FP - Should flippa be avoided?

[succor]

While researching/studying/reading about flipping sites recently I came across an interesting blog entry. This guy who claims he has been flipping sites for years using flippa had a problem recently, this past August. He states that he was selling a site and because of the selling price his portion to flippa was to be $499. He states that the sale fell through but flippa still wanted their $499 cut. He tried explaining to them that the sale fell through, but claims they still wanted their money. There have been numerous replies to the initial thread, but he never does say how it turned out. At the end of the article he provides links to four sites that he now uses instead. I don't know who the user is, so don't ask.

Link to the original post: http://www.prosperly.com/2010/the-pr...dont-use-them/

It seems to me that if flippa actually did this that they would lose their customer base almost overnight.

Anyone ever heard of this or anything similar happening?

[springer98]

Sorry, senior moment.

Good to know I'm not the only old fart here, then.

Thanks for the link, it was an interesting read.

I especially liked this comment:

Adam, This is not Jeff. I am stealing his computer while he is at lunch.
I hope you can delete this but I just have to tell you how proud I am of you
and how much I love you. You are so good and so smart. I am always blown
away by how you are so focused on your own work and so willing to help
others and of course having your baby girl on my birthday probably helped you
in MY rankings. I love you, Mother

[chockfactor]

Arh that can't be true, because I really do think flippa would loose to many customers/users on that account

[Bryan]

While researching/studying/reading about flipping sites recently I came across an interesting blog entry. This guy who claims he has been flipping sites for years using flippa had a problem recently, this past August. He states that he was selling a site and because of the selling price his portion to flippa was to be $499.

First of all, if he's really been "flipping sites for years" and if those sites aren't $100 turnkey sites then he'd know better than to put himself in a situation where he'd pay the maximum ($498) success fee. There is a $149 success fee waiver option which every knowledgeable seller uses. Obviously, it may happen that your site sells for more than you first expect but a situation where you expect your site to sell for less than $3k ($150 success fee) and it ends up selling for over $10k ($500 success fee) is, needless to say, highly unlikely.

He states that the sale fell through but flippa still wanted their $499 cut. He tried explaining to them that the sale fell through, but claims they still wanted their money.

I can only speculate but here's what I think happened:

1) The auction ended with a winner and the seller got invoiced for the success fee.
2) The deal fell through but the seller failed to open a dispute (!)
3) Only after a while (30+ days i.e. when Flippa start reminding about the due invoice) he complained about the situation.

Quite obviously, Flippa would not accommodate such request without getting sufficient proof that the transaction did indeed fall through. If they did then those that don't sell all that often would never pay their success fees but instead claim that their sale has not happened and have them waived.

Had he, however, filed a dispute (which is incredibly easy to do, by the way), he'd have had the success fee waived automatically upon winning the dispute.

There have been numerous replies to the initial thread, but he never does say how it turned out.

Once again I'm merely speculating, but I have reasons to believe that Flippa did cancel this invoice after the seller provided them with enough evidence. The person is most likely just embarrassed to admit it as he's already made a pretty nasty blog post about how bad Flippa is and saying that "everything turned up fine at the end" would hurt his credibility.

It seems to me that if flippa actually did this that they would lose their customer base almost overnight.

Correct. Flippa takes pretty good care of their "power sellers" and I'm confident that 99% of the issues that haven't gotten resolved have been due to the fact that the seller has preferred to complain and whine publicly instead of actually talking to Flippa and explaining the situation to THEM.

[Andrew]

Interesting blog post but possibly not relevant for anyone who is serious about selling their website.

I’m not aware of who the author is or their respective Flippa listing/account information (he may have since resolved the issues he had – hopefully so) but lets break it down.

The first point about buyers looking to “get a steal” is the reality of the world – be it on Flippa or anywhere. When was the last time you went to buy something without hoping to get a good price? As a seller of anything, you need to do your part to outline the value of your product and be willing to be selective about your buyers. If the buyer is only focused on discussion that drive down your price, then leave them and move onto prospects who are more likely to understand the value of your asset. The price-focused buyers will typically return once they understand value.

The second item about the fee structure on Flippa is not something we can apologize for – it funds our customer support, site development and community engagement efforts: as a result, we are the largest website marketplace anywhere, attracting the most qualified buyers and sellers and continually releasing enhancements to improve the website buying and selling experience on Flippa. If you’re looking for the cheapest place to list your website, Flippa is not for you (there are plenty of places to do this with respectively little or zero buyer traffic). If you’re looking to get the best price for your website, you cannot look past the number 1 website marketplace for value.

The third point is the weakest. On the few occasions where the sale does fall through on Flippa, sellers retain both their luck and their money. Simply raise a dispute (as outlined in our emails to each seller) and our support team will look into it. If there is no response from the buyer, the seller’s fees are fully refunded (including any upgrades) and no success fee is charged (and the buyer is typically suspended from Flippa).

Finally, as a seller on any marketplace, it is important to be assertive about your auction (especially when in the league to be eligible for the $498 maximum Flippa success fee – ie sites selling at over $10,000). Qualify your buyers prior to accepting their bids and raise a dispute if they’re not able to come to the table with the full auction amount in a reasonable timeframe (usually in days, certainly not “several weeks”).

Hope that clarifies anyone’s concerns. Be assured we are in the business of selling websites, not casually charging success fees when we know the transaction has not occurred.

[J1218]

I agree with Bryan here. I'm curious why this guy wouldn't have opened a dispute with Flippa once he realized the deal fell through? Doesn't make much sense to me.

[Thomas]

I agree with Bryan here. I'm curious why this guy wouldn't have opened a dispute with Flippa once he realized the deal fell through? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Sounds like a publicity stunt more than anything else. You'll always get the haters who want to bring you down when you get to the size that Flippa are currently.

[succor]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my question. It is greatly appreciated.

[Clinton]

Sounds like a publicity stunt more than anything else.

Just came across this old thread (imported from FlippingPlanet.com). Thought I'd mention that the person in question, Adam, is a member at these forums: Prosperly.

Since the last post in this thread, Adam updated that blog post linked to in the OP. He adds that the buyer didn't pay him, but Flippa still demanded their success fee of $250 which he had to pay because he was time-barred to raise a dispute with Flippa. Flippa therefore officially considers the site sold and the success fee due. Adam paid up but seems very annoyed about this!

[Prosperly]

Sounds like a publicity stunt more than anything else. You'll always get the haters who want to bring you down when you get to the size that Flippa are currently.

Hey everyone, I am the author of that post and it is all 100% accurate and true. It amazes me how quick people are to assume someone is being untruthful. Maybe you shouldn't judge someone until you have actually talked to them first.

I have been flipping websites for years but my experience has been much different than most website flippers. My intent was never to be flipping sites, it was to run automated websites. The result of that was people contacting me to buy my sites. So I started selling them.

For that reason I had never used flippa to sell websites because buyers have always approached me. That was the one time I tried it and that was my experience. I paid the fee eventually because Im sure I agreed to it in some part of their ridiculous terms and I try to honor my agreements however ridiculous they seem. I gave them the chance to do the right thing and they refused. 2 years after I complained to them they were still emailing me about paying the fee and they wouldn't respond to my emails until I did.

I think flippa has the same problem that google has, they have no real competitors so they don't worry about losing customers. Just read all of the replies to my blog post and you'll see that other people have been taken in one way or another. I think the big problem for them is how much attention that blog post gets.

I hope that clears that up for all of you.

Adam White

Flippa has its good features. I would just never recommend to anyone that they use their service to sell a website.