flippingawesome.com - website flipping course / site - possibly for sale

[Clinton]

This site was built by a couple of Flippa template sellers who set out to teach others how to build "starter sites" and sell them on in Flippa.

However, in a recent post mirrored by posts in other blogs and here on EP itself, they say that business at Flippa has tanked.

So they want to get out. I think.

This may be a chance for a new owner to take this site in the new direction they've recently recognised:

Thanks for commenting and I think you’ve got the right idea – startup sites are dead. Things are changing.

We are revamping our class to include long term holding strategies and more techniques that we’ve recently learned.

Why do I think that they want to sell? Nothing specific, except that my spider senses are tingling. There's an undercurrent of "we want to get out". In fact, they've even mentioned a couple of times that they'd sell if they "got the right price".

Standard Disclaimer: As usual, this is not a recommendation and I make no profit from bringing these to your attention or putting you in touch with the sellers. Check the books and do your own valuation and due diligence. As usual, I don't compete with you on any prospective site I spot and list here.

[hooperman]

Why do I think that they want to sell?

This must have been a clue:

I see that you also buy sites, want to buy this site??

I thought they were joking.

[meathead1234]

Very interesting.

Don't see much value in the site itself as it's very personal or course as IMO it's of little use to most serious flippers.

To me the value here is purely in readership and their list.

Hmm.

[Clinton]

I can their readership being of interest to you and your new project, meathead1234

<added> From the DD point of view... when a business is being sold at the point where there are big changes afoot, it may be worth looking at the reason for the changes. I speak in general and not specifically about this sale.

I'd prefer they were doing the change of their own volition rather than because they've painted themselves into a corner or the market is twisting their arm. If they're making the change to survive I'd assume the risk to be much higher than if they were making the change just to grow. As usual with these things you never take the seller's word on the reason for any recent or imminent drastic changes, always form your own opinion.

[meathead1234]

I can their readership being of interest to you and your new project, meathead1234

<added> From the DD point of view... when a business is being sold at the point where there are big changes afoot, it may be worth looking at the reason for the changes. I speak in general and not specifically about this sale.

I'd prefer they were doing the change of their own volition rather than because they've painted themselves into a corner or the market is twisting their arm. If they're making the change to survive I'd assume the risk to be much higher than if they were making the change just to grow. As usual with these things you never take the seller's word on the reason for any recent or imminent drastic changes, always form your own opinion.

I literally don't see any value in the blog itself. If anything, it could cause more harm than good to my and their reputation if a deal were to take place. I've thought of a better way to get a mutual benefit out of this opportunity so will be speaking to them shortly

[benitez17]

It has been listed for sale at Flippa: http://flippa.com/auctions/96625/638...ite-wCommunity

If these guys, which were some of the biggest cheerleaders out there for website flipping, are selling the blog about their business along with their courses, I think that is a strong signal that the gig is up.

Unfortunately, the auction has a few details that are annoying and would be a red flag in general, which you would think these experienced online sellers would know to avoid.

One is that these people are supposedly selling what they have said is their primary business to go on an RV trip, which seems rather short sighted unless there is no juice left to squeeze out of the site.

Also, they neglected to deduct a single expense for the site. Apparently they are able to register the domain and secure hosting for free, not to mention all of the time they must spend making their long blog posts and making content for their course, and the expense of the software required to make the videos they mention.

Another issue is the Site Flipper club that does NOT come with the site. It seems like that would be a key element of the site, but maybe not.

Finally, I tend to ignore any site that relies on PayPal screenshots for proof of revenue since it is so easy to fake, unless there are matching bank statements available for review.

[Clinton]

Well spotted benitez17, it was put up for sale a few hours ago.

I thought they were joking.

I didn't consider for one second that they were joking because they've admitted the market has tanked, have admitted it's not paying well and were forced to make some changes to the main product in the hope - whatever the upbeat on-site message, it's just a hope - that it would work. All added together I was pretty sure that if anyone approached them to talk business they'd be very keen ...so I created this thread to give members here a head start.

But to the right person it may be worth a few dollars. I wish Ian and Amy all the best with the sale ... and their RV trip.

What's strange is that they won't move the site for the buyer. I would have thought that builders of starter sites targeted at newbies would have the know-how to do that.

From what we know about them from their public utterances, does anyone care to guess where their reserve is?

[benitez17]

Well spotted benitez17, it was put up for sale a few hours ago.

I didn't consider for one second that they were joking because they've admitted the market has tanked, have admitted it's not paying well and were forced to make some changes to the main product in the hope - whatever the upbeat on-site message, it's just a hope - that it would work. All added together I was pretty sure that if anyone approached them to talk business they'd be very keen ...so I started this thread.

But to the right person, it may be worth a few dollars. I wish them all the best with the sale.

What's strange is that they won't move the site for the buyer. I would have thought that builders of starter sites targeted at newbies would have the know-how to do that.

From what we know about them from their public utterances, does anyone care to guess where their reserve is?

Based on the fact that only 5 of their last 20 listings even managed to get a winning bid (a sixth got a single bid that was below the reserve) and Ian's beaten down attitude in the comments of his last (final?) blog post on the site, I would guess that the reserve is pretty low. I don't think they would set it at $1, but I'd guess that it's around $1,000 if they are serious about selling.

As I said above, I wouldn't touch this auction because the listing has so many problems and I suspect that these guys are making near minimum wage if you account for the all of the time spent on the content, plus the value of that content is declining on a daily basis because of the topic. That doesn't add up to a lot of value, and their timing is terrible, since they just wrote a very popular post on the very blog they are trying to sell detailing the problems with their business model.

[petertdavis]

Oh, wow... I just couldn't imagine trying to live for a month off what this site is going to sell for..... even in a small RV.

[Clinton]

Well, here's a chance for all those talking up this business model - in blog posts, in blog comments, in forums, in Flippa - to put their money where their mouth is.

My guess: Long after the event, there'll be several of them saying, "if only I had known it was up for sale..."