Flippa

[Eric Lyon]

This thread was created to cater to a second discussion that evolved in another thread. To keep the original thread on topic, all off-topic posts have been moved here for continued discussion.

Before replying to this thread or any thread on NamePros, read:

Expectations for respect and constructiveness

 

[DomainVP]

how to valuate them

So you are going to tell people how to valuate domains? Yeah, okay.

Anyone knows that knows this industry knows that you cannot valuate a domain; the value is between the seller and the buyer. Which is why there are plenty of $20 drops out there that can sell for a minimum of $5k right from the start.

Here is how to sell on Flippa: DON'T

in 2013 I gave Flippa a shot, and sold 3 domains for $3500 on Flippa, and it was a terrible low profit waste of time.

You want to know how to get the most profit for each and every domain you sell?

Here is how:

Use Google to find your buyers, use eMail to contact them, and use Escrow or PayPal yourself to close the deal.

No paid percentages, no listing fees, no nonsense.

Escrow also offers affiliate links, so that you can make additional affiliate earnings on top of your sale. Guess who most likely gets that affiliate payout when you sign up for escrow through Flippa.

Almost every Flippa "Success" story could have been a greater success if the seller took the time to do end user outreach and negotiated themselves.

Smoke and mirrors my friends... be smart with your investments.

Cheers.

 

[indam]

This thread has become all too negative and off topic.

This is meant to be a positive thing.

Anyone with any negative remarks will merely be ignored permanently.

Actually it had to be expected. This is a community of dreamers. Sometime, the success of someone, is the envy of the others.
As a friendly advice, try to be more humble around (although everyone here acknowledges at some level that you are a very, very good domainer) and probably you will be less prone to attack.


As I see, most of the concerns are about Flippa. It is a good platform offload some domains, but really valuable domains sell elsewhere. Maybe that should be stressed, maybe focus of your planned course and let's move on.

 

[sofiapartner]

Hm... This is getting more interesting. @Ali Zandi , in the interview with DomainSherpa you are answering the question:

"How much in revenue have you sold since becoming a seller at flippa"?
- "In July when I actually started...."

What have you started? Because your history at Flippa says that your first domain is sold 11 months ago - which is not July, but March. Actually these are domains.
16 Stock Photo domains!

Only one bid - sold by negotiation for $250.

I have to say that until July your sales are average sales.

soundboards.org - $118
Meningocele.com - $20

The following 4 domains for $999
F0B.com
RO4.com
DOW2.com
1CPO.com

seizure.info - $51

and so on - nothing unexpected.

After selling FiOS.info for $100, it seems that you are getting 2 month break (at least from flippa), because there are no reported sales in your profile.

And then Around July you are coming back with 90 bulk domain auction sold for BIN @7500. I guess you listing is already premium with the image, logo, etc..

After that all your auctions are premium listings.

What happened in July?

Also you said a few posts above that you sold hitler.info for $4K, which is not true if you are talking about your sale at flippa.

1. It was sold for $2999.
2. The auction BIN price included

UltimateAthletics.com
A monster domain, just google the term and tell me its not! 11 year aged! 1,900 monthly exacts! TONS of endusers! Easily valued at $3,000-$5,000 retail!

PayPerClick.us
This one needs no explanation! Easy startup of an affiliate PPC site! 6 years aged with over 18,000 monthly exacts! Valued at $500-$1,000 retail!

"But wait, there's more!"

BeautifulOrgasm.com
9 Years aged and 3,600 exacts a month! This is the perfect domain name to start up a sex blog directed towards women! Educational material, adult toys, a full on blog, video tutorials and more! Valued at $1,500-$2,000 retail!

Can you answer
1. When you actually started? And what exactly you started (selling at flippa, domaining, being broker at flippa)
2. What happened in July?
3. Are you talking about the hitler.info sale at flippa?

Please.

I have many more questions coming from your interview, your threads at NP and your sales record, if you would be so good not to ignore me.

Thanks

 

[iowadawg]

Just create the course, release it, and promote it.
Either people will love it, or not.

 

[FlippaDomains]

With Flippa, a lot may have changed since late 2013; but I'm not willing to dish out $340 for their "Ultra Premium" package.

I spent roughly $500 with them in package and listing fees, not including final sale fees.

I was not happy with the results at all. I would be willing to try them again, with a stronger domain, and reevaluate their program/package from a fair and unbiased perspective; but I won't likely have that opportunity since I believe in the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

We work with sellers all the time to address these kinds of concerns. I'll personally work with you to make sure your next auction converts. If I don't think the domain is strong enough, I'll tell you so and we'll go with something else. PM to discuss.

 

[S-B]

okay. Let's see how it goes... Don't want to say much on this one. Then why the increase in watchers?

Try to focus on getting bidders not watchers.

 

[ImageAuthors]

I magically started with $2,500 and turned it into $100k on my own before ever being a broker?

Is that the case?

When you began approaching people like me insisting that we give you our Flippa-listed domains so that you could use your special access to Kevin Fink and accumulated watchers in order to sell our property for us .... that was the signal that individual sellers at Flippa should jump ship!

That was long before January, Ali. At that time, I remember you had around $20k - $30k in total transactions. And much of that total was already coming from sales of other people's inventory.

Perhaps I'm wrong. But you can set me straight with a chronological list of sales, marking which domains actually belonged to you.

Pity about Flippa, because it used to be an effective place for owners to sell. These days, the site seems to be mainly a magnet for newbie domainers who pay fees. Having 1 miracle seller is a great trap.

New domainers should pay for your course. They should also pay for 100% of Flippa upgrades. Wasting money is the quickest way to learn.

 

[NameOmnia]

No one will force you to take any course or learn anything, what i'm doing is offering what i've learned to the public, for free. I

Yes, that would really be great, please create it and I would be happy to take it, but leave Flippa aside. Leave ANY marketplace aside.
Do it on your own, do it here on NP but don't bind it to ANY marketplace or platform.

And please don't play the " poor kid " card anymore...it is really way too overused.
Each one of us has and has had their problems and difficulties, so let's not turn it into a competition to who has the saddest story.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Okay, this thread is starting to get a little out of hand. Heated debate is fine; however please refrain from any personal attacks.

Please try to keep this thread on-topic and as constructive as possible. The use of tact during any debates would be highly appreciated.

Thanks everybody and play nice,

 

[discobull]

In the interest of putting this issue to bed, I went through Ali's sales and compiled a list of what listing closed 2 or more months ago ( that's right, I have no life ). Here's what I came up with:

MobileDrones.com $2875
RealEstateForeclosures.com $7500
DomainDropper.com $505
Throttles.com $1050
FirearmMagazine.com $455
Holeout.com $2000
Minorities.com $5000
OsakaTourism.com $850
ScubaTank.com $2500
Enlargements.org $90
Jihad.info $350
Bean-Bags.com $400
TokyoTourism.com $2000
PisaItaly.com $450
OahuResorts.com $1999
Epiphora.com $350
VicePrincipal.com $399
MonthlyRewards.com $1500
Semtex.com $3500
FlooringOptions.com $999
InpatientDetox.com $800
Hitler.info $2999
ExoticCarAuction.com $1500
FreeInstrumentals.com $4000
BackupMac.com $551
Cloey.com $1999
GunEngraver.com $395
MyPropertyListings.com $1500
Flipped.net $1999
Occults.com $799
Whift.com $501
StereoDeals.com $449
ReggaeSongs.com $1999
NearestRestaurants.com $1500
CupcakeFrosting.com $601
CeremonyMusic.com $2100
RealEstateAuctions.info $65
AppDesignSchool.com $7500
FiOS.info $100
Muse.info $200
BaytownApartments.com $124
Condos-For-Sale.com $175
T3i.net $206
F5O.com $365
seizure.info $51
sexywallpapers.org $90
F0B.com $999
Meningocele.com $20
soundboards.org $118
StockPhotoPlanet.com $250

Total = 50 sales @ $68,727

As I recall, at least one of these was a bundle of domains. Note also, that I have no idea if all of these were owned by him nor do I have any idea how much any of these domains cost him or how much was spent on marketing each of these listings. Lastly, I didn't double check to see if there were any errors in this list ( someone else is welcome to do that job).

 

[DomainVP]

Just for clarity...

You did ask our opinion Ali; and many of us have shared our opinion.

None of this is out of 'jealousy' or 'envy'; nor is this a personal attack on you. If you are doing well, then cheers to you my friend.

However, my perspective on this comes from my personal experience with the company you represent.

This whole 'domainer education' initiative is predatory in my opinion, because at the heart of it lies your companies desire to push expensive promotion packages on naive beginners; in my opinion.

From my taste of Flippa, there are lots of promises with minimal warranty. Which went hand-in-hand with your 'domainer education' initiative opening thread statement.

So don't take it personally; on a positive note you seem like a nice person, who is knowledgable, and you have an excellent beard.

So I will exit the conversation on a positive note.

Cheers!

 

[DomainVP]

With Flippa, a lot may have changed since late 2013; but I'm not willing to dish out $340 for their "Ultra Premium" package.

I spent roughly $500 with them in package and listing fees, not including final sale fees.

I was not happy with the results at all. I would be willing to try them again, with a stronger domain, and reevaluate their program/package from a fair and unbiased perspective; but I won't likely have that opportunity since I believe in the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

 

[S-B]

Well, I launched a $9 listing a little over a day ago to test out the theory that you need to pay for upgrades.... It's already at $2,500.

Note: I will be upgrading but I wanted to see what would happen.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Just wanted to state a couple things that would be nice to be included with flippa auctions listed as a premium upgrade.

• Weekly bumps to homepage featured listings. Most of my auctions get bidders when the listing is shown on the homepage. I must say that flippa support has been kind in bumping once during listing if requested.
  
• When the upgraded listing is launched it should appear as the first listing in the featured section. My last two upgraded listings appeared as the 16th and 19th listing on the featured listings page, so no action following homepage showcase, and hard to find on featured section. I notice that even in the featured section there are many names listed in the top ten that are above the recently launched upgraded auctions, and are ending in hours or a few days. Isn't this supposed to be the case in the "most active" section? When buying an upgrade it states "always on top of regular listings" which is true but seems to be mostly superseller or brokered domains that show first in featured section and then non brokered and normal sellers to follow before the regular listings.
• Just my 2 cents

It's an issue with Editors' Choice picks sticking to the top.

A massive redesign is coming, which will address most of this.

As mentioned previously, as well, brokered domains will be migrating out of the main section of the site and onto its on page.

Appreciate the feedback.

 

[silentg]

Does it look to you guys that the shared.com on flippa is legit? try clicking on the site or type it in.
It's ip's don't match, just has bad vibe written all over it to me. The seller is a broker for flippa but he is new user?? That made me want to avoid flippa full stop. Smells like something.....

Yeah it's a legit sale.

 

[GoWebnames.com]

Have a question concerning the premium auctions. I saw a lot of premium auctions of LLLL.coms for example that end at like $300. from what I see it costs $245 so why would these people let their LLLL.com go for not even $30? They obviously don't but what am I missing there? random examples: https://flippa.com/4813225-zmyb-com-no-reserve-8yr-aged-domain-rare-huge-potential-brandable, https://flippa.com/4750283-jgox-com...x-com-guitarvendors-indianarrowheads-tierloan

Correct, I too wanted to raise this issue since long but kept forgetting about it.
thx @Galleshem for bringing it up.

@FlippaDomains Kevin, it is perfect common sense. When you have already charged someone $350/$250 for a premium listing, you SHOULD NOT charge them again the 10% if the sale price happens to be inadequate.

Best ethical business practice would be to say "We, at Flippa, are not predators and we will not charge you the 10% sale fee, if your premium listed domains end under $3500 / $2500 since we have already received 10% from you." (A)

But, since I highly doubt Flippa owners would allow that, you guys, IN THE VERY LEAST, can say, "We, at Flippa, are not predators and we will not charge you the 10% sale fee, if your premium listed domains end under $350 / $250 since we have already received more than 100% from you. For sales exceeding $350/$250, we will only charge you 10% on the difference from $350/$250. If your premium listed domain ($350) sells for $500, we will only charge you 10% of (500-350) towards a sale." (B)

Which one, A or B, you pick is upto you but picking A would be most ethical and the Flippa platform will become a champion to all domainers, sort of Google to the masses.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

Yes. I have auctions at flippa...not premium but it is not the same. I get 3-10 views but last year it would go over the 100/mark for every domain. Something is not.right.

 

[hawkeye]

wants me to send them government issued id scanned in colour which I did. After receiving my id flippa wants me to make a selfie holding my id?

this is a common security tactic.

It is? Like where??? I've never had to do a request like this, whether at a bank, ebay, credit card company, etc. etc. etc.! Having to send one's picture with them holding their ID/DL, and a 'color copy' of said id, may be a safe security tactic for those 'companies' wanting to protect themselves from problems, but it IS NOT for the individual sending it! Yeah I know, you/they securely protect that info,...right up until..it's compromised.

In fact it is exactly this 'security tactic' that has stopped us from selling on Flippa, or any other entity that requests that type of info. Making a couple of bucks, at the risk of having my (anyone's) personal info compromised, is simply not worth the risk.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Well various domains, i think it has a lot to do with the labelling of 'new' members. I realise it is for security purposes but it doesn't help new members to get started. I joined 3 forums so far and sold 10 domains in less than 4 weeks, and it only cost me a fixed monthly fee and I am still interacting with the people who bought from me via social media. I think forums are much more 'open' you can negotiate and even connect with people. i also had fairly good sales at 4.cn, but it is not cheap. I am sure that Flippa is working for a lot of people.

It is imperative to keep trying - to get that "runway" and to build up followers. That is the most important thing, unless you're masterful at outbound / marketing. But I know quite a few sellers that have built up an incredible arsenal of watchers / buyers, and each time they deploy an auction, dozens or even hundred+ of potential bidders take notice.

I agree that it's daunting to work for +/- months to get to this point, but it is quite possible. If you ever want to work with us to specify which of your assets may be good for auction, or for our free listing section, please get in touch anytime...

 

[Calvenor]

I actually did not realize this was the case - I thought it did show BIN; let me look into this...

Any update on this? Having a BIN price set on a landing page is likely to make people want to use this service more.

Also, if I read correctly somewhere, BIN on Flippa is not a "real" BIN, but rather a kind that must be approved by a seller before buyer can proceed with payment. If that is indeed true, Flippa should have that step removed so that buyer doesn't have to wait hours, or sometimes even days for things to move ahead. Sales can be easily lost that way, IMHO.

 

[SirDrago]

Last night 2 of my auctions ended unsold but within the last two hours I received several PM's asking for bin which I replied "please make offer". After both ended I placed a BIN slightly higher than the highest offer and contacted everyone who place a bid and sent me pm.
Both domains sold at my bin within minutes of the auction ending.
Flippa is a great platform to sell domains and I never had a problem getting in touch with @FlippaDomains or the staff.

 

[S-B]

Since so much has changed, I decided to give them a fair chance. I listed DevelopmentTools.com with them and will report my findings here. I will do my best to remain unbiased.

@FlippaDomains

 

[FlippaDomains]

Measured a few months back, the sales page was converting 40% more sales than if sellers were not using the page. Any redirect that pairs the domain with the point-of-sale opportunity for the buyer, whether via the sales page or just a general URL forward to the listing/auction, is going to yield better results.

 

[dncafe]

"Edgar Law Firm LLC is currently conducting an investigation of the potentially unlawful collection of commissions by Flippa. Specifically, Edgar Law Firm LLC is investigating whether Flippa unlawfully collected brokerage commissions associated with the sale of web based businesses."

I've emailed Flippa numerous times over the years about how they blatantly allow false and misleading listings of "established" websites that were claiming to be 1+ years old, when they were really brand new websites with automated garbage content and no traffic. This would have been easy for them to cross check with an automated system, but they looked the other way so they could collect listing fees while f\/cking the buyers over.