So you THOUGHT Flippa was shady?

[S-B]

Sorry in advance, Kevin. Should have had your people leave me alone.

Flippa has been the subject of much controversy over the last 6 months. Speculative talk has ranged from shill bidding to bloated sales reports. Most of the accusations are pure garbage but the company is sketchy as hell.

While you might be thinking that I’m bitter because I haven’t any luck there, you should know that I moved $75,000 of domains in 6 months. At one point, I was the first to go to bat for them all because I try to show some loyalty when someone is taking care of me.

However, I recently had my Super Seller status revoked “due to comments made towards other users.” In fact, this is due to my response to the auction where an individual claimed to have an offer on a 3 day old domain of 10,000 bitcoins — that’s $2,500,000. Apparently, calling out a scammer is grounds for retaliation from the business.

I suppose this is because Flippa values net revenue more than customer satisfaction.

Now that you know my motivation I will move on and share a little bit of insider information.

If you’re paying full price for listing fees and upgrades you have been scammed.

They have gone on the defensive in the past by saying that they “subsidize” upgrades for their top sellers. Subsidize is a cute word for giveaway.

I received somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 in “subsidies” — as a private seller — over 6 months. At one point, I received $2,000 in credits at one time.

Now I won’t lie, sometimes I had to pay for listings. When I did, I still got hooked up. For every upgrade or listing I purchased I received 2 free.

So when I paid, which was rare, I paid 1/3 of what you’ve been paying. I’m sure you now see why some people make a killing off their platform while others have lost hundreds of dollars per listing.

Oh you thought Editor’s choice was for good domains? Nah. It has been a filter for friends of Flippa.

When I sold on Flippa’s platform, I was given Editor’s Choice for nearly all of my domains. Why? Because I asked.

I know some of you noticed that only 3-5 people showed up when visiting that page. Some might not care but others might understand the value of this.

Domains at Flippa sell for much more when given the Editor’s Choice designation.

Oh so you suspect shilling? I’ve known many users who have shilled their way to a profit. It doesn’t benefit Flippa to eliminate shilling. High sales mean higher success fees.

Simple as that.

Straight up scamming? Yep.

I’ve reported verifiable scams to customer support and I didn’t hear back until after the auction closed. They stated that it was now the buyer’s responsibility to report the sale if something fishy occurred.

Hmmmm.

Would the buyer receive a refund? No. Would the seller be suspended? Yes. Would Flippa still profit? Damn right.

At the end of the day, you can choose to use their platform of boycott them.

I will choose the latter.

P.S.

Have you been curious about what Flippa has been doing?

They are working on adding small business to their platform.

Yeah. Dump money into selling physical business without verifying any of their claims.

That should work. Everyone is honest. Right?

 

[Jen-Sin]

Frankly, I'm sick and tired of companies, including banks, who ask for a scanned copy of I.D, social security card, credit cards, etc. sent through e-mail. It's an unbelievably insecure practice and should be stopped. Period.

Should we go back to registered letters?

If not, what other ways can these institutions implement anti-fraud measures?

 

[21x20]

Should we go back to registered letters?

If not, what other ways can these institutions implement anti-fraud measures?

But the point is that it's not really a valid "anti-fraud measure".

Once your documents have been scanned and sent via email, any disgruntled fool along the way can re-forward them off and use them to defraud someone else. People aren't supposed to send credit card numbers via unsecured email on the chance they could be stolen. Companies are not supposed to accept credit cards in unsecured ways -- to follow the credit card company guidelines even you must use an SSL server to accept a credit card number...

Meanwhile, credit card transactions are highly monitored and CC numbers are easily cancelled and changed in the case where one is stolen.

On the other hand: You most certainly can NOT change your ID or electric bill if it's stolen from an email or from some hacked site's database. Scanned documents can only be considered an "anti-fraud" measure the very first time you send them. Once they're out in the wild, they're no longer anti-fraud proof.

(Not too mention how easily anyone with photoshop can mock up any requested "scanned" document pretty quickly.)

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Frankly, I'm sick and tired of companies, including banks, who ask for a scanned copy of I.D, social security card, credit cards, etc. sent through e-mail. It's an unbelievably insecure practice and should be stopped. Period.

The only way to stop it is for all of us to stop giving in to it. Refuse to do it.

 

[paullopez]

I think the person who is interested in buying the websites must be able to figure out the metrics as many times I have seen websites that are not even worthy enough to be sold for 3 figures.

 

[Domainstore]

Same , PayPal , Payoneer & Namejet ..etc asked for scanned IDs and the recent bills with matching address. And I have sent Flippa the same documents but they reject and asked me to take picture of my face holding my IDs. So I'm just asking why is this necessary? @m-i-k-e said that if the platform got hacked those images can be used by thieves to pretend they're the real users in other websites , so they can have access to our accounts using our identities!!

" to take picture of my face holding my IDs". It's Big Brother-mentality,.IMO.

 

[Abdullah Abdullah]

I just had the pleassure of seeing the preferential treatment which super sellers get at first hand. I am flabbergasted. My my Go..... I am simply
....

Let me.stop. I dont wanna say something terrible.

 

[greggb]

Sorry in advance, Kevin. Should have had your people leave me alone.

Flippa has been the subject of much controversy over the last 6 months. Speculative talk has ranged from shill bidding to bloated sales reports. Most of the accusations are pure garbage but the company is sketchy as hell.

While you might be thinking that I’m bitter because I haven’t any luck there, you should know that I moved $75,000 of domains in 6 months. At one point, I was the first to go to bat for them all because I try to show some loyalty when someone is taking care of me.

However, I recently had my Super Seller status revoked “due to comments made towards other users.” In fact, this is due to my response to the auction where an individual claimed to have an offer on a 3 day old domain of 10,000 bitcoins — that’s $2,500,000. Apparently, calling out a scammer is grounds for retaliation from the business.

I suppose this is because Flippa values net revenue more than customer satisfaction.

Now that you know my motivation I will move on and share a little bit of insider information.

If you’re paying full price for listing fees and upgrades you have been scammed.

They have gone on the defensive in the past by saying that they “subsidize” upgrades for their top sellers. Subsidize is a cute word for giveaway.

I received somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 in “subsidies” — as a private seller — over 6 months. At one point, I received $2,000 in credits at one time.

Now I won’t lie, sometimes I had to pay for listings. When I did, I still got hooked up. For every upgrade or listing I purchased I received 2 free.

So when I paid, which was rare, I paid 1/3 of what you’ve been paying. I’m sure you now see why some people make a killing off their platform while others have lost hundreds of dollars per listing.

Oh you thought Editor’s choice was for good domains? Nah. It has been a filter for friends of Flippa.

When I sold on Flippa’s platform, I was given Editor’s Choice for nearly all of my domains. Why? Because I asked.

I know some of you noticed that only 3-5 people showed up when visiting that page. Some might not care but others might understand the value of this.

Domains at Flippa sell for much more when given the Editor’s Choice designation.

Oh so you suspect shilling? I’ve known many users who have shilled their way to a profit. It doesn’t benefit Flippa to eliminate shilling. High sales mean higher success fees.

Simple as that.

Straight up scamming? Yep.

I’ve reported verifiable scams to customer support and I didn’t hear back until after the auction closed. They stated that it was now the buyer’s responsibility to report the sale if something fishy occurred.

Hmmmm.

Would the buyer receive a refund? No. Would the seller be suspended? Yes. Would Flippa still profit? Damn right.

At the end of the day, you can choose to use their platform of boycott them.

I will choose the latter.

P.S.

Have you been curious about what Flippa has been doing?

They are working on adding small business to their platform.

Yeah. Dump money into selling physical business without verifying any of their claims.

That should work. Everyone is honest. Right?

I've been critical of Flippa in the past, but that was in regard to a lack of functionality at their website (their recent site overhaul was a big improvement). But I've never had reason to believe they're "shady", which I'm guessing is one notch below "criminal" when it comes to your classification of people who've wronged you.

I can't imagine how you could have lost your super-seller status, as charming as you are. Maybe the problem was that you're too charming? Maybe Flippa staff are just so incredibly wooed by your charm that they can't get anything done when you're around? So they demoted you, hoping you would leave and they could stop screaming and fainting and be able function again? Just tossing out a possible alternative to your conspiracy theory.

Flippa is not "shady". Of course I'm not playing in the big leagues like you, so maybe I'm not privy to some info that you are. Hell, Flippa could be the anti-christ, for all I know. It's not likely, but it's not impossible

 

[DudeManBro]

Actually, in my quote in the above post I question why "Josh" is selling "Jasons" domains, and who is Jason in all of this. I just found the answer:

Jason is this person - https://flippa.com/users/698100/listings

Actually, to answer your questions and your negative feedback without actually asking and just jumping to conclusions.
It would be great if you actually "knew what you were talking about before you slander".
This is the exact thing that makes things ridiculous when it comes to others trying to destroy others auctions and reputations.
First off. I am Jason.
Second off. Josh is my Partner in multiple companies.
And we decided a good way to come up with capital for a new venture we are starting is by combining our domains for a Bundle Auction, to gain extra funds to proceed.

And yes, I do have to agree that flippa needs more verification.
Especially on large amount sales.
I get messaged by people all the time, who I know I have spoke to before with different user names and the profile being 1month old or even new, and they have already placed bids on other auctions.
This is no good.
When it comes to this industry

Marketplace Integrity is a relative term open to a slanted perspective. But since there is a Flippa thread asking about feedback - it comes with a caveat that if it isn't constructive and without an off color odor it will be deleted - I wanted to post my reply here as well. Marketplace integrity seems a good segue -

If you don't mind, please stop causing problems and commenting negatively about Josh and Myself without speaking with us first.
Thank you

To everyone, so things are clear.
I am Jason and Josh is my Business Partner in many companies.

And we decided a good way to come up with capital for a new venture we are starting is by combining our domains for a Bundle Auction, to gain extra funds to proceed.

And yes, I do have to agree that flippa needs more verification.
Especially on large amount sales.
I get messaged by people all the time, who I know I have spoke to before with different user names and the profile being 1 month old or even new, and they have already placed bids on other auctions.
This is no good.
When it comes to this industry, networking is great, communicating with others is great and asking questions is great.
Nothing at all wrong with contacting Josh or Myself and just asking.
You would have kindly responded and answered your questions.
Just Partners looking to gain capital for an upcoming venture selling domains in a nice Bundle auction.
Other than that, if you guys have any more questions,
feel free to contact either Josh or Myself and we will be happy to clear up whatever misunderstanding or negative outlook you may have on us being business partners running a combined auction to gain extra capital for an up coming project we are looking to do.

Thank you,
Any questions,
Please feel free to contact either of us.

 

[interassets]

I for one am absolutely shocked to see this thread. I have spent $thousands of dollars upgrading listings with very few free credits. I have unwillingly sold valuable domain names (for example art.investments) for less than the upgrade price and the domain price... Absolutely my responsibility yes, in a fair and open marketplace. But definitely not my responsibility when certain preferential users have been saturating my expensive exposure... This is nothing short of fraud, and I for one would like to join up with anyone else who is interested in pursuing legal action to reclaim lost earnings and expenses. Please PM me if you're interested in pursuing a legal case.

This is absolutely hideous and immoral, and cannot be excused. Thank you @Shane Bellone for bringing it to my attention.

 

[jideofor]

I was lured to pay for upgrade in order to get second listing for free. When it was time, they stopped replying to my messages because they got the first money already and since second one wont give them money, they decided not to fulfill their initial promise.

 

[princess333]

After I spent around 200 dollars on upgrades to sell a domain on Flippa they block my account only because I was using a public computer and denied a refund of the amount I spent, There support was being rude and mean as well.

 

[FlippaDomains]

I was lured to pay for upgrade in order to get second listing for free. When it was time, they stopped replying to my messages because they got the first money already and since second one wont give them money, they decided not to fulfill their initial promise.

That's not something we do. Refer me your ticket / communication and I'll make this right for you.

After I spent around 200 dollars on upgrades to sell a domain on Flippa they block my account only because I was using a public computer and denied a refund of the amount I spent, There support was being rude and mean as well.

What's your Support ticket ID? With your permission, I'll share the reason your account was sanctioned so we can clear this up.

 

[HeyNow]

That's not something we do.

Well, you either did it, or you didn't. If you did it, then your quoted post here is a mis-statement of facts.
If you didn't do it, then the aggrieved customer mis-stated the facts. Are you calling the aggrieved customer a liar? Or you saying the aggrieved customer is too stupid to know what happened to him/her? Are you trying to stop the gushing wound with a Bandaid?

What are you really saying?

 

[HeyNow]

Should we go back to registered letters?

Yes, absolutely. The process will slow a bit, but fewer shenanigans, identity theft, etc.

 

[DU]

Here's an auction :

https://flippa.com/5768384-business-in-a-box-brand-portfolio-valued-over-100-000

This has an EDITOR's comment from Kevin!

Here's a little comment from the seller:

*In the event that a domain listed above sells on Brandbucket while this auction is running, the seller reserves the right to remove that domain from this auction and replace it with a domain of equal or greater value."

Here's the FLIPPA rules:
You agree that if you, as a Seller, list a Digital Asset for sale via Auction, then, for the duration of that Auction, you will not advertise or offer to sell the Digital Asset through any other third party service or make direct approaches to potential purchasers outside Flippa.com.

Here's a Brandbucket rule:
No. By submitting and accepting your name for listing at BrandBucket you are agreeing to have BrandBucket as the exclusive seller for the duration that a domain name is listed, and listing the domain for sale elsewhere is prohibited.

So how does @FlippaDomains allow an auction to be held and give it EDITOR comments when the whole premise of the auction fails the basic rules? Perhaps Flippa has no rules at all? Perhaps it depends on who you know?

How do they allow a portfolio to sell when that portfolio is "unknown". I think that poopoopoopee.com might be as valuable as Valtrax.com. On second thoughts, one of them is a huge TM risk and the other one is just shit.

What a crazy platform Flippa is.

 

[Tytus]

Hey I need to ask you guys something because when I contacted flippa they claimed nothing sketchy was going on.
So there was this auction for a domain which I bidded on, while I was highest bidder another bidder came in and subsequently bid 3 times in a row raising the price $1000 above the last bidder which was myself. The auction ended and the seller sent me an offer with the supposed highest bidder amount.
This felt sketchy as hell and i messaged flippa about it, they said it was legit and nothing fishy. Now after reading this I am thinking they just don't care as long as they get paid for listing a domain.

 

[NameOmnia]

Here's an auction :

https://flippa.com/5768384-business-in-a-box-brand-portfolio-valued-over-100-000

This has an EDITOR's comment from Kevin!

Here's a little comment from the seller:

*In the event that a domain listed above sells on Brandbucket while this auction is running, the seller reserves the right to remove that domain from this auction and replace it with a domain of equal or greater value."

Here's the FLIPPA rules:
You agree that if you, as a Seller, list a Digital Asset for sale via Auction, then, for the duration of that Auction, you will not advertise or offer to sell the Digital Asset through any other third party service or make direct approaches to potential purchasers outside Flippa.com.

Here's a Brandbucket rule:
No. By submitting and accepting your name for listing at BrandBucket you are agreeing to have BrandBucket as the exclusive seller for the duration that a domain name is listed, and listing the domain for sale elsewhere is prohibited.

So how does @FlippaDomains allow an auction to be held and give it EDITOR comments when the whole premise of the auction fails the basic rules? Perhaps Flippa has no rules at all? Perhaps it depends on who you know?

How do they allow a portfolio to sell when that portfolio is "unknown". I think that poopoopoopee.com might be as valuable as Valtrax.com. On second thoughts, one of them is a huge TM risk and the other one is just sh*t.

What a crazy platform Flippa is.

Also they keep listing TM domains all the time & even sending them out via email..not long ago I received the usual email from Flippa promoting a Wordpress domain...

 

[HeyNow]

Now after reading this I am thinking they just don't care as long as they get paid for listing a domain.

Personally, I think you've nailed it.

 

[Dave_Z]

Well, you either did it, or you didn't. If you did it, then your quoted post here is a mis-statement of facts.
If you didn't do it, then the aggrieved customer mis-stated the facts. Are you calling the aggrieved customer a liar? Or you saying the aggrieved customer is too stupid to know what happened to him/her? Are you trying to stop the gushing wound with a Bandaid?

What are you really saying?

Things don't have to be either-or especially if/when one finds options. And nobody has to call anyone anything, more so if it changes nothing and helps no one.

(Of course, one can always think FlippaDomains commented here just for damage control. Is his NOT responding here a preferable option, then?)

Meantime, FD offered to help that the other users can ignore if doing so makes them feel better. If anything, those users have little to nothing to lose (other than maybe time) by taking up FD's offer. They can then update this thread if they see fit.

Only time, as usual, will tell how this thing goes.

 

[jideofor]

That's not something we do. Refer me your ticket / communication and I'll make this right for you.



What's your Support ticket ID? With your permission, I'll share the reason your account was sanctioned so we can clear this up.

I quoted you over 2 months ago regarding my experience with devon and you are just replying now...

 

[princess333]

What's your Support ticket ID? With your permission, I'll share the reason your account was sanctioned so we can clear this up.

I already contacted the support a lot of times They keep blaming me for making multiple Ids I did tell them I was using a public computer but I m done and over with it No issue They wont let me make an Id even in the future. So I don't wanna try them and this was like last year so I don't know or remember anything like that.

 

[HeyNow]

Things don't have to be either-or especially if/when one finds options. And nobody has to call anyone anything, more so if it changes nothing and helps no one.

Wrong. Calling anyone here out for mis-speaking or flat-out lying DOES help others here. We're so sick of getting BS from company spokespeople and "players" that from now on their feet will be held to the fire until THEY prove that THEY speak the truth. No more parsing words. No more crap from a company that allows its employees to bid against clueless outside bidders as long as the SELLER knows about it. Did you know about that policy? What a nice business practice, to allow employees to drive up prices unbeknownst to the clueless buyers. What a pillar of decency! Then they trot out some ding-a-ling to try to stomp out the groundswell of angst from pissed-off customers.

 

[princess333]

Wrong. Calling anyone here out for mis-speaking or flat-out lying DOES help others here. We're so sick of getting BS from company spokespeople and "players" that from now on their feet will be held to the fire until THEY prove that THEY speak the truth. No more parsing words. No more crap from a company that allows its employees to bid against clueless outside bidders as long as the SELLER knows about it. Did you know about that policy? What a nice business practice, to allow employees to drive up prices unbeknownst to the clueless buyers. What a pillar of decency! Then they trot out some ding-a-ling to try to stomp out the groundswell of angst from pissed-off customers.

Nicely and Truly said indeed.

 

[Jen-Sin]

@FlippaDomains, why is Flippa asking to verify my identity again when I had previously provided my identification?

According to AUSTRAC, "Know Your Customer" (KYC) identification process is required by financial entities for new customers when opening an account to prevent or detect money laundering activities. It can also reduce other types of risks to a business.

Under the ongoing customer due diligence (OCDD), entities need to determine when and in what circumstances additional KYC information should be collected, updated or verified.

After 10+ transactions in Flippa, my transactions are now considered unusual or suspicious or high-risk that I need to provide identify verification again to ensure my account remains under my control?

Earlier identify verification, phone verification and credit card verification and other forms of checking like IP monitoring are not enough to confirm my identity?

The process should not be the reason to hold back rightful payment from auctions and sales. If a risk has been identified, shouldn't OCDD be conducted before any sale and not during the release of funds?

Now it has became a situation where I have to be compliant to this request in order to receive my funds.

I understand that integrity of a marketplace is important. But sometimes I feel Market Integrity of Flippa views and treats all users as potential fruadsters first and valued customers second.

Even big marketplaces like GoDaddy and Sedo don't demand the kind of verification Flippa requires.

 

[HeyNow]

@FlippaDomains, why is Flippa asking to verify my identity again when I had previously provided my identification? Even big marketplaces like GoDaddy and Sedo don't demand the kind of verification Flippa requires.

Do you expect full disclosure from a company that allows its employees to bid in its auctions, only informing the Seller, and not the outside, clueless bidders? You have serious questions and concerns. How quickly are those being addressed?