Any New News from Flippa?

[benitez17]

It's been a while since Luke or Dave posted with any new updates from Flippa, so I figured I would post a new thread instead of digging up one of the old ones to see if any progress is being made towards moderating listings and/or making it clear that people aren't allowed to interject their opinions or estimates into these auctions. Here's a few examples of auctions that should be modified or deleted that I came across today while browsing sites:

1. http://flippa.com/auctions/86952/Pli...K-Alexa-Ranked

I find it hard to believe that a link dump site has an average of 30 page views per visitor. Could Flippa please stop allowing people to base their traffic stats off of AWStats and the other applications that include bots as visitors and every HTTP request as a page view? It makes the nice search features that were added recently almost useless if someone is looking for a site with traffic.

2. http://flippa.com/auctions/86824/Cpa...a-month-Easily

If it's so easy to make $1000 a month, why can't the current owner do it? That statement is misleading, to be kind.

3. http://flippa.com/auctions/86935/Mus...lished-Website

Free MP3 downloads. Need I say more? There are several other similar sites that came up for sale recently. This is just the latest one. I thought sites like these were not allowed at Flippa?

4. The numerous iPad domains and other similar domains/sites that are a target for a copyright infringement lawsuit if they manage to be successful enough for someone at Apple or anywhere else to care about them. There are so many of them that I didn't want to bother posting all of the links.

It seems like Flippa rolled out a few nice features and was quickly deleting auctions that violated their terms when we were really cracking the whip and pointing out all of the junk listed there, so we should probably stay on top of them as long as it is one of the primary places where people list sites for sale.

It's frustrating to wade through all of the garbage listed at the site as someone who is actively looking for sites to buy, and it's got to be annoying for the few people who are selling quality sites to have to try and shine through the sites like the ones I listed above and the people who are asking $30,000 for a site that makes $50 a month because they worked hard on it. For some reason, the quality of sites listed there seems to ebb and flow, and it definitely looks like it is at an ebb right now.

[tke71709]

Here's a few examples of auctions that should be modified or deleted that I came across today while browsing sites:

4. The numerous iPad domains and other similar domains/sites that are a target for a copyright infringement lawsuit if they manage to be successful enough for someone at Apple or anywhere else to care about them. There are so many of them that I didn't want to bother posting all of the links.

I don't think that Flippa can do much about these, they're really opening up a legal can of worms for themselves if they start policing some trademarks and not others.

This is a buyer beware issue as far as I am concerned.

[benitez17]

I don't think that Flippa can do much about these, they're really opening up a legal can of worms for themselves if they start policing some trademarks and not others.

This is a buyer beware issue as far as I am concerned.

I'd like to see them make some effort on this front, but it's just because the sheer volume of these domains/sites that I come across is annoying. These sellers generally point out that the domain is valuable because it has a trademarked name in it, so they aren't hard to find if someone is watching the listings.

I think they should police all trademarks that they are aware of (getting rid of the domain with the name of the hot item of the day in the URL auctions would clear up 99% of the problem), but maybe you're right.

[Clinton]

if any progress is being made towards moderating listings and/or making it clear that people aren't allowed to interject their opinions or estimates into these auctions.

They initially voiced support for the idea and said they'd consider it, but if I remember right, they chickened out in the end. I've done some number crunching. Personally, I don't believe their business model would support such a move, they'd go bust.

With regard the MP3 sites, illegal downloads, trademark violations etc., - it's not in Flippa's interest to keep them out of the marketplace.

I suspect the extent to which they are willing to take action on these is purely on a butt-protection basis i.e. we'll take action when brought to our attention ...till someone bothers to do that we can claim we didn't know about it. Kinda like Youtube (and eBay): "It's a UGC for crying out loud, we can't be expected to vet everything users put up!"

One of the advantages of not putting a moderator in place is so they can say the auction ran because they "genuinely" didn't know it existed. Install any pre-mod and that shifts the onus...

If a listing is deemed in violation of rules and is deleted the seller doesn't get his money back, does he? That's another good reason to not pre-mod.

And notice that such sellers don't get banned

[benitez17]

If they just want to turn a blind eye to the sites that violate their terms of service and/or violate laws in most Western countries (including Australia), then they provide little value to me and sellers of legitmate sites.

I realize that the core of the issue is that Flippa wants to have its cake and eat it too, but I don't know that it is possible forever with Digitalpoint's free marketplace making real steps towards competing with them on quality. If ever get someone to actively moderate that forum, it could be a real compeitor to Flippa because they already have the traffic and awareness needed to make it a success.

[3Six]

benitez17, they do more than turn a blind eye, they positively encourage the scams. I'm not talking about the trademark violation kind but the passing off opinion as fact kind, the kind that hypes people's expectations and partners with other hypers to encourage the myth that it's easy to just buy a Flippa template and generate enough money to make it all worthwhile. I'd put money on it that over 90% of those buyers discover the truth, write off their loss and give up.

But Flippa will continue to dominate the market as nobody else is doing anything about presenting some decent competition.

[hooperman]

I'd put money on it that over 90% of those buyers discover the truth, write off their loss and give up.

My thoughts entirely. I've often thought about doing a little survey of template sites sold over a year ago to see how those sites are doing now. But then I can't be bothered!

The template, the niche, the keyword researched articles (usually crap) sold on these sites won't make them a success but the sellers would have you believe otherwise. Harumph.

[Clinton]

Apart from scams, listing of illegal sites and sites that are in violation of Flippa's own terms they have sites without domains, sites built on dropped domains (4 days old but claiming to be four years old), a particular fondness for stepping on Apple's trademark toes, sites screaming about 1000s per month when they are so new they haven't been indexed by Google yet and listings that are advertising other services (sign up to my list). And that's just what I found in a few minutes from the listings on the first page I landed on.

I've got a nice $50K site I want to sell but I cringe at it sitting in the middle of all that flotsam and jetsam.

[benitez17]

Clinton, why not list the site for sale here? There are a number of regular posters who might be interested, and you'd be in control of what it is surrounded by.

[tke71709]

I've done some number crunching. Personally, I don't believe their business model would support such a move, they'd go bust.

IMHO there simply aren't enough decent sites being listed for sale to support a marketplace like Flippa's if they eliminated all the misrepresented sites.