gig for a video.... wonder if he moved on to bigger and better things

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  • Profile picture of the author tenenali
    Haven't used flippa since 2013. I have sold 12 or 13 sites 6 or 7years ago ( i don't remember ) and i could earn decent money untill i sold my cooking recpie site which earn $70 - 100 daily. The buyer was a nightmare. I used to earn with adsense and what he got is chitika.. Finally he end up with earning 20 - $30 per day (cause chitika is 2nd tier network least for me : D )
    and he complained about that to flippa and i totally fedup. It was $3750 (bid) and i refunded. 2nd time the buyer didn't pay (dismis ) 3rd time bidders starting to ask "why did you list 3 times and what happend etc " and finally i sold out more than $4000 and he was happy with that.

    But i totally fedup with flippa buyers and never wanted to go back...

    BTW that's my story but i know many sellers like brad gosse manage it..least not for me...

    who knows
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  • Profile picture of the author amuro
    Originally Posted by Dave d View Post

    Yes profits are getting smaller on starter sites but if you can push volume and make quick sales as well as add on's there is decent profit.

    So profit is not my gripe its dealing with the buyers, sheer frustration doesn't even come close and I would love to hear from other warriors on how they deal with difficult buyers.

    The last 2 buyers have been a complete nightmare to the point where I stopped listing just to deal with these. I took a lot of time to lay out the most basic steps to getting buyers up and running fast and I understand what its like to be new but they want everything yesterday.

    It seems my instructions were completely ignored. I tend to respond to most messages within 12 hours and the amount of messages I got from each buyer in that time was unbelievable.

    "Where is my site" "Why have you not sent this" etc etc

    I sold one for $55 for a quick sale and I kept asking him to change the nameservers on the domain I pushed and he would not, so I could not set up the site for him and he called me a scammer, He now wants full on coaching via skype.

    Another contacted flippa support about 13 hours after I sent full instructions requesting his hosting details, saying I was unresponsive and not delivered the site.Within that time frame he bombarded me with messages. I have requested his hosting details at least 4 times and still waiting.

    If I start to ramp this up I don't know if it will be worth dealing with people like this, reminds me of ebay buyers.

    Are there members that sell starter sites in volume, how do you deal with these people. They don't understand there is a process of changing namservers getting hosting set up etc

    They expect you to push a button and their site magically appears on the interweb.
    Yes, it still is.

    Provided your site gives value to potential buyers in terms of how old is your site and how much revenue your site is generating in the past those number of years.

    Truth being people don't just buy from people.

    They buy from those they liked and trusted.

    And what is it in for them.

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  • Profile picture of the author bolt101
    Respectful suggestions:
    I think making an extra page in your website where you share all the tricks and procedures would be better. However you can make some learning videos as well.
    Some clients will never be satisfied if you give personal or skype support.
    They will be keep questioning.
    Better to show them new way.
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    Clients are a huge ongoing headache. Could be a good omen and a signal for you to move on to more passive forms of online income, imo
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    You are selling at the low end - and getting low end buyers. The flood of people coming online with the goal of earning extra cash, or easy money has only increased in the past couple of years.

    They don't want to spend the time learning to build a site so they buy those "starter" sites - thinking 'that's that'. It's the same as writing for low paying customers - or doing graphics for inexperienced marketers....they are much harder to please than those with some experience working online.

    Many 'new' buyers seem to believe they bought coaching with a low cost product. As a seller, you have to address that from the getgo. Perhaps write a short step by step for "how to work with your new site" and include that with the purchase. Or you could offer hourly paid "consulting" to help someone learn to use the site he bought.
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  • Profile picture of the author spa3212
    I also think Brent Stangel way of dealing clients, Just create enough videos. and Let client or buyer understand on their own. This reduces 90% stress of dealing buyers.
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  • Profile picture of the author rozzski999
    You can still make money with Flippa- the issue is Flippa- make a mistake your banned- increased fees...so not much left. I now concentrate on running 100+ sites making $1 a day...adds up
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  • Profile picture of the author wmrwl
    I haven't had many issues with Flippa besides completely NOT understanding how buyers value websites - smh! I've been browsing Flippa for months and truly cannot figure out any specific valuation method that buyers are using to purchase sites.

    I sold one site back in December for less than 1 year's worth of profit. The site was too small to use a business broker, but it should have gotten at least 2 to 2.5 time EBIDTA.

    I have another site on there as we speak so I'll let you know how it does. Although I don't sell "starter sites" - I've been selling "established" sites.

    I hope that helps and good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author rozzski999
    Keep your sites- put affiliate offers on them and make money.
    Flippa is the worse compay ever.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Dave,

    Can you just sell the domain and web site then "push" it to them but not offer to set it up for them? You could always suggest they get a freelancer, Fiverr guy, etc. to do the actual set up - you could even include in the sale a list of people (freelancers or companies) that do site installations. Maybe it means charging slightly less for your "flip" but if it avoids the bottleneck of dealing with the new owner . . . it's probably worth it.

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author homejobpro
    From a buying perspective the most value I've gained from Flippa is learning a few unique business models that work surprisingly well and also coming across a few talented sellers/developers who have since become my go-to developers.

    In terms of the quality of the sites on Flippa, 95% are basically worthless.
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    You are selling websites for $55 and wonder why your clients are crap? Because you are selling to the bottom of the barrel in terms of buyer quality.

    Sell a website for $1000+ and you will get better clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author Umairee95
    It is worth if you know how the market works.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan S
    I understand your sentiment as I also deal with lots of "dumb" customers. The way I see it, I think working with websites maybe too easy for you but it is too technical for them. Why not make a very good video tutorial to guide them in everything related to the business like changing the nameservers, etc.?
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  • Profile picture of the author Shimmer Zone
    I have had success recently building niche quiz sites using http://quizzerland.com I have sold 6 sites in the last year.

    What frustrates me is seeing below par affiliate websites listed on Flippa. There seems to be thousands of them! Try to build up a nice profit over a few months before listing, the starter site sections is not worth it IMO, it is to overcrowded.
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