I flip sites for a living - how can I help?

That's a general guide for a blog but make sure it is in context. For example: if you buy a blog where the previous owner posts once a month - post once a week. If they post once a week, post once a day. And if they already post once a day - don't bother

You are looking to improve on what is already there. I don't really sell startup sites anymore - my main lucrative acquisitions are blogs that need a bit of TLC.

I'd challenge you to give it a go. If you are a great writer, and it sounds as if you are - it can be extremely lucrative. Many people refer to flipping as building and selling new sites - but I tend to look at established sites that can be improved. Domain age, PR, SEO, design have already been done for you. If you have a browse on DP you can pick up some awesome sites for around the $500 mark.

Hope that adds some clarification.

You're not likely to sell a 1 month old site that has no traffic or revenue for $1,000 unless it's really something special. If you are good at writing, you can upsell your writing services, as was mentioned, but to sell the site, many Flippa buyers are looking for traffic and revenue. Money talks ...

Yes, you are correct - it's a tough market and you need to be careful. DP is probably the worst. Flippa you just need to be careful and do your due diligence. One of my JV partners actually wrote this interesting article which I thought would be useful for all (from a seller perspective):

To get started - the very first thing to do is NEVER enable the "Accept all bids" option, even when you're off to bed for the next 8 hours or out of town for a day. Having this option enabled is a surefire way to attract loads of illegit bids, as bidders are informed about the fact that their bids gets automatically accepted BEFORE they place their bid.

That said, here's my personal checklist that I go through, each and every time I get a new bid (this applies to bids that are in excess of $500 - with smaller auctions, I tend to go with a more relaxed approach as time is money):

1. Open up the bidder's account information page and check the general information, such as a) what's the age of their account; b) how much feedback do they have; c) if they've been actively bidding on other auctions.

2. If the bidder has some feedback, I take a closer look at what's written, as well as check the profiles of those who have left the feedback to make sure that they're legitimate accounts (click on the "View feedback history for [username]" button).

3. (Optional) In case of high amounts ($1,000+), combined with some doubt, i.e. the bidder has only a few pieces of feedback, I sometimes go the extra mile to actually PM the people who have left them feedback, asking if everything actually did go as planned. This is an important step, because more often than not, feedback is left right after the completion of a sale, and it can't be easily edited in the future, even if the buyer files a PayPal dispute a month later!

4. In case everything checks out, the account is at least a few months old and there's some positive feedback, I go ahead and accept the bid.

5. In case there are doubts (very new account, some negative feedback, etc.) I tend to ASK FOR A DEPOSIT (a small sum, usually between 5% and 10% of the bid, maximum $100) before accepting the bid. It's pretty simple really - I just tell the bidder to deposit a small amount via PayPal to guarantee their bid. Of course, I thoroughly explain the need for this and pay the money back promptly after the auction ends or after they've been outbid.

Just in case some are wondering - I've had a chat with Flippa's staff about this and they have told me that they're fine with this - however (and that is important) in case you require deposits, you need to make sure that both your site's traffic details and revenue details are 100% correct and proven by screenshots! Also, Flippa obviously reserves the right to close down your account permanently in case you fail to return any of the deposits within 48 hours of the end of the auction.

NB! SPEND A LOT OF TIME PREPARING YOUR DEPOSIT REQUEST PM! I can't stress this enough - most buyers on Flippa are complete newbies and can't even think of any scamming possibilities, meaning that unless you make things very clear, YOU will be the one suspected in a scam attempt.

Also, it's most certainly not a good idea to ask for deposits if your own account doesn't already have extensive history and a nice amount of feedback.

6. If the bidder refuses to pay the deposit then I ask if they have any alternative options to prove their legitimacy and if they don't then tough luck. Sure, you'll lose a bid or two every now and then but considering the amount of time (and money) it takes to relist an auction (as well as the fact that it will show as a relisting and, talking from experience, relistings tend to sell FAR worse than original listings, it makes sense to sacrifice a few bids.

7. Once the deposit is paid, I approve the bid instantly and also check the "Approve all bids from this bidder" option to allow him to continue bidding without the need for further manual approval.

Some additional tips:

* DO NOT trust Flippa's ranking system. Flippa gives enormously high ranking boosts for very simple things, such as connecting an established Facebook and Linkedin account (while the account details are only visible to Flippa themselves), allowing scammers to acquire a trust rank of +12 with minimal effort.

* Don't pay any attention to the country the bidder displays. Flippa's phone verification is extremely primitive, and it's very easy to specify US as your country even if you verify your account using a Lebanese phone number, for instance.

That pretty much sums up the due diligence you should do on Flippa. It sounds like a lot of effort, but you will save yourself a lot of hassle and heartache by following these rules everytime you sell.

If it's a high end site, use escrow.com. I've taken payments up to $2,500 for a site with Paypal, although it's probably not a good idea. I just had numerous conversations with the buyer and developed trust in them. Checking to see if a buyer has previous feedback is one way to see if they have had honest transactions previously. Talk to the buyer.

There's never any guarantee that you won't get ripped off (except with escrow), but over time you get a gut feeling about buyers.

Yommy,

I don't know what I've done to offend you, but I feel that is slightly unfair. I wasn't aware of the rule regarding signature, and as soon as I realised my mistake I removed it. I even PM'ed a mod to clarify off my own back.

In regards to not giving to the forum: I have donated to be a war room member and there are no wrong intentions with this thread. I am merely here to share my knowledge and build up a good reputation. I am very well regarded on other forums, and have never sold a thing to any of them.

I'm not here to brag, I merely wanted to begin to be an active contributor.

Apologies if I offended you, but I'm a nice guy really

Thomas

It's not impossible but highly unlikely - especially on marketplaces such as Flippa where you need to prove ownership. You definitely need to own a domain. Hosting wise, free is fine, although I'd recommend investing in some cheap shared hosting as soon as you can (so you have 100% control over your domains and files).

Hope that helps!

Come on yommys ... there's more than enough room for all of us flippers. The guy is putting out info and trying to begin a reputation and undoubtedly will sell something sooner or later ... as do we all.

Man, I really tried to ignore this but your seeming jealousy and desire to take over this thread is way over the top. Look, I get that you are a "Site flipping" guru but give this guy a break. He came here looking to help. Am I missing something here?

You point out that he has a sig file leading to a WSO for site flipping ... uh, so do you ...???? If you would kindly leave it alone and allow others to benefit from this thread I would appreciate it.