question What happened to Flippa appraisal?

[bytedo]

Anyone noticed what is happening at flippa appraisal? Last time I checked there were only 2 names listed for appraisal and now they have just 1.

Ok it hasn't been the best barometer for knowing the worth of a domain but any smart person can use it and get a fair idea how a domain could be seen by an end user. Agreed a lot of the appraisals are just by idiots looking to earn credits but you do some useful insight from many entries.

Do they technical have issues with it or are they trying to stop it. If they are stopping it, wouldn't it be better and more professional to announce that they are? Rather than what is happening now?

 

[muttus]

Posing this to everyone:

Would you still use or interact with this tool were the incentive (free weekly credits) to be removed?

I am new to Domaining and I have to say that any input from the community is good, even if it is skewed.

For me the appraisal tool has 3 main dimensions which are equally important.

1) It allows to put my domain out and seek advice. This is of course the whole point, but the question is how this is achieved. If you get in a week 3 spammers just copy pasting exactly same answer to everybody, then the value is rather limited.

2) I want to get exposure to my profile and my listing so I could sell better. In this case having good name in appraisal is very good commercial, since I often check other listings of that person to look for a gem. But I do not see same feedback when appraising. I am dedicated and try to appraise about 100 names a week, regardless the quality, but as the system is set right now the reward is rather small. Redoing the system so one could get good exposure from HONEST appraising would definitely improve the quality and number of appraises

3) Free listing bonus. We all like this. Especially for person like me which has almost 0 experience with domains the ability to try to put your listing out there without being afraid to loose is priceless. Through this processes I can all learn what works and what does not and of course go to use flippa platform. In case of success sale Flippa will anyway collect their share, so it is always win win. And once I feel confident with both my gut and the marketplace 9 - 349 dollars will not be such a deal because I will be convinced that I can sell with profit.

So to your question, if I would be interested in appraisal tool without free listing is. YES and NO.
If the system is set the way that I get decent DIRECT exposure to my listings and appraisals received are somehow HONEST answers and not spam my answer is YES
If the system stay the way it is.I believe that the bonus is good option to have NO

The question for you is whether you can risk to loose all those potential customers like me, who right now do not have ton of money to spend, but which may have it after few successful sales. Even if 10 % of free listings help people to sell isn't it best commercial for your site?

Muttus

 

[FlippaDomains]

Just had one domain accepted for appraisal. I decided to give it a try but I didn't know that flippa will have to decide if that name can be posted up for appraisal. Took about a week until that name got approved. If I would know about this I would not post my name up for appraisal. Waste of time

-- It usually takes 2-5 days, tops. And all are accepted, unless they're defamatory.

Kill it with fire. I thought that was the plan. It's always going to be a low end attraction, which is a negative, not a positive for Flippa.

-- I have my agreements with this, as I have stated before; and yet, as you see above/below, people like @muttus find value in the tool ...and thus, those people, and those very reasons of theirs, are why the tool exists, will continue to exist, and why the removal of the incentive is not as cut and dry as once thought.

If that's what we need to make Flippa appraisal more credible then why not? As long as the free listing per week exists, there will always be someone whose comment is "Wow! Great domain!" even without looking at the extension.

My suggestion is that you keep the free listing but limit it to one per month.

-- That's a possibility; what I think would be better, though, would be to reward appraisers based on honest and valuable feedback, like a points or "like" system. Perhaps greater account exposure could be part of that reward, instead of credits. However, for new domainers and new Flippa sellers in particular, credits are a welcome thing and we believe giving new sellers a risk-free sales trial is important. As far as the lack of quality of domains are concerned (with all the free credits), that's why we'll soon be showcasing our brokerage inventory separately, why we have Editors' Choice, Exclusives and why we work with sellers to provide subsidies on upgrades to promote their best inventory. Our continual aim is to make sure the best inventory on the platform is able to be seen.

Let me guess....you are still looking for, searching, thinking about, evaluating....

Please forgive me if I don't take your word as liquid gold.
For months Flippa has been informed about this practice, for months pros ( yeah..the main users of your marketplace ) have pointed out how ridiculous the system is ( for ALL reasons ) and yet nothing has changed. As expected.
If you don't mind me asking; who does make decisions there? And how long does it take for whoever is in charge to make a common sense based decision?
No wait...I got it....how could you get all those success fee otherwise....

Flippa domains : 07 / Jan / 2015
" As has been mentioned on other posts, we're soon discontinuing the appraisal credit/incentive "

-- I'm the one making the decision, and truth be told, it's about last on my list at this moment. My responsibility extends past making sure I handle something in a timely manner to suit your timestamps, and while I do think the credit provides problems, I've come around to a more nuanced position on this. For all the people who think the tool has fallen prey to scammers, I've heard from more who find use out of it, despite the credit incentive, as well as a sizable swath of people who deem this credit valuable in learning more about how to sell domains on our platform, for free. It's not perfect, nor will it ever be no matter what we do. But I do think the solution now spans further than just killing the credit; there are different ways to address the issues. As much as I value everyone's feedback on this, I appreciate the understanding that there is more in the product pipeline that we have a far greater and more time sensitive responsibility to address.

I am new to Domaining and I have to say that any input from the community is good, even if it is skewed.

For me the appraisal tool has 3 main dimensions which are equally important.

1) It allows to put my domain out and seek advice. This is of course the whole point, but the question is how this is achieved. If you get in a week 3 spammers just copy pasting exactly same answer to everybody, then the value is rather limited.

2) I want to get exposure to my profile and my listing so I could sell better. In this case having good name in appraisal is very good commercial, since I often check other listings of that person to look for a gem. But I do not see same feedback when appraising. I am dedicated and try to appraise about 100 names a week, regardless the quality, but as the system is set right now the reward is rather small. Redoing the system so one could get good exposure from HONEST appraising would definitely improve the quality and number of appraises

3) Free listing bonus. We all like this. Especially for person like me which has almost 0 experience with domains the ability to try to put your listing out there without being afraid to loose is priceless. Through this processes I can all learn what works and what does not and of course go to use flippa platform. In case of success sale Flippa will anyway collect their share, so it is always win win. And once I feel confident with both my gut and the marketplace 9 - 349 dollars will not be such a deal because I will be convinced that I can sell with profit.

So to your question, if I would be interested in appraisal tool without free listing is. YES and NO.
If the system is set the way that I get decent DIRECT exposure to my listings and appraisals received are somehow HONEST answers and not spam my answer is YES
If the system stay the way it is.I believe that the bonus is good option to have NO

The question for you is whether you can risk to loose all those potential customers like me, who right now do not have ton of money to spend, but which may have it after few successful sales. Even if 10 % of free listings help people to sell isn't it best commercial for your site?

Muttus

-- Case in point in my answer just above. There's more value for you as a new seller, despite potential pitfalls. Rewarding those that provide useful insights/thoughts/valuations, and having the copy/paste people drop off the page (en route to being suspended or removed entirely from the marketplace), while keeping the incentive credit (if not maybe modifying it's dispersal), is what we're looking towards now.

 

[JB Lions]

-- I have my agreements with this, as I have stated before; and yet, as you see above/below, people like @muttus find value in the tool ...and thus, those people, and those very reasons of theirs, are why the tool exists, will continue to exist, and why the removal of the incentive is not as cut and dry as once thought.

So you basically decided to go down the wrong path, it's your business. But it's starting to look lower end/ebayish when you have people listing domains for 6 and 7 figure, that aren't even reg fee and I bet those would be the free listings you've giving away for appraisals. I went thru the domains yesterday and it's just more muck to go thru, better domains getting drowned out by trash. You'll end up with people that have the better domains, stop listing or not listing as much.

I am new to Domaining

I am dedicated and try to appraise about 100 names a week, regardless the quality

Does that make sense to you? You have people new to domaining giving the appraisals, not experienced people that know the market. What exactly is the value in getting a domain appraisal from somebody new? The plan is basically going to bring more muck to the platform. Good luck with that. Should have stayed focused on the selling, domains/sites.

 

[Kate]

Good domain names speak for themselves, they don't need appraisals.
Incentivized votes are abused, it's something we have seen with Bido.

 

[NameOmnia]

for new domainers and new Flippa sellers in particular, credits are a welcome thing and we believe giving new sellers a risk-free sales trial is important

Why don't you simply give 3-5 free listings to new people?
Easy and simple and it wouldn't make a such a mess with the appraisal section and the number of crappy domains listed on your marketplace.
And happy ending...you will still have your success fees which, if we want to be honest with each other, is the only reason why free appraisals are still in place.

 

[FlippaDomains]

Should have stayed focused on the selling, domains/sites.

That is exactly what we're doing.

I don't think we're going down the wrong path given that December 2014 was our best month ever; January creamed December; and February blew January out of the water. I'm speaking of all metrics (gross sales, number of domains sold, revenue and particularly buyer and seller involvement).

This growth has nothing to do with the appraisal tool. Better domains are being listed, and more are selling. Better inventory is being showcased, seen and acquired.

People will always have access to credits -- whether they gain them from the appraisal tool, are given them because they're new and want to test-run some auctions, or in the case of many of the recurring sellers we work with, have a subsidized plan they partake in.

Crap domains will always be present and the only ways to address them are to
a) prohibit their inclusion into the marketplace (which won't happen; Flippa will remain open to all); or
b) filter the marketplace so experienced buyers needn't sift through tons of drivel.

Our upcoming redesign will help. Brokerage being in its own section will help. Editors' Choice will help. Your input, as per usual, helps...

 

[FlippaDomains]

Why don't you simply give 3-5 free listings to new people?
Easy and simple and it wouldn't make a such a mess with the appraisal section and the number of crappy domains listed on your marketplace.
And happy ending...you will still have your success fees which, if we want to be honest with each other, is the only reason why free appraisals are still in place.

First, good point and it's something I've thought of. I just posted something else above that addresses the abundance of credits given out to many, many sellers -- the appraisal tool is not to "blame" for poor inventory, nor are the free credits in general. No blame really; domainers (including myself) have some domains that are crappy to others - plain and simple. These exist across ALL marketplaces, as you know...We won't eradicate these @JB Lions by not giving out credits. I wrote above how we're trying to parse the space into showcasing our best inventory, and it is working.

Regarding the success fees -- That's not at all true. Sales from listings started via access to credits gained via the appraisal tool are sparse and generally (almost always) lower-end. We're talking about mostly beginner domainers, here. I do think they have a seat at the table in our marketplace, unless they are gaming the system with mindless appraisals. Those people, we like to kick to the curb.

But we lose far greater in listing fees than we gain in success fees. At this moment, the tool is an imperfect product on our site that > 50% of the members think is useful. So we're keeping it. Our product team really can't spend much more time on it than that at moment, though everything mentioned in this thread is all valid and suggestive of a better way to roll with it...

Thanks everyone.

 

[sofiapartner]

For me this tool is absolutely worthless. Flooding the marketplace with bad domains. But - that's your site and your decision.

 

[JB Lions]

the appraisal tool is not to "blame" for poor inventory, nor are the free credits in general.

Of course it contributes to the poor inventory. When something is free, there isn't much risk. If you pay, then you'll think a little harder about what you list. There is a reason blogger/blogspot, Google sites etc. is overrun with spam/spammers, it's because it's free. Or spammers love no cost/low cost domains. It's what it attracts. Your setup attracts newbies with no knowledge of the market giving appraisals to probably list very bad domains (for free), I posted an example in my last post. Again, tell me the value of a newbie domainer "appraise about 100 names a week," ? It's not to anybody getting that appraisal, just to them getting free listings.

I'm taking a look at one now, a TM btw, canifixmyiphone, it's laughable.

 

[muttus]

So you basically decided to go down the wrong path, it's your business. But it's starting to look lower end/ebayish when you have people listing domains for 6 and 7 figure, that aren't even reg fee and I bet those would be the free listings you've giving away for appraisals. I went thru the domains yesterday and it's just more muck to go thru, better domains getting drowned out by trash. You'll end up with people that have the better domains, stop listing or not listing as much.





Does that make sense to you? You have people new to domaining giving the appraisals, not experienced people that know the market. What exactly is the value in getting a domain appraisal from somebody new? The plan is basically going to bring more muck to the platform. Good luck with that. Should have stayed focused on the selling, domains/sites.

The same like reading this forum, seeing and trying to appraise others domain is a great way to learn about industry. Although my estimates were horrible couple weeks back, I do believe that through learning on all fronts I am getting better. Of course it would be nice if really experienced domainers would pitch in . The whole point is to get any ... reasonable feedback .... so one can grow and become better.

 

[biggie]

I am new to Domaining and I have to say that any input from the community is good, even if it is skewed.

I am dedicated and try to appraise about 100 names a week, regardless the quality,

Hi muttus

there, in your post, lies the contradiction of appraisals

as, if you're new to domaining, then why and or how can you be appraising 100 domain names a week?

not saying newbies can't give opinions, but what experience and or knowledge is it based on?

logically, i think that is a flaw in appraisals for that venue, that others have issue with.

imo....

 

[silgro12]

@FlippaDomains I think that free credits are great idea for newbies becouse newbies usually doesnt have a lot of money so free listing is a great start for them. Also, me as a newbie sold domain on flippa with free listing and if I hadnt have it (free listing), I woludnt listed domain so that was a win win situation. Also I agree that appraisal tool is not so good idea, but I have an idea:

I think that everyone for free listing can make some simple job whihc everybody can do, like social media promotion or contact end users for some domains listed on flippa. For example, someone buy flippa promotion for 349$ and he also get a 20 or more random promotion from flippa sellers, a seller who want free listing need to contact 20 end users and tell them about some domain at auction or promote via his social media and so on. And for appraisal tool. I think it would be great if only experienced sellers can do it (like only members who have 50 sales) and for return they get free email promote or twiter promote and free listing. What do you think about that idea?

I know that there will be some crappy domains on listing but doesnt matter it is still promotion for flippa and you never know, some crappy names could be valuable for some buyer and thorugh comission flippa get some money.

 

[TheFifty9Sound]

I think the appraisal section has a place, and I see from Flippa's side how it is useful in driving engagement. I think it could be improved by highlighting a users credentials a little further - i.e how many sales they've made, how long have they been registered, how many of their appraisals came close to the final selling price etc.

Maybe you could filter appraisals by supersellers only, or members who have grossed more than $XXXX, or filter out members that have been registered for less than a year etc.

It's never going be perfect, but no appraisal service is. I personally don't have an interest in using it, but I wouldn't take it away from those who do. It makes people feel involved and feel like they're contributing, and that generates the kind of enthusiasm that motivates newcomers to learn.

 

[indam]

Completely unrelated to the previous comments: I see that the number of appraisals is directed to a small number of domains while there is a long tail of domains which get 1-2 appraisals. Would not be difficult to fix it so domains with few appraisals are pushed for attention of those appraising.

And second, an algorithm to rank members based on their correct estimation should be done. It can be something simple, like rank better those members who hit the median, but will definitely make some abusers who do a copy paste string and put always a 5000$ value reconsider.

 

[JB Lions]

It's not a motivation to learn, it's a motivation to get free listings, that's it. And it's what kind of engagement do you want. Sales or appraisals. Bido got more engagement with what they did, voting engagement. It's about the same time the quality, sales amount started to decline. You let the muck in, maybe more people but not more quality, it tends to start keeping that away. It reminds me a little of that old saying - Show me your friends and I'll show you your future. Do you want to be lower end, let people who have no business giving appraisals, being the most active giving them? Then in turn, be the most active listing usually bad domains for free? Your overall quality is bound to go down. That doesn't seem like a sound long term strategy. Well, maybe if your goal is traffic.

 

[bytedo]

double post

 

[bytedo]

This was never meant to be a bash flippa in the head thread. Just wanted to know what what was up with their appraisal.

So it happens some people are unhappy they couldnt sell their premium domains on Flippa because some hapless noobs flooded the market with hideous names no thanks to free listing via the appraisal tool. Really?

If your name is good then it will sell Period.

If what @ flippa said earlier is anything to go by sales at Flippa havent been any better. You are entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to your facts. How can anyone argue with figures when its right there in front of you. Not rooting for the prats who abuse the tool by the way.

However its always beneficial for businesses to get feedback from all points of view and to explain what exactly the situation is. I think this has happened here and top marks for @FlippaDomains

 

[bytedo]

The bolded part is dead wrong..

I would be careful making such bold assertions

There was exactly 0 value in their appraisals because no one was appraising to actually add value/input to the system.. Everyone was just doing it for the free credits. I hope that they are killing it off as that would mean less crappy names listed in auctions because everyone that was listing with their free flippa credits will now stop and think twice before listing because they will actually have to pay for the listing..

This is not only statistically impossible, it is factually wrong my friend

 

[Edward Smeu]

I was always wondering if there is a 15 appraisals/week limit why do people have hundreds of appraisals? Is it somehow like if someone appraises 150 domains in one week, they get 1 free listing for each of the next 10 weeks? Or just one and that's it. And if the second is true, what is the reasoning behind this?!

 

[biggie]

If your name is good then it will sell? Period.

if you truly believe that, then....