Website Selling Strategies for Startup Sites

[Clinton]

This is about Luke's latest post on the Flippa blog. The "tactics" explained in there were originally raised by Michelle who noticed them in training material she pointed us to.

• Shorter auction times get more attention. There’s more of a sense of urgency with a shorter auction; an auction ending in 5 days as opposed to 20 or even 30 might insight people to act sooner.
• Lower starting bid and no reserve encourages bids.
• Listing gets pushed into the Most Active page. With the volume of bids received, the listing was pushed into the Most Active page which may have encouraged more bids.

Good points. But I don't know if I'd agree that they are the main drivers of bidding. They are good strategies for managing an auction. I'd rather the seller focused on more on what he's selling. My suggestions for sellers would be:
Take the time to explain properly what you're selling
Provide stats for traffic and earnings
Be honest. Your auction can quickly go downhill if you get caught fibbing
Answer questions promptly.

Any suggestion you'd like to add?

[Michelle]

Don't copy the auction listing of another seller.
I suggest adding the url into the auction copy. As much as I like the flippa stats bar I also like to browse the site without the bar in the way and check page rank and Alexa myself; having the link in the copy makes it quicker for potential buyers to get to the site directly.

[hooperman]

I think sticking to verifiable facts to describe the listing is a good idea

[tvanslooten]

Provide detailed contact information. I personally give my cell phone in my listings.
Answer your PM's promptly - and treat every message as a potential buyer regardless of how ridiculous or spammy the message may seem (I sold one of my sites for $13,500 to a guy I thought was a spammer at first. I actually ignored his first message. Never judge a book by its cover).
Provide a video tour of your stats and revenue.
Provide ideas on how a potential buyer can increase traffic and revenue - this is huge. Most buyers are lazy and don't have a clue.

[Clinton]

I think sticking to verifiable facts to describe the listing is a good idea

You know I agree with you. Flippa has a new post - Buying a website - Clearly Specify What's Included in the Sale . I don't know if they're fully subscribed to our idea but they seem to be getting there

tvanslooten, good tips!