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Followup Flippa Question (No Link Posted)

by dou9las
12 replies
I tried to get help with a Flippa auction, my first ever, last week and was accused of spamming (not by the mods but by 2 specific members.)

This time, I'm not posting a link to my listing. However, I do now have 2 watchers on my listing, and have received an opening bid. Listing closes in 2 days.

That one bidder is now asking me what my reserve price is...Not sure if it is wise to reveal this? I've seen ebayers go both ways about this, but I am not an expert ebayer per se either, and I just am not sure about it.

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

-Doug
#flippa #followup #link #question
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Shain
    It is not uncommon for Flippa buyers to ask what your reserve is. Many will ask in a comment on your listing - others will ask privately.

    The point of a reserve is that you don't want the buyers to know the point at which you will sell.

    Whether you tell them (in private) what you will take or not is how bad you want to sell the site. If you are hurting for cash then quote them a take it or leave it offer. Otherwise just tell them you won't discuss reserve prices.

    Personally I have accepted offers in private after someone PM'd me asking about my reserve. After a bit of back and forth we reached a compromise that worked well for us both. These were on sites I wanted to dump though.

    Bottom line - if you need cash and want to dump the site then start a conversation with them. Otherwise hold that listing until you get a price you can live with.

    Just know there are a LOT of tire kickers out there that are going to ask about reserves.

    Good luck with your sale!
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    • Profile picture of the author TruWebPro
      Well said, Mike. I just wanted to let Doug and everyone else know that I endorse this piece of advice 100%.
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    • Profile picture of the author dou9las
      Originally Posted by Mike Shain View Post

      It is not uncommon for Flippa buyers to ask what your reserve is. Many will ask in a comment on your listing - others will ask privately.

      The point of a reserve is that you don't want the buyers to know the point at which you will sell.

      Whether you tell them (in private) what you will take or not is how bad you want to sell the site. If you are hurting for cash then quote them a take it or leave it offer. Otherwise just tell them you won't discuss reserve prices.

      Personally I have accepted offers in private after someone PM'd me asking about my reserve. After a bit of back and forth we reached a compromise that worked well for us both. These were on sites I wanted to dump though.

      Bottom line - if you need cash and want to dump the site then start a conversation with them. Otherwise hold that listing until you get a price you can live with.

      Just know there are a LOT of tire kickers out there that are going to ask about reserves.

      Good luck with your sale!
      This kind of info is exactly what I wanted and needed... Many thanks.

      -Doug
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  • Profile picture of the author warriortx
    Most watchers are competitors.
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    • Profile picture of the author dou9las
      Originally Posted by warriortx View Post

      Most watchers are competitors.
      Hmm. This is something I hadn't thought about...Most eh?

      I was hoping a little bidding war might break out between the 2 watchers, but maybe that is wishful thinking at this point.

      Thanks for pointing out that angle.
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    • Profile picture of the author TruWebPro
      Originally Posted by warriortx View Post

      Most watchers are competitors.
      That's absolutely right. Same as on eBay, only more so.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Yep ... agree that most watchers are competitors ... I also sell on Flippa and watch certain listings. As for your question on the reserve ... don't post it in the comments but if you want to, answer by pm privately. Personally, I tell them via pm what the reserve is if they ask. If they can't afford it they go away and if they can, they know what it's going to take to get the site. Don't see any reason to keep it a secret, but then my reserve is always very close to my BIN.
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    • Profile picture of the author dou9las
      Originally Posted by sbucciarel View Post

      Yep ... agree that most watchers are competitors ... I also sell on Flippa and watch certain listings. As for your question on the reserve ... don't post it in the comments but if you want to, answer by pm privately. Personally, I tell them via pm what the reserve is if they ask. If they can't afford it they go away and if they can, they know what it's going to take to get the site. Don't see any reason to keep it a secret, but then my reserve is always very close to my BIN.
      Yes, that makes sense to me. In this case I actually followed Mike's advice and didn't reveal the reserve "per se" but actually stated "I'll accept as little as $xxxx for the site if I know we have a done deal." I was also careful to state that I didn't want either of us to violate Flippa's terms by making offers/counter-offers in PMs.

      I was thinking in general it might not be a bad thing to reveal the reserve, but this bidder at Flippa seems pretty shrewd, so in this case I thought it best not to just come out and reveal it.

      Now she has come back and asked me if I would do a "standard website purchase agreement." I wasn't sure why she made that request in lieu of just using an escrow service, if she was concerned about fraud or whatever.

      Any thoughts?
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      • Profile picture of the author dou9las
        Not trying to belabor this, but as I mentioned, one of the bidders on my Flippa listing wants to handle the transaction with a "standard website purchase agreement." I don't even know how this would be structured into the bidding process, unless she would ask that I accept her bid and then close the auction early...(?)

        She hasn't sent me a copy of it yet, but I am concerned that she may be trying to create some kind of loophole or a way of getting her funds back at a later date, if she decides she doesn't want the site or whatever.

        Just wondering if it sounds fishy to anyone, or if this is fairly common in site flipping, etc.?
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        • Profile picture of the author dou9las
          Okay, 7 days has come and gone, and despite the fact that the site for sale has established income, domain history, and could easily be monetized at a much higher level with a few quality backlinks and some advertising, the auction closed with only 1 bid, way lower than my reserve.

          Now, I am going to post the link, and just as in the first time I did so, it is not to spam or for any other "dubious" reason.

          I would very much appreciate some input as to what I could have done differently to make the auction a success.

          Site for Sale: 5PCom.com Turnkey VoIP Reseller Business Available -- Flippa

          Thanks in advance.
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          • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
            I remember I posted in the original thread. I'm not a site flipper, but I remember your BIN and thinking it was way too high.

            You say the site only has 18 customers, and the advertiser revenue is falling. I would say the site was unsaleable at the price you were asking. Had the site been growing - maybe people might be interested, but to me that listing tells me of a site that is going downhill.

            Sorry to be blunt.
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            • Profile picture of the author dou9las
              Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

              I remember I posted in the original thread. I'm not a site flipper, but I remember your BIN and thinking it was way too high.

              You say the site only has 18 customers, and the advertiser revenue is falling. I would say the site was unsaleable at the price you were asking. Had the site been growing - maybe people might be interested, but to me that listing tells me of a site that is going downhill.

              Sorry to be blunt.
              No need to be sorry, I was looking for truthful feedback. Thank you for your original post also, since the thread got deleted I was unable to respond.

              I can see why you would say that quite honestly. But on the point of pricing, isn't the rule of thumb for pricing a site 10-12x monthly revenue? If so, that would calc out to 3200-3800 for this site.

              Just out of curiosity, not that you would want a site in this niche etc. etc., but if you were going to buy a site that brought in a stable $300+ revenue per month, what would you consider the right price? (just for perspective.)

              I actually lowered the BIN price to $2500 in the last hour of the auction hoping to pick up some bids...

              Anyway I tried to convey in the copy that the reason my customer database was declining was that I put the project on the back burner, which is exactly what happened.

              I realize if the site had a pagerank of 3-5 as it has had in the past, 100+ customers, and a maxed out set of textlinkads bringing in $500 to $1000 then not only would it proably sell, but likely for more than I was asking (I would think.) And in that case, I probably wouldn't sell it.

              Problem is, I need cash fast at the moment, but if I can't get a reasonable chunk of money for it, I will likely just hold on to it and try to boost the income back up to where it was and further.
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