4 Reasons Why Flippa Will Suck
10SitePoint recently announced that they would be phasing out the website and domain sales sections of the SitePoint marketplace and move them over to a new site, Flippa.
The SitePoint marketplace is (or was) widely regarded as the premiere place to buy and sell websites on the internet. It is frequented by many big buyers, and subsequently, many big sellers.
So why does it seem like they’re shooting themselves in the foot by moving it over to a “brand spanking new” site? I don’t know, but here’s why it’s a bad idea…
- Already Established Marketplace – Like I mentioned above, the SitePoint marketplace is already very well established. It is mostly known for the website sales sections, and many big sales take place there on a regular basis.
- Bloated Fee Structure – The new fee structure is bound to scare off many potential site sellers. As it stands, the listing fee is $19, plus a 5% “success fee” which is capped at $499. That means, on top of the $19 listing fee, you also have to fork over 5% of the final sales price (although not exceeding $499).
- It Is Unorganized – On the current SitePoint marketplace, site sales are separated into three subcategories: Startup, Established, and Premium. There are certain criteria that separates these subcategories, and there are also different listing fees. On Flippa, apparently all these different types of sites are just tossed into a pile.
- They Ignore Feedback – Upon announcing the site, it seems the feedback has been overwhelmingly negative. People don’t like the design, usability, fee structure, among other things. Not only do SitePoint staff seem to ignore the negative feedback, it seems they are also in denial.
They already moved the design contests over to 99 Designs, which actually appears to be rather successful. Will this success be replicated on Flippa? Only time will tell, but I doubt it.
While I hope they ditch this whole “Flippa” thing and keep everything under one roof at SitePoint, it appears that the moving of website and domain marketplaces over to Flippa is inevitable.
I realize that changes like this can’t please everyone, but seriously SitePoint: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Sitepoint is overrated tbh.
I dont even agree with their current pricing – $10 for a maybe sale is weird.
$19 listing + 5% is even worse, but they did make a go of 99designs, so you never know.
@mwzd: Personally, I hardly ever use them. Last time I listed a site there, got a lot of interest, but unfortunately none of that interest converted into an actual sale.
I think their current pricing is not that bad, since it at least filters out the complete garbage sites that would probably be listed if there was no fee.
Their new pricing structure is a little too Sedo-ish for my taste, with the percentages and all, but I think that’s what they’re going for.
Just to address point #4: Click the “Buy a Website” button and then use the “Saved Searches” link to see a drop-down to view Premium/Established/Startup website filters. Most importantly though, you can setup CUSTOM filters using your criteria – revenue, page views, age of site, alexa ranking, unique visitors, type of revenue and more and then filter all listings against that criteria and even receive automatic email notifications when sites matching your criteria show up. That’s incredibly powerful from a buyers standpoint and a big improvement over what we currently have.
#5: We’ve been very active in responding to everyones comments, and have even modified how the fee can be paid. If you go back in time, you’ll see similar 100+ post threads about why the Marketplace will fail when we started charging a $20 listing fee and predicting our imminent demise. Have a look: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=292992
Likewise, 99designs received many similar comments from naysayers when we spun it out of SitePoint, only to see it grow faster than ever before while attracting national media attention from the likes of “Good Morning America”.
Hi Matt, thanks for taking the time to comment, even in response to a relatively not-so-influential blogger like myself. It’s nice to know that you are taking feedback (like the fees, etc.) into consideration, which is a very good thing. I truly hope I’m wrong about Flippa sucking, because don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of SitePoint and would like to see you succeed.
Hi Matt,
As an experienced flipper who has sold a great many websites on sitepoint (many of them in the thousands), I have side with Leland on this point. Flippa doesn’t feel right.
First, as Leland rightfully pointed out, there used to be 3 sections: Startup, Established, and Premium, which was incredibly useful for both buyers and sellers. By chunking them altogether now, buyers will have any way of weeding out the gems from trash (believe me, there’s an awful lot of those). The original guidelines established by the sitepoint marketplace was good. If if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
Second, the design feels… wrong. There’s a time and season for web 2.0-ish graphics but a professional marketplace for high-end websites shouldn’t be one of them. The new design is almost blog-like. Not that its a major factor, but I can definitely see how some people be put off by the design.
If nothing else, please try to fix the categorization. There NEEDS to be a distinction between the quality sites and the crap sites. I really liked the old sitepoint, and would hate to see flippa fail.
I have been flipping on Sitepoint off and on in the startup category for ages and I will never be able to again. Startup sites sell for maybe $100 for the most part. With Flippa requiring $19 up front to list plus $10 minimum in final value listing fees it will kill profits for small startup sites.
And they say they are charging these ridiculous fees to raise the bar of quality but many of the $100 sites are very high quality they are just small and have no traffic. They are after all STARTUP sites…
This new market place will drive me away permenently and I know at least five other flippers who say they will go elsewhere to sell their sites.
So much for being responsive to feedback:
Mark Harbottle: Co-Founder of Sitepoint has this to say to his paying customers who voiced their thoughts on the new Flippa:
Yes, it’s true that you get what you pay for, and I’m not paying for insults and name calling by a co-founder who doesn’t like paying customers to air their negative opinions about the pathetic launch of Flippa.
@Kyle: As Matt pointed out, I believe there is a way to separate them into the old categories. Seems people have a hard time finding it though.
@Andrea: That’s true. The new fees effectively destroy the profits for startup sites like that. Although maybe those would be better of posted for free on Digital Point, even though it’s so “unprofessional” compared to Flippa.
@Domaining Diva: I think they’re just delusional. What “positive feedback” are they talking about? And for anyone wondering, that quote was from this post on the SitePoint forums.
It’s been several months now and I can’t really say whether Flippa is a success or not. I can say that I miss the old marketplace and the clarity of the design and layout. I hate Flippa’s interface and its clear that the move by Matt wasn’t for the users, but a better way for them to create a money stream. Good for them, but it doesn’t mean we have to like it or thank them for it. Just my opinion, but I think it still sucks.
And, I believe their numbers are inflated. I’m pissed off with Flippa because all they do is take your money and nothing sells! I posted about them here, a must read: http://www.oychest.com/marketing/flippa-com-website-marketplace-stats-are-inflated/
I tried selling 5 websites and none sold. How come they brag about 60% conversion rate? Bull crap!