Where to Sell A Website - Flippa.com

[Clinton]

Flippa is one of the best known places for selling a website. Flippa was originally part of the Sitepoint marketplace but as it got more successful (and started earning more money) it was moved over to its own domain and a new company. It's still owned by the same people but is managed by a Dave Slutzkin and Luke Moulton.

It's a very busy marketplace with a lot of new sites posted for sale everyday. But it has attracted some criticism for the huge increase in the cost for sellers and buyers. Flippa justifies it as required to pay for the extra support they feel is necessary.

What are your thoughts on Flippa as a marketplace for sellers?

[hooperman]

Light the blue touch paper.

Flippa is overloaded with low end junk aimed at first time buyers who don't know any better. Luke's recent newb blog posts indicate that this is the market they're targeting, and it seems to be working very well for them. It's not working for me though (apart from feeding my blog!). I'm sure other marketplaces have the same problem with junk listings but I tend to only look at Flippa and Goddady these days.

It's a shame Flippa can't do something with the revenue they earn to actually help the user, like performing some kind of moderation of listings (if only to check that traffic stats listed = screenshots presented), incorporating something "like" escrow etc.

[Clinton]

I suppose for sellers that's a good thing?

As long as there are a lot of first time buyers it makes it easier for sellers who specialize in templates, cookie cutters etc. I suppose as long as there is a market for that stuff, great. But it's does become quite difficult for buyers looking for established, profit making sites.

What would be your preference if you want to sell? Where would you list? Or does it depend on the type of site you're selling?

[WSYSBroker]

There is certainly a market out there for Flippa. There are many buyers out there looking to buy sites for $500-$1000 either just to play with or because they see the 'potential'.
I agree that for buyers looking for established sites, Flippa is not the source. There really isn't only one good place for sellers to post an established, profitable website. There are many broker websites and there is certainly value in aligning yourself up with one if you are a seller, but sellers must beware as some brokers are MUCH better than others and it is at times hard to determine who is good and who isn't.

[Clinton]

WSYSBroker, so why don't you write us a quality piece on how to choose a broker? Provide full disclosure that you're a broker yourself and people who like your advice may click through to your site.

Drop me a PM or email with the draft if you want.

Here's my own shot at advice on choosing a broker.

[WSYSBroker]

I will certainly take a shot at it!

[Melissa]

When a marketplace charges for listing it makes sense only for those sites which have a reasonable chance of sale. It seems there are lots of sellers in Flippa who are paying money but listing sites that don't have a snowball's chance in hell.

Is there some hidden agenda behind that like maybe to get links?

[Clinton]

Melissa, $19 would be better spent on buying links elsewhere. I don't believe it's tthe link they're after. Some are just clueless - they list a pretty worthless site because they really believe they can get a couple of hundred thousand for it. Others are experimenting with a new business model - buying a domain, setting up a template on it and providing an easy route for people new to websites to jump in and try their hand.

[LukeMoulton]

Melissa, we identified that people might be using Flippa to effectively buy links so we no-followed the main URL link and also framed the preview page. Up to a month ago people were listing sites and ridiculous BIN's to generate interest and traffic - that seems to have died down now.

I'm sure everyone has their own criteria for finding sites they want to invest in. The advanced search functionality on Flippa can be used to short list quality sites based on your criteria. I've got a couple of custom searches saved that show me (for example): sites with a minimum PR 2 and (claimed) revenue of $50-$500 per month. If there's anything you think we could add to this to help find the diamonds in the rough, let me know.

[benitez17]

Luke, one thing you could add would be a person reviewing the stats provided in the listing to make sure they add up with the content of the listing. The advanced search that you mentioned is only useful if the data behind the search is accurate, which it is not in too many instances. It would only take a couple of minutes per listing for someone to check and see if the average revenue and traffic listed are accurate, but it is not being done at this time.

Since this thread is supposed to be about how Flippa performs as a marketplace for sellers, I would say that since sellers have the freedom to list whatever information they want unless another user complains, and they can delete any comments they don't like for any reason, it is probably good for someone who has a site they are looking to dump on someone, and OK for someone looking to sell a quality site.