Is it Flippa's Responsibility To Stop This Worrying Trend

If they use the word guarantee, they're going to get in trouble. Report the listing to the mods. and let them deal with it.

TomG.

I don't really see anything wrong with it, if they are honest in the description. They clearly state it makes no money, so what is the problem?

They are just getting eyeballs to offers with there titles,


Kieks

I have noticed the same thing ... either guaranteed to make blah blah
or $4000 Month Potential

It all means exactly the same thing ... yet another startup loser site with ZERO traffic and ZERO revenue.

I used to buy as many sites on flippa as I sold but I haven't bought a Flippa site in ages ... it is so full of pure crap.

Flippa clean it up? They don't have any quality TOS and they make a bundle from this garbage.

The problem with feedback is that it usually goes along the lines of "great looking site easy transfer seller was very helpful". There will be very few people that will actually hold out the 2 months or so it takes the site to earn before leaving feedback, presuming they put the effort into making it earn.

Again going back to ebay thats why the feedback system is useless because the majority of it is "fast delivery great seller" "looks nice cant wait to use it"

I've seen several people do this and make clones of popular sites and repor tthe other sites earnings in the description

:/

There's another problem too with this.

Now that this seller "guarantees" $300 a month - guess what? All the other sellers of brand new sites are going to feel like they have to make the same claim or no one will buy their sites.

I used to sell a LOT of brand new sites over there. Supported my family with it and never once claimed that they made any money. I had a lot of happy buyers and actually some of them still email me wanting to know when I am going to list more sites (I haven't sold one over there in over 6 months!)

Lee

Oh - I wasn't even thinking of it that way! Of course, that really sucks then. I just don't understand how the person can GUARANTEE that and then still be able to sleep at night. Karma's gonna get 'em sooner or later.

The trouble is, many former "honest" sellers have grown tired of seeing their unique content (which takes hours and hours to create) get passed over while these autoblog sites and PLR sites that take 5 minutes to put up sell consistently for higher prices than unique stuff.

I know several people who used to sell exclusively unique, quality blogs and ClickBank sites who now sell exclusively PLR and autoblogs simply because they make far, far more money. Buyers do not appreciate quality sites, anymore. They will not pay for "unique" content these days. I've even seen sites with unique eBooks never even reach $200.

The scariest thing I have gathered since starting this thread is the amount of people that think this is ok and its just marketing at its finest. Yikes !!!!

Flippa.....seems to me like the name itself implies fast money.
But for who?

I fully agree with you on this one.

I agree that flippa should have a responsibility in the postings. I remember when it was sitepoint and I got ripped off once. I reported it to them and they acted like the could care less. They just advised me to get legal counsel and wouldn't even ban the guy who did it. I since have sued the guy in court and won but it took almost 2 years and now I have to hunt him down and try to get payed.

Its not much different than 95% of the WSO's that are sold here. Is there something wrong? Yes I guess... but it will never change. Flippa could raise the flag in their TOS, but if the seller lists stats and revenue its on the buyer to do their due-diligence in researching the offer before they buy.

Just my $0.02.. I don't buy sites, and I have listed a few, but I didn't promise wealth from it.

With these garbage MFA sites you will make zero money. Yeah, I said zero. This is a scam. Hope Flippa stops this now. They keep getting worse. Still miss the old site point, but it is pointless now.

From my point of view, the best practice is to make public comment requesting the seller to provide proof of revenue or PM the seller about it. Couple of people who have bought sites from me have done it. There is no point buying shadow!

WSO's have to be approved to be listed... I think it's up to Flippa to adopt the same attitude and hire someone to help them do the same.

Saying that however, the buyers whether they are new to IM or not - need to take responsibility for their own purchases.

Are you guys educating the buyers with your own sales copy as to why they are bad and selling false promises and you are good and selling a real business model?

This problem is not limited to Flippa. Someone mentioned the WSO section as a comparison before. All markets are the same. There are always people out there stretching the truth and under-cutting the competition for quick sales. Get in your customers face and tell them what to avoid or get burnt.

Most smart buyers want value for money, no matter their budget. Let them know what real value is.

If the headline is suckering buyers into a scam then write a better headline (without the lies) and give them solid proof about why your site is better than the auto blog.

I have actually been watching a particular seller quite closely on Flippa who has been doing exactly this tactic.

The seller was taking PLR blogs that were bought for around $17 or less and selling them for over $500 without changing anything and guaranteeing income of $300 minimum. These were sites with 0 traffic and 0 previous revenue.

So, the seller wasn't really selling a website...but rather a marketing package or tactic. The marketing package would be revealed only to the winning buyer.

Whenever I see income guaranteed I get concerned. So I waited and watched closely. You can't say its fraud if the seller actually is sending traffic and getting results. However....

Just recently, her numerous customers Adsense accounts were banned and so was the sellers Flippa account, but only after these buyers lost...not only their initial investment in the website, but they also got their Adsense accounts banned as well as the traffic tactics being used were obviously against Google Adsense TOS.

Unfortunately the marketplace just isn't what it used to be. The emphasis used to be on providing unique content...unfortunately, the unique content is simply not valued and the buyers are just not willing to pay for it, obviously to their own detriment.

There are also many sellers who emphasize the fact that you are not buying a business...you are in fact, only buying a 'website' only. WOW, really...thanks for clarifying that one! How stellar of you - lol.

As always, buyers must beware, especially in today's economic market.

These are the types of sites that really makes Flippa look bad.

Whenever I sell a site on there, I clearly state all of my income and traffic proof so every viewer can see it. I try to be the more transparent I can so I don't raise any questions.

If I'm looking to buy a site, those are some of the first things I'm looking for. If they don't look legit or something seems even the slightest fishy, I'm getting far away.

I was following this seller as well... the "$300 adsense guarantee" listings. When I first saw his/her listings, I was really curious what this person is up to. Now I feel really bad for those buyers who got their adsense account banned.

I am a Flippa seller myself. Usually, even if my website has a track record of guaranteed income for past 6 months, I mention, Monthly Steady Income. How can one guarantee an Income?

I think there are two aspects of this issue.

There are experienced and new buyers. Unfortunately Flippa is having more new buyers, I guess. And those scammers are specifically targeting those new buyers. Now, we could say, it's always buyer's responsibility - but this is okay if the buyers are experienced. Can we expect a child buying an Oil for $150 a barrel (Current rate is $75) and still blame him that, it was his responsibility before buying?

This is where I feel it's wrong. And I think all sellers should ask Flippa to create their Quality Guidelines to support the business. After all sellers are the ones helping Flippa prosper. Sellers are the actual customers of Flippa. I believe, there must be a Strict Quality Guideline for listing an auction.

Here's the problem I think the OP is talking about. There are only a certain amount of buyers w/ a certain amount of money. If the buyer buys a legit site that makes them legit money, then that money goes right back into the system. It only takes one buyer to cycle a lot of money around in flippa.

However, when people start selling this illegitimate crap, it ends the buyers spending cycle. The buyer buys the site, knowing that whatever he makes will go back into buying another site. So when the site doesn't make money, the buying ends.

We can only hope that buyers are savvy enough to eventually see through this crap. Or that flippa is smart enough to regulate the bad element out of the system.

I disagree! The market flooded with these "garbage" auto sites can actually help those making REAL sites.

It's not that hard to show that your site is the real deal, provided it is.

We're all too quick to "blame" flippa for the worlds troubles.

Ostensibly, flippa is simply a market place. Just like the local Chruch, Council etc who offer their grounds for a fee for people to setup flea markets, flippa is a place to "trade" websites.

Other than making the market place safe from "unethical" sites, fliipa is not responsible for what is sold and for how much.

Selling websites on flippa is the classic example of "if something sounds too good to be true, it is" The fact that people think that a site registered and made yesterday, will earn them $1,000 a week without doing a thing, is in my opinion not flippa's responsibility.

It's sad though that people believe in and others still sell snake oil.