Flippa changes BIN process for domains

[anantj]

But domain purchases in particular do not require the level of due diligence that Website or App buyers find so necessary. As such, as a domain buyer, clicking “Buy it Now” and waiting for your offer to be accepted or rejected is not commonplace, nor is it a particularly satisfying buying experience.

Therefore, effective immediately, a Flippa Domains seller can no longer screen a BIN offer: the ability to “Accept” or “Reject” is no longer available.

If you are a buyer and commit to a purchase via Buy It Now, the offer is now automatically accepted.

This Only Affects Domain Listings​

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[Addison]

This is not good! If my domain auction has lots of interest/bidders, then I do not want a troublemaker coming along, creating a new account or using their existing account, and clicking Buy It Now on my auction with no intention of paying, just to kill all my hard work on generating buzz and bids.

We saw this happen on Ali's $XX,XXX domain auction. Flippa put in place safeguards for bigger transactions, but they don't help with smaller transactions (most are smaller) and they are easy to bypass. It could be prevented with the option they just removed.

Ugh, this is a change for the worse!

 

[Dorkside]

I always found it odd that you had to accept a Buy It Now offer as I can't think of any other site set up like that, so I have no problem with this change.

 

[Addison]

I agree with this comment:

Michael August 18, 2016 at 12:05 pm

I think before if a bidder was already approved by you for standards bids on a particular auction, he could take it at BIN without further acceptance.

I actually don’t like this change. There are times where I have an auction running, but I’m negotiating via private message with a buyer and we agree on a BIN price. Before I could just un-approve the other bidders I had already approved to make sure the person I negotiated with can take it.

I guess this process is more fair to the other bidders in the auction to give them a shot at the BIN, but the person who I negotiated with in good faith could miss out. Now I’ll have to coordinate with the other party to make sure he’s in front of a computer watching the auction when I set the BIN we agreed to.

I also don’t really understand the logic. If we have to approve bidders for regular bids, we should have to approve people for BIN too. If they’re going to get rid of it for BIN purchases, they should get rid of it for standard bids too. If seller due-diligence isn’t needed for BIN why is it needed for bids?

I don’t really want someone with a bad rating (and sometimes even with no history depending on price) taking it at BIN, possibly not paying, and then I have to start the auction all over again.