Flippa is Aggravating Me! How Long do I Wait?

Alright, so I was selling a site on Flippa last week. I had it listed with a starting bid of 2k and a buy it now of 10k.

I had 3 PM's on Flippa with people saying they were interested and they were asking questions like would I sign a non-compete and what not.

Then, all of a sudden, my listing was removed and I was not refunded. I asked why and they said because my site contained or linked to a site that contained copyrighted content.

I then sent them proof via their Zendesk help channel on Friday at like 4:30pm or so EST (so it was already Saturday their time) that my site doesn't contain any copyrighted content and that it doesn't link to any copyrighted content and that my site is perfectly on the right side of the law. Then I finished what I sent them with my question "so, can I relist my site without you guys deleting the listing?"

It is now 9:30pm EST on Monday, and I still haven't had an answer or response. It has said since Sunday at 6:30pm EST that my question has been assigned to Flippa support staff...but still no progress.

Every second that goes by, all the interested buyers I had are more and more likely to move on, and also when I go to relist the site, I'm sure it is going to hurt my credibility that my sales page at Flippa just up and disappeared.

So, how long should I wait before I bother them again and say "hey, are you going to answer my question?" <- (obviously not in such a rude fashion, but I'm just trying to prove a point)

Flippa's support are actually usually rather quick - I don't think I've ever waited for a reply for more than 2 (business) days so you should expect them to get in touch with you within Tuesday (Melbourne time, obviously).

Yeah, I know it's ridiculous that their moderation team works on the weekends as well but the Support team (the ones who check cases where a listing has been WRONGLY moderated) is only Mo to Fri, 8-5 but it's just something we have to accept.

They're most likely to relist your auction now (without asking you first, i.e. doing it at the time of the day THEY please - certainly something that you'll 'like' a lot if you're usually precise with having your auctions end at the busiest times of the day) and to make you even more angry, the relisting will say "This website has been listed once before" effectively having you explain all your bidders / prospects as to why this message shows, and decreasing the value of your site as some might think that it was listed before but didn't sell.

On a slightly more positive note, if the listing was suspended, rather than closed, then the last two points don't apply.

Good luck mate. It's happened to me a couple of times and I know it sucks.

I had good experiences with Flippa's support. All my tickets were solved within 24 business hours. You are to remember they are in Australia so the time zone difference...

But, my tickets were simple, so I am assuming that they need to verify copyrights and of course it will take more time.

It's already late Tuesday evening FST (Flippa Standard Time) - have they contacted you? If not hit me a PM and I might be able to help you a bit ...

So frustrating...they haven't yet.

Here is my support ticket message:

Request 1****

Submitted May 15 05:29 am by you


This request is currently being processed by our staff

Flippa Customer Support is assigned to your request.

You will receive a notification by email when the request status is updated by our staff.
Priority

-

Send them another one with "FAO Luke Moulton" as the title - guarantee you get a reply immediately.

Well, after all that, they said:

• Thanks for contacting Flippa Customer Support.
  Apologies for the delay in responding to your request.
  Flippa Management have reviewed the website mentioned in your email, and have found that it would be unsuitable for listing with Flippa.
  Kind Regards,
  Flippa Customer Support.

May-19 2010 04:39 pm.

So, I've put up another thread asking if anybody can help me get this thing sold.

Help Selling Site - Exact Stats (with video proof): 29k Visitors Per Month $13,000 Earned

Sorry to hear this but Flippa are indeed extremely strict when it comes to sites even remotely connected to movies / downloads. They implemented these rules a couple of months ago, when a lot of people started complaining over some movie sites being allowed while others being deleted.

Best of luck with selling the site though. I've also offered you my help within your JV thread.

Cheers,
Bryan

bryanon said:

Sorry to hear this but Flippa are indeed extremely strict when it comes to sites even remotely connected to movies / downloads. They implemented these rules a couple of months ago, when a lot of people started complaining over some movie sites being allowed while others being deleted.

Best of luck with selling the site though. I've also offered you my help within your JV thread.

Cheers,
Bryan

Click to expand...

I was wondering what was going on. I mean, there literally isn't a single thing that is copyrighted on the site/in violation of somebody elses copyright on the site.

I guess from their point of view it makes sense though. One movie download site violates copyrights and another one doesn't so one gets listed and the other doesn't...then you have one guy pointing fingers and another guy...I can see the headache it might cause.

Regardless...it's still very frustrating.