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Flippa strategies

by DomainSky
19 replies
Figured I should create this thread for all of you to share your Flippa strategies.

For me, what I found out that works out best is buying front page upgrade after 24 hrs for more exposure, and then the bids start to come slowly (and more last minute).

And not to waste money on any other upgrades except front page.

What irritates me is how they disabled the 24 hours and made auctions minimum of 3 days. Does anyone know a work around for this?
#flippa #strategies
  • Profile picture of the author tune
    I am having the same problem too. I really liked the 24 hours feature. I'm not a fan of the 3 day minimum right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
    Yeah. I'm searching around for a workaround. Someone else on here posted it, but it looks like flippa fixed that. :/

    Ultimately, they still get the money, so I don't see why they are doing this. Maybe so more people would buy front page listing... or something along those lines.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    Interesting stuff. I used Flippa back when I was a newbie, but heavily rely on my list now to sell sites. I've often wondered if I might do well to put a few on Flippa to see what would happen.

    If I do experiment a bit, I'll definitely try starting the bidding at $1.
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    • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
      Originally Posted by Lisa Gergets View Post

      Interesting stuff. I used Flippa back when I was a newbie, but heavily rely on my list now to sell sites. I've often wondered if I might do well to put a few on Flippa to see what would happen.

      If I do experiment a bit, I'll definitely try starting the bidding at $1.
      I am new to website flipping.

      What do you mean by "rely on my list?"
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      • Profile picture of the author Piper Anderson
        Originally Posted by DomainSky View Post

        I am new to website flipping.

        What do you mean by "rely on my list?"
        As you sell more sites (at least this has been the case for me), the people who buy those sites will often want to buy more from you, if you produce quality websites. Sometimes, people who bid on your sites and didn't win still want to buy from you. You can ask these people if they would like to become part of your list of preferred buyers. They give you their email addresses, and you let them know first when you have a website to sell. Once your list is big enough, you can often sell most of your sites directly to the list, rather than on Flippa or other auction sites.

        I'm sure there's a more automated way to collect email addresses for a buyer's list for websites, such as sending them to an opt-in page using aWeber, but I still rely on personally asking people if they would like to be on my list. I've never had anyone say no, and I've got a good, responsive list now who buys from me regularly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kim Phoenix
    I personally think that a shorter time frame works better when selling sites at Flippa, as then it forces people to make a quick decision rather than think they'll come back to it later, but then they forget to do that. When selling on Flippa, I always try to come up with some special offer so that they will want to buy right away at the BIN price (such as a couple of free 400-word articles that they can use to promote the site, social bookmarking, etc.)
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    go over to flippa and see what is workign for others.

    See if you can reverse engineer, not copy but make really good sites even better.

    Go and see what their customers are liking and disliking...and improve, set it up with some traffic and viola. $$$$
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    • Profile picture of the author Flipfilter
      I think the three day minimum boils down to a business decision.

      Flippa is a marketplace that relies on having enough listings to attract sellers. I assume they've got their key metrics tracked like no# registrations, pageviews, time on site and returning visitors.

      If over a three day period they aim to have 10 live listings at any time (numbers purely for example sake!) they can either do this either by attract 10 sellers who list for 3 days or 30 sellers who list for 24 hours. By eliminating the 1 day sale, it's less work for the same result.

      I think as x3xsolxdierx3x has already said, social proof is one if the best strategies once you've solved the problem of getting people to your listing. Things like

      1) Putting a telephone number for people to call if they prefer to talk

      2) Providing a URL for people to see what you do if you sell sites for a living (also a great chance to build a list)

      3) Talk about any other sites you've sold

      4) Try to never delete comments (even the semi-retarded ones) unless they're downright offensive. Viewers will make up their own mind about people who cant positively contribute.

      5) Try to be as transparent as possible about problems you've had or are having. Anyone doing their DD will probably uncover things like a dip in profit or traffic, so it's best to get in there and explain it with a good reason.

      Justin
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisyates
    If your site has any value, I like the $1 no reserve strategy the best. If you've done your research to find what the site will sell for, written a good listing, and manage your auction well, you'll get what the site is worth.
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  • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
    Thanks very much for all your contributions to my thread. I will definitely keep them in mind. If anyone else has any further strategies please be sure to share them with the community here.

    EDIT:

    I have been doing some research. And found this: flipwebsites.com/selling-websites/gray-hat-strategy-for-flippa-auctions/

    Has anyone found that strategy to work efficiently? Is it worth the risk? How well will it perform for start up sites?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jayshankar Dangre
    Don't try anything that is not white hat, once caught you will lose your credibility.
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    • Profile picture of the author DomainSky
      Originally Posted by Jayshankar Dangre View Post

      Don't try anything that is not white hat, once caught you will lose your credibility.
      So gray hat is not allowed, right?

      It doesn't say it anywhere in the Flippa rules though... and technically it's not like you're cheating the system if you read that guide, it's simply not being online for a certain amount of time (prime example is such as sleeping).

      Thanks for the heads up however, I'll be sure to stick with white hat
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  • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
    Banned
    Originally Posted by DomainSky View Post

    Yeah. I'm searching around for a workaround. Someone else on here posted it, but it looks like flippa fixed that. :/

    Ultimately, they still get the money, so I don't see why they are doing this. Maybe so more people would buy front page listing... or something along those lines.
    I think justin explained it the best but to a certian degree they do get more front page listing request... I remember one auction where I spent almost $400 for 1 listing to constantly have it bump to the 1st page.
    Originally Posted by x3xsolxdierx3x View Post

    My first and only experience with Flippa, I began bidding at one dollar for a site, and slowly walked the bid up to $1,000...with 44 total bids, and roughly 20 separate bidders. While that price did fall short of my reserve price, and I ultimately didn't sell, I did learn quite a bit.

    I have spoken to others who have had tremendous success beginning bidding at $1. It's all about building that social proof of interest in your site.
    Hmm, I have been realizing more and more the importance and potential fo social proof especially online
    Originally Posted by Flipfilter View Post

    I think the three day minimum boils down to a business decision.

    Flippa is a marketplace that relies on having enough listings to attract sellers. I assume they've got their key metrics tracked like no# registrations, pageviews, time on site and returning visitors.

    If over a three day period they aim to have 10 live listings at any time (numbers purely for example sake!) they can either do this either by attract 10 sellers who list for 3 days or 30 sellers who list for 24 hours. By eliminating the 1 day sale, it's less work for the same result.

    I think as x3xsolxdierx3x has already said, social proof is one if the best strategies once you've solved the problem of getting people to your listing. Things like

    1) Putting a telephone number for people to call if they prefer to talk

    2) Providing a URL for people to see what you do if you sell sites for a living (also a great chance to build a list)

    3) Talk about any other sites you've sold

    4) Try to never delete comments (even the semi-retarded ones) unless they're downright offensive. Viewers will make up their own mind about people who cant positively contribute.

    5) Try to be as transparent as possible about problems you've had or are having. Anyone doing their DD will probably uncover things like a dip in profit or traffic, so it's best to get in there and explain it with a good reason.

    Justin
    Thanks for the very valid response, looking to list an auction soon to sell my WSO for some lump sum profit will definitely apply these tips
    Originally Posted by Terri Tutten View Post

    I would definitely stick with white hat techniques on Flippa; you want to build a solid reputation, and then you'll start to build your own list of eager, hungry buyers who are ready to buy your sites!

    Terri
    I'd have to agree with Terri. The flippa mods are Great but when you screw around with them they aren't afraid to ban your @ss. Almost got ban one time for pming potential bidders (which I didn't know was against TOS) but had it promptly sorted out and they were very understanding.

    So if you find yourself in some sticky issue the support isn't useless. They actually listen...well at least in my experience.
    Originally Posted by DomainSky View Post

    Figured I should create this thread for all of you to share your Flippa strategies.

    For me, what I found out that works out best is buying front page upgrade after 24 hrs for more exposure, and then the bids start to come slowly (and more last minute).

    And not to waste money on any other upgrades except front page.

    What irritates me is how they disabled the 24 hours and made auctions minimum of 3 days. Does anyone know a work around for this?
    Thanks, I have also notice that most 30 day auction don't get any activity to the last 12 hours.

    What I generally like to do is launch a 7 day auction and bump it up the 1st day to get the activity and watchers then bump it up around the middle (if it's a big site) and one last bump at the end last 12-24 hours. That works pretty well.

    Also I find the bolding is useful depending on your surrounding listings (I notice sometimes the non upgraded listing looks more obvious when everyone elses are upgraded and look the same lol)
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  • Profile picture of the author alexander13
    humbledmarket,

    "Almost got ban one time for pming potential bidders"

    What does that mean? Were these people who'd viewed your listing or just people you started contacting to view your listing?
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  • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
    Some great questions and great responses here. Folks definitely should listen to Terri Piper, and Suzanne - these ladies know their stuff.

    Also in case you've not seen it - there is an all in one thread about flipping as well here on the forum:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...web-sites.html

    best,
    --Jack
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