Flippa Flips a Switch, and Sells Stop

[shifubill]

Recently, Flippa has made a few changes. One is an increase in listing fees. Annoying, but not a big problem if I'm making sales. Trouble is, my sales have almost stopped. I was getting about 30 sales per month of starter sites. While a lot of starter site sellers get a bad reputation, I explain exactly what the customer is and isn't getting, and point them in the right direction, but offer no promises I won't keep. I've always had steady sales, with sites selling for between $90 and $200.
However, this past month all that changed. It was like a switch flipped and everything has stopped. I've had just a few sales. I used to get a few questions each day. I'm not even getting many questions from customers.
I had a look at Flippa as a customer might approach it. It looks like starter sites, as well as apps, has been pushed to the back with established sites and businesses being given most of the space.
Once, a Flippa user could just search for "fishing" and be shown every site related to fishing. But I have a starter dropship fishing site. If I go to "Business Type" and "Dropship" and search for fishing, it's not there. I only find it if go to "Starter Sites and Apps".
I've always known my income from Flippa would dry up someday, but I would like to keep it going. I wonder if anyone might have strategies for surviving in the new order? Would it be better to wait 4 months to list a site so that my starter sites qualify as an established site? I'm also considering selling fewer sites at a higher price and getting traffic and sales for the sites first. But that's hard work and creates a lot more expense.
I was doing great on Flippa for years, but it seems like they're getting enough money from selling businesses that they don't need me anymore.

 

[Visual Eagle]

"Would it be better to wait 4 months to list a site so that my starter sites qualify as an established site?"

Maybe buying an expired domain could solve this issue.

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

Actually, I think Flippa got swamped with starter sites and re-skinned apps, there is no money in it for them especially as a lot of those starter sites were more or less scams.


If you can create good looking starter sites then why not sell them on BHW?

 

[OsideRida06]

Ouch. That sucks big time for the ones who were good at selling those starter sites. I still can't believe they don't have a serious competitor in this niche yet for these reasons here.

 

[Extruser]

The math is easy, if you know more or less how much you can sell these established sites for.

 

[shifubill]

Flippa WAS swamped with crappy starter sites and reskinned apps, but they actually did a good job of cleaning out most of the scammers. I've known of many even legitimate sellers say they got their listings pulled because they were unable to provide enough proof they were making money. There's some money it for them. I know they were making nearly a thousand $ a month off me alone at one time. As for buying expired domains, I think they thought of that. I had a long back-and-forth with them about how they determine what is a starter site, and it's based off of when the site went live, not how old the domain is. Like any hack, it's fine as long as they don't check. But if I start listing sites with a 2 year old domain, and they find on the Internet Archive or something else that it's not that old, I'm likely to get my account suspended. I don't want to start over, or spend a lot of money trying something that won't work.

I've considered selling sites here, but there's a lot of competition and there's a different type of buyer on here. Flippa users mostly seems new to making money online and are looking for a specific thing. BWH users have many choices and starter sites are not an original idea. I might give it a try, but I don't think I'll be recovering my losses.

 

[shifubill]

The math is easy, if you know more or less how much you can sell these established sites for.

Math is easy, predictions aren't. I can figure out how much it costs to make one, but I can't guess if it would sell. Frankly, from the few times I've sold established sites, they don't sell for much if at all. And they're a lot of work to get started with. Flippa's changes were sudden, and I don't have a lot of resources right now.

 

[Extruser]

Well, what do you see as an established site?
And how much do you think you can sell an established site for?

 

[shifubill]

Well, what do you see as an established site?
And how much do you think you can sell an established site for?

Flippas sees an established site as a site that is 4 months old. As for the price, as I said in the last post it's not as simple as naming numbers.

 

[Extruser]

Flippas sees an established site as a site that is 4 months old. As for the price, as I said in the last post it's not as simple as naming numbers.

OK, I understand now.
So basically you're just complaining, not looking for a solution.
Don't get me wrong, that's your good right.

But I thought, maybe, with some basic info on the numbers and
the input of other members, we might find an elegant and profitable solution,
and keep selling useless sites to newbie Flippa users, dreaming of internet riches,
for $499 instead of the usual $80 - $149.

Flippa knows these sites are shit, and bad for their business,
so up your game and make more money at the same time!

If you've been doing this for years, like you say, with sometimes 30 sales/month,
you can't really complain.
You should have enough data to share and help us find a solution or think of one yourself.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

 

[BrandingCat]

OK, I understand now.
So basically you're just complaining, not looking for a solution.
Don't get me wrong, that's your good right.

But I thought, maybe, with some basic info on the numbers and
the input of other members, we might find an elegant and profitable solution,
and keep selling useless sites to newbie Flippa users, dreaming of internet riches,
for $499 instead of the usual $80 - $149.

Flippa knows these sites are shit, and bad for their business,
so up your game and make more money at the same time!

If you've been doing this for years, like you say, with sometimes 30 sales/month,
you can't really complain.
You should have enough data to share and help us find a solution or think of one yourself.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Nope, he is not complaining; he just said the facts. He can`t keep stuck xx websites for at least four months and sell them after; if he sells them later.


I think the only way it`s this way, make websites, let them age and try to sell them.


@shifubill - What if you have a 1-3 old website and you make some earnings with it? Still will be as a starter?

 

[shifubill]

Nope, he is not complaining; he just said the facts. He can`t keep stuck xx websites for at least four months and sell them after; if he sells them later.


I think the only way it`s this way, make websites, let them age and try to sell them.

Thank you. I am complaining, but I'm also looking for solutions. But I'm not going to start guessing about numbers. I know how much I can sell the sites for that I'm selling now. Selling different sites, setting traffic, making sales, ad or ecomm, it's all a guess how much a site can sell for. I'm asking for ideas, tips, suggestions. Yes, I agree that letting sites age is probably the best possibility, but there are a lot of considerations in terms of what to list and when. Plus, when I look at all the sites for sale now, almost all of them have high selling prices and claim to be profitable. I don't think I'm going to get away with selling starter sites as established sites for very long.

I think also that the term established site has been replaced with "business."

 

[shifubill]

What if you have a 1-3 old website and you make some earnings with it? Still will be as a starter?

Yes, that is what Flippa has told me.

 

[OsideRida06]

Maybe that's what you need to do then. Just get these sites making some money. If you can come up with a method of ad spend that will help them make money with in the long run then that will really help sell the site for even more.

This way you give the details of the ads and exactly how they can setup and get the same results in their own account.

 

[shifubill]

Maybe that's what you need to do then. Just get these sites making some money. If you can come up with a method of ad spend that will help them make money with in the long run then that will really help sell the site for even more.

This way you give the details of the ads and exactly how they can setup and get the same results in their own account.

I think if I've accomplished all that, I'll just keep running the site and making money. Why sell it?

 

[OsideRida06]

Well yeah if you find one or two that may be a hit then sure. That's the way I personally like to do. I build them up so they are making money and then keep them.

However, it's going to hard to be running that many sites at 100%. How can you constantly put your all into that many of them? I guess I am the type id rather just haven two sites that can be working on and know I can go full force with them. I don't like the spreading myself too thin method. I have tried in the past and didn't work well.

Maybe just do a little of both.

 

[prettytoney]

I'm in the same situation as OP. I'm selling starter sites on Flippa for 2 years but in the past year I've been listing my sites with the $249 premium upgraded auction. Most of my sites was selling for $6-800, recently I've sold several sites for $1500-2000 and suddenly it stopped. My latest site sold for approx $100(I used to get $80-$100 bids in the first 24hrs). However while the basic listing fee has increased, the premium listing fee has decreased from $249 to $65. That means much more competition. Until now very few listed their starter sites with the premium because $249 was big money for a starter site listing. Now the competition is huge, there are 3x-4x more featured starter listings. This will make almost impossible to sell sites without the $65 featured listing but it will be much more harder and less profitable to sell them even with the featured. In my opinion at least.
OP you can try featured listings if you haven't because you only need 2 serious bidders to push the price to even thousands. But currently I feel like the buyers who have $2000 ready to pay for a starter site the ones who can't find my listings anymore. Or at least it's much harder for them to find it. There's also shopify exchange where you can sell sites although I don't have experience with it. And that's for Shopify sites only obviously.

 

[shifubill]

OP you can try featured listings if you haven't because you only need 2 serious bidders to push the price to even thousands. But currently I feel like the buyers who have $2000 ready to pay for a starter site the ones who can't find my listings anymore. Or at least it's much harder for them to find it. There's also shopify exchange where you can sell sites although I don't have experience with it. And that's for Shopify sites only obviously.

That's certainly not something I had considered. My sites are basic and without traffic or revenue. I was relisting an average of 2 times before I got a sale, with sales averaging around $100 per site. I was making a good profit because of the volume of sales per month. Mine are not the kind of starter sites that someone is going to pay $300 for, which is what I'd have to charge to make a profit. I might go on to make more valuable sites and list with higher prices, but that means the system I've built is dead for now. Still no sales for two weeks.

 

[prettytoney]

Mine are not the kind of starter sites that someone is going to pay $300 for, which is what I'd have to charge to make a profit. I might go on to make more valuable sites and list with higher prices, but that means the system I've built is dead for now. Still no sales for two weeks.

They might pay $300 or even more just make the site look good. My $1500+ sales were all starter sites without any traffic or revenue. They just look better than the average starter sites on Flippa.
I'm not saying it will sell but that's something to consider. I'm also experimenting since the new Flippa changes. I have one currently for sale, getting fairly decent views, we'll see how it goes.

 

[shifubill]

They might pay $300 or even more just make the site look good. My $1500+ sales were all starter sites without any traffic or revenue. They just look better than the average starter sites on Flippa.
I'm not saying it will sell but that's something to consider. I'm also experimenting since the new Flippa changes. I have one currently for sale, getting fairly decent views, we'll see how it goes.

Yeah, it's a good idea, but this change has left my marketing budget flat. If you wouldn't mind sharing it, I'd be interesting in seeing how you do your listings. You can pm it me.