Yet another website marketplace for sale

**Clinton** · March 9th, 2012, 4:39 AM

Listed on Flippa:
webmastersmarketplace.com

Hi everyone,

I'm selling one of top remaining webmaster marketplaces...

Hmm, I don't know about "top" marketplace, but he has been mentioned in a few places like inc.com and flipfilter as per the claim in his listing.

Despite the fact that this marketplace takes not just domains and sites but webmaster services as well, it's still not turning out to be profitable. The age, incoming links, custom coding and various other inputs seem to be just not enough.

The price is ridiculous at 15x years' income, but the long listing period suggests he's in no hurry to sell and is still in "my baby" mode.

Why is it so difficult to run a successful marketplace and why do so many still seem to be rushing in to create new ones?

**ClaytonL** · March 9th, 2012, 2:34 PM

I always chuckle a little when I see "no revenue is being claimed" and then they expressly claim revenue in the description.

I agree that he's still in the "my baby" mode. He has spent $10k on development so I imagine that's still having some influence on his perceived value of the site.

We've discussed before the difficulties of starting a new marketplace. You run into the chicken and egg problem that buyers aren't interested until you have sellers and sellers aren't interested until you have buyers. I think the reason that starting website marketplaces is so popular, is because Flippa has given them a blueprint. I'm working on starting up a niche travel marketplace, and I've seen a a ton of HomeAway.com clones in my research. I think their success has inspired others to try and grab some of the vacation rental pie. The disproportionate amount of vacation rental websites lead me to believe that people are trying to compete against HomeAway rather than trying to be the HomeAway of a similar niche.

**David S** · March 9th, 2012, 6:15 PM

It does seem that start up marketplaces have proliferated, but no more so than other copycat sites. Think of how often you see someone announcing a social network, a daily deal site, a Yelp clone or any number of other examples? I don't think that the surge in marketplace is either unexpected or disproportionately numerous. It is just what copycats do, particularly when someone comes up with a php script and you can launch a somewhat complicated site for the cost of a $59 script and a little design work.

**Clinton** · April 20th, 2012, 2:47 PM

It's still for sale (with several months to go), but the owner looks like he has started to attract some listings.

**akirk** · April 20th, 2012, 3:59 PM

The problem is that someone has an idea - it grows organically (however slowly / quickly) when it gets to critical mass - others copy the concept and expect to also hit critical mass immediately, despite:
- the need to also grow organically
- the fact that they now have to compete against a successful known alternative which was not an issue for the original site...

the only way to do this is to be different - cheaper / faster / better / easier / more authoritative / have captive product or market / etc.
yet those trying to replicate ignore these needs and assume that a 'me-too' will work!

immature business skills unfortunately!

I am working with a client to produce a website which is a copy of a very successful site (worth 100s of millions) - their advantage is that they will launch it into a vertical they dominate in other ways (and not tackled by the original concept) and therefore have a good chance of being very successful...

Alasdair

**rob** · April 21st, 2012, 4:22 AM

If I owned a 'top marketplace' I wouldnt list on Flippa, I would list on my own site

**mikeb** · April 26th, 2012, 2:58 AM

To me this looks like "Dragon's Den" syndrome.

For all the ones with a sincere intention of pitching for money, many are there to get free TV exposure for the ideas they have, not the investment. It kick started some businesses big time , take lings cars for one, she is proud of the fact she actually turned several of them down!

(I digress to say - that lings website is a masterclass in how wrong conventional wisdom on web design can be! - it wins awards for websites that *suck* whilst converting like gang busters! : The "marmite" sydnrome or purple cow at work. She really is an entrepreneur through and through. She can sell coals to newcastle, or ice to eskimos: one of her other businesses sells clothes to middle class chinese women, which she literally buys from such as primark here, and ships to china in big boxes. Go figure - anyway back to the topic.....)

So the point is - the best way to advertise a marketplace to both buyers and sellers is to put it on flippa with an unrealistic expectation - so either it sells (and you are happy) or it gets exposure (still happy)!

**akirk** · April 26th, 2012, 3:24 AM

Originally Posted by mikeb

To me this looks like "Dragon's Den" syndrome.

For all the ones with a sincere intention of pitching for money, many are there to get free TV exposure for the ideas they have, not the investment. It kick started some businesses big time , take lings cars for one, she is proud of the fact she actually turned several of them down!

(I digress to say - that lings website is a masterclass in how wrong conventional wisdom on web design can be! - it wins awards for websites that *suck* whilst converting like gang busters! : The "marmite" sydnrome or purple cow at work. She really is an entrepreneur through and through. She can sell coals to newcastle, or ice to eskimos: one of her other businesses sells clothes to middle class chinese women, which she literally buys from such as primark here, and ships to china in big boxes. Go figure - anyway back to the topic.....)

So the point is - the best way to advertise a marketplace to both buyers and sellers is to put it on flippa with an unrealistic expectation - so either it sells (and you are happy) or it gets exposure (still happy)!

OT? (my bit...)
And this shows how impressions can be made - inaccurately...
A recent show revisited her car company - and seemd to demonstrate quite clearly that she is lost in the running of her business - some real issues...
Also, why would you ship clothes from the UK? Surely a better business model would be to have them made out in the far east - in China even - british label / company to give the credibility and much lower cost stock!

Alasdair

**mikeb** · April 26th, 2012, 4:17 AM

I did not see the update on DD, although I did network with her for a period.
What were the criticisms?

She was just about the only one making money in cars in the worst of the credit crunch.
She sold more cars put together than all but the top handful of brands, and the industry hated her for it.

The chinese clothes were doing $50K /month only a few months in: It is hard to say why shipping them is effective, without knowing the marketplace better, but she is chinese, and spends time there every year. I am guessing it has to do with a demographic shift to a new middle class unable to source european fashions. No doubt the opportunity to arbitrage this way will erode.

I am guessing that one of her "competitive advantages" is knowing how to game (the relatively more recent) search engines there, and I am guessing that a middle class with the affluenc and technology to purchase online is exploding there , since the country is far less developed than the west, so she probably has early adopter advantage selling online. Dont know for sure.

**akirk** · April 26th, 2012, 7:25 AM

I can't remember the detail - but if I recall correctly it was something along the lines of the fact that the surface view of her figures wasn't reflected in the reality of the business - fairly normal in small businesses perhaps... The suggestion was I think that she wasn't making the money that was being suggested...

Alasdair