Flippa – the new Sitepoint Marketplace short review

Towards end of June 2009, all websites on sale at Sitepoint Marketplace were transfered to Flippa.com, the new home for buying and selling websites.

Boy, if you were one of those people lucky enough to read a whole load of comments prior to the change of venue, one sentence summed it up.  A whole load of resistance.  From sellers, buyers, on the fencers.  As for me, who has sold a couple of websites on the original Sitepoint Marketplace, I haven’t any opinions yet on the new marketplace, Flippa as I haven’t used Flippa to sell my websites yet.  I supposed I should try out.  I must admit however, that initially I have reservations doing so, as all things new.  Having said that, after browsing the new Flippa listings for sometime and using the filters and so on to get a hang on the feel of the new place, I have a few good things to say.

1) You get to see the domain name of the website for sale  – directly underneath the listing line.  Why? I was taught by Saj P’s The Site Rush that it’s best to look for website names that’s not too long, preferably no hyphens or weird characters, and at least a .net (best is .com)

2) The quick stats icon, also under the listing, to the right of the domain name/seller’s name, which, upon being pointed to/clicked at, opens up a stat window to show whether the website’s new, have revenue and so on (fed by the seller)

3) When you click into any of the listings, the look and feel is not too far from Ebay.com, with a Warrior Forum-style feedback/post question section at the bottom (Note: you see this only when you login.  Setting up an account is free).

I could only guess that the vibrant blue color of the background is based on the fact that blue is the color of trust.

My concern is that new users may have confused startup and established websites.  I have spotted a few sellers posting what I would consider an established site, under startup category.  Well, that’s how it looks like based on when I used the category filters for “Startup Websites”, the list pulled out some of them with revenues.  Oh and I miss having my watchlist the other way up.  It used to be the new watchlist on the very top.

Apart from that, there are new fees to think of – the sellers pay up $19 per listing and there is the success fee – like I mentioned, not too far from Ebay – 5% minimum, $500 max, and seller can opt to pay for it.  So, if you are in the look out to buy a website, do not forget to read the entire listing, thoroughly, word for word.

For now, you can access Flippa via Flippa.com or go to Sitepoint website and it will redirect you to the correct place.