Flipping Q&A - ask me whatever you like :)

[meathead1234]

Okay, just about to go to bed but I shall answer questions:

tnedad - not really my niche to be honest and you can't sell them on Flippa, so wouldn't recommend it as a flip.

chota - why not try both I try tons of different sites and niches just to see what works and what doesn't. Work to your skills though. If you're a great writer - make a blog. If you're a great marketer, make a product. You'll probably find the blog will be more desirable than a sales page (assuming you are promoting an affiliate).

gimme - not so common. It used to happen quite regularly, but Flippa introduced a fix that means that if anyone bids within 4 hours of the end time, the auction is automatically extended 4 hours. It discourages sniping and also encourages BIN'ing which I find is more common on Flippa than somewhere like ebay. The type of buyer you will find on Flippa is different from Ebay and generally if someone finds something of value they will pay the asking price.

 

[meaculpa]

Q: Would creating a phpBB forum about a certain niche, throwing it full of fake users and posts using ForumGenerator, advertising it a little and then selling it on flippa with the promise that you'll advertise it more (1k backlinks, 1 xrumer blast etc.) be a good idea? (You would, ofcourse, delete the forum generator when they buy the site) or do you think it would be too blackhat (since you're giving them a forum that looks active but isn't active at all)

 

[meathead1234]

A: Buyers on Flippa are generally reasonably savvy, especially at the higher end. New forums that are full of content are pretty common these days with such tools, so I'd be surprised if people didn't notice. It might work one or two times, but eventually it would catch up with you and you'd end up with poor reputation, chargebacks, which really isn't worth the few $k you might make.

 

[meaculpa]

Alright, thanks for the answer I'm just gonna go with the Buy Tool --> Create Service --> Sell business

 

[voxclan]

What do you do if someone wants to pay with Paypal Echeck?

I am assuming that you have to wait 3-5 extra days before your transfer the domain/site?

Is this a more risky payment method for seller?

thanks

 

[thestrangefruit]

Well it's logical for you to wait until it clears, but you should still send them an invoice. You risk taking a chance that the account is stolen and the "real" account holder files a chargeback before it even clears.

Thestrangefruit

 

[BillyRayValentine]

I've flipped a few sites on flippa, usually new ones. But the price I could command has fallen sharply to less than 50% of what I was getting a few months back.
Anybody else experienced the same?

 

[tami6699]

Wich sites you have flipped Billy?

Can u send me a link via PM?

 

[Gimme.The.Loot]

@meat, how do you overcome not having analytics data when flipping a new site?

 

[BillyRayValentine]

I recently sold a site that the buyer didnt pay for. Can I leave them negative feedback, if so, will i just get neg feedback in return or is it just one way?

 

[meathead1234]

@ Billy - yes, I've noticed a slight decline, especially at the lower end. My $XXXX sites are still selling fine, though.

@ Gimme - if it's a new site no need to show stats. The buyer will understand that. Obviously, anything you do have (if at all) is great, but by no means required. I regularly sell sites with 0 traffic for decent amounts.

@ Billy #2 - yes you can. The best thing to do is go through the dispute process. Nouseforaname actually started a similar thread earlier and I believe I answered more fully in there.

@ Mac - thanks!

 

[chockfactor]

Okay I am wondering if it's possible to setup a membership site that pays to paypal and possibly flip it after I got some paying members. Without having to shell out for memberwing and similar?

 

[FullStackMike]

Does site age matter when selling? Could I pull off a site say 2 weeks old?

 

[bryanon]

Okay I am wondering if it's possible to setup a membership site that pays to paypal and possibly flip it after I got some paying members. Without having to shell out for memberwing and similar?

To be honest, I'd strongly suggest you to plan the flip from the beginning and set the membership site up accordingly - i.e. try and organize your payment processing so that the merchant account where the money ends up would be easily transferrable. Unfortunately, paypal is the worst out of all possible options as there's no easy way to "transfer" subscriptions from one paypal account to another. A much better alternative would be a payment processor such as 2Checkout as with a service like this you can simply transfer the whole account over to the buyer.

Does site age matter when selling? Could I pull off a site say 2 weeks old?

The age matters A LOT. Not only because a 2 weeks old site rarely has any decent traffic or revenue, but also because you're unable to prove that the revenue your site generates is sustainable. Think about it - you have two sites - one that has made $100 per month for the last 12 months in a row and another one that has made $50 during the last 2 weeks - which one of the two is more likely to generate you $100 a month in the future?

That said, of course you CAN flip sites that are 2 weeks old and even brand new (turnkey) sites - it's just that the pricetag will need to be a lot lower, compared to properly established sites.

 

[meathead1234]

Bryanon actually makes a very good point here.

Before you start a site decide if you are building it to flip. If you are make sure you plan everything from the start knowing that you need to hand it over to new owners.

Have a plan for the site (you can also include this as a BIN bonus ) so you can map was has been done, further ideas for expansion blah blah blah... This is important as many buyers are aware of the classic WF noob tactic (aka Imran Naseem) - launch a crap product, get some sales, flip the site. If buyers see future potential they are far more likely to bid a higher multiples - so you must emphasise the POTENTIAL and OPPORTUNITY (unique of course )

As bryanon mentioned, same with payments. Have them setup to a merchant processor that allows transfers.

Setup Google Analytics. I've touched upon this before.

Set all revenue streams up in channels. No proof of revenue = poor sales price.

The more stats you can show on an auction, the more money you will make. Simple as that.

 

[FullStackMike]

Guess your right. What I was thinking of is buying cb affiliate type sites.. and some nice specific ones. write fresh content, nice wp design, bit of seo (get it ranked in google) im not sure if this can be done in 2 weeks.\

Thanks for your help



The age matters A LOT. Not only because a 2 weeks old site rarely has any decent traffic or revenue, but also because you're unable to prove that the revenue your site generates is sustainable. Think about it - you have two sites - one that has made $100 per month for the last 12 months in a row and another one that has made $50 during the last 2 weeks - which one of the two is more likely to generate you $100 a month in the future?

That said, of course you CAN flip sites that are 2 weeks old and even brand new (turnkey) sites - it's just that the pricetag will need to be a lot lower, compared to properly established sites.[/QUOTE]

 

[chockfactor]

To be honest, I'd strongly suggest you to plan the flip from the beginning and set the membership site up accordingly - i.e. try and organize your payment processing so that the merchant account where the money ends up would be easily transferrable. Unfortunately, paypal is the worst out of all possible options as there's no easy way to "transfer" subscriptions from one paypal account to another. A much better alternative would be a payment processor such as 2Checkout as with a service like this you can simply transfer the whole account over to the buyer.



The age matters A LOT. Not only because a 2 weeks old site rarely has any decent traffic or revenue, but also because you're unable to prove that the revenue your site generates is sustainable. Think about it - you have two sites - one that has made $100 per month for the last 12 months in a row and another one that has made $50 during the last 2 weeks - which one of the two is more likely to generate you $100 a month in the future?

That said, of course you CAN flip sites that are 2 weeks old and even brand new (turnkey) sites - it's just that the pricetag will need to be a lot lower, compared to properly established sites.

Okay that is nice I actually didn't new 2Checkout would be a good option here

 

[shenZi]

 

[V Dogg]

I've been trying to get an answer to this for the longest - what do you or anyone here know about flipping High PR Web Directories? I can get a High RP domain, but what I don't know is how to drive the traffic to where I can get links submitted, free or paid.

 

[meathead1234]