Buying and selling websites is big business these days. Like any other type of business, the market for websites is vast and complicated. There is big money to be made in buying and selling websites, which has caused many businesses to be created with this sole purpose. In this article, we’re taking a full look at one of the big players in this area of online entrepreneurship – Flippa. Many people who have been in this space, knows about Flippa and have probably browsed a few of the sites they have listed for sale.
For those who may not know, Flippa is an online marketplace for buying and selling websites, similar to Motion Invest. They list sites for sale, and provide numerous services to help buyers and sellers alike. In this article, we’re going to take a deep dive into all of this. We’ll start with the basics of Flippa. Then, we’ll jump into Flippa as a tool for sellers. Next, we’ll do the same for website buyers and then we will wrap it all up with a comprehensive review of Flippa.
This is a full guide, and contains everything you need to know. Ready to go? Let’s get started!
Before we get started, let’s start with the basics of Flippa. Flippa is an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of websites. Flippa was started in 2009, and has headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and San Francisco, USA.
On a basic level, Flippa is a marketplace which lists websites for sale, similar to our marketplace sites. There are sites of all types which are listed on Flippa. This presents an interesting opportunity for buyers and sellers. Flippa actually also has many other features which assist with the buying and selling activities, and we’ll take a look at them in turn:
We are talking about the basics of Flippa in this section, so let’s run down all the features which you can utilize as a buyer and a seller.
First up, Flippa is foremost a website marketplace (although they also list apps and domain names). Sellers list their websites on Flippa, and buyers have the opportunity to browse all the websites and survey the market for a deal.
Listing a website on Flippa requires creating an account, verifying your ID, and creating the listing (income details, analytics, etc.). There are tools which will help with this, and we’ll outline them below, but this is the process at its roots.
Buyers can browse listings, and filter based on various search terms to find the ideal website within their niche.
We’ll dive deeper into buying & selling on Flippa in the sections below. But we’ll give brief outlines here so you know what to expect.
A particularly tricky part of selling a website is knowing what it is actually worth. Setting a price for a website ensures that you will actually receive offers, and have a competitive listing. Of course, you don’t want to set the price too high, because you won’t receive offers. But you also don’t want to set it too low, because you might not receive adequate value.
Flippa has a free valuation tool, much like our valuation tool, to address this issue. This tool compares your site to similar sites within your niche, and utilizes data on traffic and revenue figures. With all of this comprehensive info, you are given a free valuation for your site, which can help you to list it competitively.
Listing a site competitively helps to attract buyers, and also helps you to get a maximal return for your own website.
We will dive deeper into site valuation below.
Flippa also offers the option of listing your website through a broker. They have a list of trusted brokers which you can contact and entrust to list and sell your website.
A website broker is similar to a broker in any other area of business. Essentially, a broker will arrange a sale between a buyer and a seller. The buyer will evaluate a seller’s website, create a listing, market the listing to potential buyers, and help to complete all of the legal and regulatory guidelines associated with making a sale. They work through the process from start to finish, and help the seller secure the highest return possible for their website.
Listing a website on Flippa does cost money, and there are numerous tools and add-ons which do carry certain costs with them.
There is a fixed fee for an initial listing (currently $49), and Flippa also takes a variable percentage of your successful sale, which you can find here. The rate depends on a few factors, including the size and type of website that you are listing. Additionally, there are paid services which expand your website’s reach and give it a marketing boost on Flippa’s own platform.
We will cover all of these in turn in our Selling Guide below, but it is best to be aware that there are costs associated with selling on Flippa.
As you can see, Flippa is quite a comprehensive tool for buying and selling websites. It is one of the largest online marketplaces for buyers and sellers, and there is a lot of potential money to be made for both buyers and sellers.
Now that we have run through the basics of Flippa, we will dive deeper into each area. We will start with Flippa as a tool for sellers, and then talk about it from the buyer’s perspective. Let’s take a look at Flippa for sellers:
Any online marketplace contains opportunities for two basic types of people – buyers and sellers. First, let’s focus on the sellers.
Sellers are the ones who will need to be most familiar with the alternatives and features provided by Flippa. This is because, in order to find success listing a website, you need to be familiar with all the tools available to the seller. It is more complicated than simply putting a site online and hoping it sells. It is all about creating a compelling listing, pricing it fairly, marketing the listing, and more! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, let’s first check out the basics of selling on Flippa:
The first step you will take as a seller on Flippa is signing up for the website and creating a listing. It does take a bit of work and gathering of information on your end, but as with anything, there are several steps you can take to go above & beyond and separate yourself from the pack.
Being a successful seller isn’t just about creating a listing, it’s about how you create the listing and how you present the data.
Before you get started selling on Flippa, you need to create an account. This step is very simple, just go here and create your account. Signing up is free (although there are costs associated with creating an actual listing, and we’ll cover those later).
Note: Flippa keeps its site secure by actually requiring that you verify your ID before you can become a seller. This is to ensure that the sites are genuine and real, and there is no fraud or spamming. Your account is attached to your name, so that people know you are a seller they can trust.
Once you’ve registered your account and become a verified seller with Flippa, it’s time to get selling! Selling on Flippa is all about creating a compelling listing which sometimes takes work to do. This means a listing that succinctly and convincingly conveys the benefits of your offering, a listing that is priced fairly, a listing that is easy to find, and more!
Firstly, you should note that there is an up-front fee for listing on Flippa. This is a fixed rate, and depends on the type of web product that you are listing. Selling an undeveloped domain is $10 (USD), selling a starter site or app is $15, and selling an established website or online business is $49. This allows you to list your site for sale for 45 days and does not guarantee a sale.
Once you have paid the listing fee, it’s time to actually create the listing for your site. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours to complete.
With listings, you want to be as specific as possible. You need to communicate the entire value of your site, so that potential buyers know exactly what it is you are offering. People will be more receptive to your listing if you are forthright with all the details, because they will trust that you are being honest. Additionally, you want to state it in clear, concise, persuasive language.
Flippa actually requires you to list certain details. Here is all the detail you will have to put into a listing on Flippa:
As you can see, making a listing on Flippa isn’t necessarily simple, but Flippa does ensure that you make a comprehensive listing before putting your website up for sale. If you don’t want to do this yourself, you can list your site with us at Motion Invest and we create the listing page for you with little help needed on your end. Some people find this easier and less time consuming then going through Flippa.
Now that we’ve examined all the steps to creating a comprehensive website listing on Flippa, let’s talk about what is likely the biggest concern for Flippa sellers – setting a price!
Setting a price for a website is understandably difficult. There are so many numbers and metrics to consider. You want to set a price that is competitive, but you also want to maximize your returns. This can all make it rather complicated. Flippa suggests a few tips for setting a price.
A general rule of thumb for setting a website price is to go with a valuation multiplier. A common multiplier is a sale price of 2-2.5X net profit. This is based on your net profit from the most recent year. Of course, there can be exceptions to this rule, such as rapidly growing profits, market trends, or extraordinary expenses. Overall, this is a reliable metric, and also represents near the limits of what most buyers would be willing to pay.
Flippa also offers a free Valuation Tool on their website. This is a tool in which you can input data, and Flippa will help to value your site. The valuation tool asks you for specific pieces of data about your website. It creates a comprehensive outline of your website, and uses this data to compare to the 1000s of other websites that Flippa has listed in the past. Using industry specific comparisons, Flippa is able to generate a price that would be competitive with other websites in that niche.
If you take one piece of advice from this section, it’s to be realistic in setting a price. Be 100% upfront and honest about your website, and the numbers behind your website. Buyers will likely discover this information when they do their due diligence anyways, so it’s best to just be upfront and honest from the get-go. This will save you a lot of time later, and also will increase your chances of a successful sale. You don’t want to get the reputation of a dishonest seller, because that’s a reputation that will hurt you in current sales and future sales.
Another option provided to Flippa sellers is working with a website broker. Flippa actually has a service in which they partner you with trusted brokers. These brokers were pre-vetted, so that you know they offer reputable service.
Website brokers function much the same as brokers in other areas of business. The broker will essentially handle the selling activities for you. They evaluate your offering, create an effective listing, market the listing to potential buyers, and help to handle the regulatory and legal parts of a sale. Essentially, a broker is someone who is experienced in this area of selling, and helps you to receive the highest return possible for your offering.
A broker is a great resource for first-time sellers, or people who simply do not have the time to handle the sale process on their own. Different brokers offer different types of services and resources to help you during the whole sale process. Typically, their main service offering is handling all sale activities from start to finish.
In terms of cost, the broker often takes a cut of the sale price. However, some brokers operate on a fixed cost model as well. This is something that you will need to examine before working with a broker. Although this does result in a lower sale price, the idea is that you will generate a higher return as well, helping to compensate for the difference. Additionally, you have spent less of your own resources and time in creating and marketing a listing.
A broker is a very viable option, and Flippa ensures that you have access to a reliable network of brokers.
The next major concern for sellers on Flippa is how much it actually costs to sell your website. We have touched on this issue above, but we are going to consolidate this information here to provide a reference point for potential sellers.
There are numerous costs which might apply to you as a Flippa seller, such as:
As you can see, there are quite a few potential costs associated with Flippa from a selling perspective. The only mandatory costs are the fixed upfront costs, and the Success Fee (should your listing be successful). If you are an interested seller, you should review the optional costs as well, to see if they are worth your while as a seller.
Overall, Flippa is fairly priced when it comes to online marketplaces. Their rates are quite competitive, and their especially large buyer base should make the up-front costs well worth it. As a seller, you are primarily concerned with your website getting sold, and Flippa’s large user base makes this very possible.
Before we wrap up our guide to selling on Flippa, we’re going to provide a mini-review of the pros & cons for Flippa sellers. This will help to give you a better idea of whether selling on Flippa is worth it to you. As a seller, you have a lot of choice when it comes to selling a website, and you want to pick the option that will generate you the highest return. Here is what you should be considering about Flippa, and let’s start with the pros.
The pros of Flippa are based mainly on two factors – the size of the user base and the features of the website itself.
First, the user base. Simply put, the user base of Flippa is pretty much unrivalled. They have one of the largest user bases of online marketplaces within this niche. Flippa claims to have sold more websites than all of their competitors combined. There are over 1.5 million active users, with around 30,000 new buyers joining monthly.
It is pretty self evident why these statistics are good for sellers. Simply put, the bigger the user base, the more likely that an interested buyer will find your listing. Additionally, with more potential buyers, the chance is higher of a bidding war which would drive the price of your website up further (should you choose the Auction method of selling). More potential buyers is better for a seller, and that’s really the bottom line.
Another pro of Flippa is that it is a well-made website with various options and features available to the seller. We covered all of the features and options in our section above about creating a listing. Simply put, Flippa makes it easy to create a professional, detailed listing that increases your chances of selling your website. It gives you all the tools necessary to craft a listing that sells, and they pretty much hold your hand throughout the entire process.
Flippa makes many aspects of your listing mandatory. This includes extensive details on your industry, your financials, your analytics, and more. While this might seem like a lot of work at first, it actually works to your benefit as a seller, because it ensures that your listing will include all the information that buyers are looking for. This is also great for first-time sellers, as it can be difficult to know exactly what is necessary to include.
Overall, Flippa is a great tool for sellers. A huge userbase, and a wealth of features that assist the seller, make it a very effective tool for many sellers. However, no review is complete without also looking at the downsides. In the next section, we are looking at the potential downsides of Flippa for sellers.
We’ve already run through all the advantages of using Flippa as a seller. There’s no denying that Flippa can be a valuable tool, and there is potential to make a lot of money as a seller. However, there are potential downsides as well, and we’ll look at them here.
The first downside of Flippa is also related to the pros that we mentioned above. There are a lot of buyers on Flippa, but that means that there are a lot of sellers as well. This means one thing – there’ll be a lot of competition.
Having a listing that actually stands out is quite a bit more difficult on such a large online marketplace. As a result, you really need to work to ensure that your listing is compelling, and well marketed.
Additionally, compared to many other sites, Flippa does not vet their potential sellers as extensively. Simply put, there are many dishonest and fraudulent sellers on Flippa as well. As a seller, this can be rather frustrating, as it often seems like you face a disadvantage by being honest. It is much easier for a fraudulent seller to stand out, as they tend to fabricate their listings to be more appealing.
Overall, you simply have to know what you’re getting into with Flippa. It is a massive online marketplace. So in order to succeed, you need to offer something that is worth buying, and you need to create a listing that clearly shows off what you are offering. You need to take the good with the bad. Accept that it is competitive, and do your best to overcome this by appealing to buyers and getting the maximum selling price for your website.
Next up, we’re looking at Flippa from the perspective of the other side of things – the buyer.
While most of the actual features and fees associated with Flippa are geared at sellers, who are the primary “customers” of the site, it does help to look at Flippa from the perspective of the buyer as well.
As a buyer on Flippa, you are looking to get the maximum return on your investment. What this means is that you want to find a site with the most revenue potential possible, and secure it for the lowest purchase price that you can. Finding this blend is not an easy task. However, in this section, we will tell you all the ways in which this is hypothetically achievable.
This section will be all about Flippa as a tool for buyers. We’re starting off with the basics. We’re telling you how Flippa works from the perspective of a buyer, including features offered and cost considerations. Then, we’re going to give you a guide to buying on Flippa, as well as buying a website in general. And finally, we’re going to review Flippa for buyers, and give you the pros and cons of the platform in general. Let’s get started with the basics:
As a buyer considering purchasing on Flippa, you are going to be concerned with how the buying process works, and how good the user experience is for buyers.
Using Flippa as a buyer is meant to be extremely intuitive and straight forward. Right from the homepage, you can jump into Flippa’s marketplace. The marketplace is divided into many different categories. You can browse different websites, domain names, apps, SaaS opportunities, and more. Flippa is such a broad marketplace that you can basically find something within any category you are looking for.
Even within each asset category, there are further ways to break down the offerings to find exactly what you are looking for. This includes by price, by age of listing, by extension (.com, .org, etc.), by category, and much more. Basically, if you are interested in finding a website within a certain niche, you can narrow your search to find it.
Of course, the main cost from the buyer’s perspective is the actual cost of buying a website! Most sites on Flippa are up for auction, which means you will have to outbid your competitors in order to make a successful purchase. Auctioning is a delicate balance of paying enough to get a return on investment, but not overbidding so as to spend more than you make. Below, we will talk more about successful buying strategies.
Just know that as a buyer, your main costs will be associated with the actual purchase price of the website, which means that you really need to do your research to see if the website justifies its purchase price. Below, we have included a comprehensive guide for purchasing websites as a buyer, and getting the most of your investment. Next up, we are looking at two additional tools that Flippa offers to expedite and simplify the buying experience.
For first-time buyers or inexperienced buyers, Flippa offers what they call a “concierge service” for buyers in Flippa Finder. Flippa Finder is a personal consultation service which helps buyers to identify and find the right deals for them. They actually look at the skills and experience of the buyers themselves, and help them to understand not only how to find good deals, but which specific niche they should be focusing on in their buying pursuits.
Flippa Finder matches a buyer with a buying professional, and sets up a one-hour consultation where they learn how to identify deals, how to negotiate, how to analyze a listing, and more. Basically a crash course on buying, which also takes into account the buyer’s personal skills. Then, Flippa curates a list of sites that may be of interest to the buyer to get them started. Then, once the buyer has found a listing they are interested in, Flippa helps them review the listing, to examine whether it is worth the purchase price. and whether there are potential synergies to be found.
Flippa Finder is available for $50 USD.
Another service which is highly beneficial to buyers is Flippa Escrow. For their escrow services, Flippa actually partners with the highly reputable Escrow.com. If you are unfamiliar with the escrow process, it is essentially when a buyer transfers the money to a third-party, who keeps the funds before releasing them to the seller.
This allows the buyer to lock down the sale, and the seller to be confident that the buyer has transferred the funds, and is good for the money. This then allows the buyer to do their due diligence, to ensure that the website is exactly as advertised, and the listing was not fraudulent in any way. They are able to do this while being secure that the seller will not sell the site to someone else.
As you can see, this process benefits both the buyer and seller. There is a fee for escrow, and it does depend on the sale price. You can find the fees outlined in this section.
As you might expect, Flippa isn’t the only marketplace on which to buy websites. As a buyer, you have plenty of options available to you. Before you start surveying these options, there are some general tips which will help you to have more success buying websites in general. In this section, we’re going through a quick guide for buyers on how to find success buying websites. This will help you to use not only Flippa, but help you in navigating the online business marketplace in general.
The first step in being successful in the world of website purchasing and “flipping” is to have an idea of what is actually available for purchase. Your first step in purchasing a website is to simply survey the market and see what is on offer.
Check online marketplaces (such as Flippa), website brokers, and wherever else you might find these assets for sale. It may be the case that you are most comfortable operating websites within a certain niche. If that is the case, be sure to narrow your search to these areas. Regardless, you need to start with an overview of the market to see what’s available.
On Flippa, you want to look for sites that are within your niche, and those that haveextensive information to verify their claims. Flippa has offerings from sellers with various degrees of reputability. You need to identify listings which have claims that can be verified, so that you can secure a website with actual revenue potential.
Once you have found a few websites that you think may be worthy of a purchase, it is time for some in-depth research and due diligence. Your overall goal with this research is to see whether this website justifies its purchase price. You want to find a website that will give you the best return on investment possible.
You need to research every aspect you can, including market potential, website traffic, key success metrics (conversion rate, click through rate, etc.), financial statements, financial projections, and more. Basically, anything that has to do with a website’s potential to effect your return on investment.
Additionally, you need to do some market research on the niche in which the website operates. Look at the market trends, and see whether the outlook would justify optimism for the future. Decide whether this is an industry you are comfortable entering, and whether you think the future potential is enough to receive a good return on investment.
This is especially important on Flippa. Flippa is basically just a large online marketplace. With more service offerings, comes more listings that might be considered less-than-honest. There is even scam potential on Flippa. As a buyer, you need to do serious due diligence to ensure that everything stated in a listing can be verified, and that the revenue is coming from legitimate sources. Research and due diligence is perhaps the most important factor of finding success on Flippa.
Next up, realize that you, the buyer, are adding your own special skills and capabilities to any website you buy! You are adding value simply by taking the reigns and adding your own skillset to the management of the website. So if you are particularly adept in a certain niche of websites, then you can actually add a lot of value here.
This is a great consideration for when you want to purchase a website. Consider how much value you would add to this website, and factor that into your return on investment. After all, the return on investment is heavily based on how the website will do in the future, and it’s going to be under your control!
Before we wrap up the buying section, let’s quickly run down the pros and cons of buying on Flippa. Most of these were touched on in the above section.
The pros of buying on Flippa are quite self-evident. It is a massive marketplace of online assets. With more offerings, comes more opportunity. If you are looking within a very specific niche, chances are you can find it on Flippa.
However, and this leads us to the “cons,” with more offerings comes more potential for bad listings as well. Simply put, there are scams on Flippa. There are sellers who will be less than honest in order to sell their site. As a buyer, this means that due diligence is a must. To be successful buying on Flippa, you need to allocate the time for effective research, and verification of all the claims contained in the listing.
So while there are vast opportunities on Flippa as a buyer, you also need to be prepared for a lot more research than you might encounter when buying through a website broker, or any site that does more extensive vetting of their service offerings.
One thing we want to touch on is the main difference between Flippa and Motion Invest.
Whether it’s your first time buying a site or you are a seasoned expert, both Motion Invest and Flippa have their differences and depending on if you are looking for a hands on or off solution, that will dictate which choice you prefer. Below, we have sorted the main differences between the two when you are looking to buy a site. The big difference would be the transfer support after you buy a site as well as the due diligence done on the site before you buy.
Do you have a site that you are looking to sell but not sure which option is best for you? If this is your first site you are selling it can sometimes be overwhleming to try and sell the site yourself as you might not be sure how to present that data on your listing page or you might get questions from sellers you just aren’t sure how to answer. If that’s the case, Motion Invest might be the better option. But if you are confident in your knowledge and you are okay with creating your own listing page and spending time feilding buyers questions then Flippa could be the choice for you. Below we have a simple breakdown of the main differences between Motion Invest and Flippa so that you ccan find out which choice might be the proper one for you.
So now we’ve looked at Flippa from the perspective of two very important people in this process – the buyer and the seller. Before we wrap up, we want to look at it from an overall perspective. What do we think of Flippa as a service?
In this section, we’re giving an overall review of Flippa.
Let’s start our review of Flippa with the pros. The most notable pros include Flippa’s vast user base and their site functionality.
Let’s start with the user base. Flippa has a user base that is pretty much unmatched in this area of online business. This means that there are big opportunities for both buyers and sellers. Your listing has the potential to be seen by more people, and buyers have the opportunity to find more potential return on investment.
Flippa supports these opportunities with their site functionality. It is easy for first-time users and experienced users alike. Flippa simplifies the process for both buyers and sellers, and makes it easy to list or to purchase a site. They also offer several other types of functionality which can further support your sale. We mentioned many of these functions above, including marketing boosts, professional assistance, Flippa Escrow, and more.
Overall, Flippa is great if you know what you’re getting into. It’s a very large online marketplace, so there are many types of offerings. There is opportunity to be found, but you have to expect to dig for it. This leads us into the cons:
Now that we’ve covered the pros, let’s look at the cons. The main cons of Flippa’s also stem from the site’s massive user base! This leads to problems with competitiveness, but also with an abundance of less-than-honest listings.
Firstly, the user base. The reason this is such an issue for buyers and sellers is because it means the presence of one thing – competition. Simply put, any listing you post is competitive. As a seller, it’s very difficult to stand out on Flippa. With so many competing listings, you might find that your listing gets lost, and not discovered by the buyers you want. As a buyer, it can be very competitive to buy a website on Flippa. Sometimes, a bidding war may result in the purchase price being driven much higher than you think a website is worth.
Additionally, Flippa mostly functions as a marketplace. It is up to the buyer to do their own due diligence on anything they buy. Flippa has systems in place to ensure validity, but those aren’t always enough. This results in a lot of sellers who are less than honest about what they are offering. In order to avoid getting scammed, or buying a website that is “too good to be true,” the buyer has to do a serious amount of due diligence with Flippa. This is in comparison to other website brokers, who vet their offerings extensively beforehand.
Flippa offers many websites, and you have to find your own opportunities. Flippa’s vetting process is limited, which means that buyers have to work to find their own value. This can be a downside in that it might be difficult to find value, but it can also be an opportunity. Effective due diligence can lead to securing a great return on investment, if buyers are able to research the offerings effectively.
Overall, we think Flippa is a good website, with some pretty major flaws that any buyer or seller should be aware of. As long as you know what you’re getting into, then we think there is a lot to like. Be aware that there is opportunity to be found, but you will have to do your due diligence to find it. It is a competitive marketplace for both buyers and sellers, but business is competitive!
If you are more comfortable with a service that pre-vets their service offerings, so that extensive due diligence isn’t quite as necessary, then check out something like Motion Invest.
So far in this article, we’ve given you a full and comprehensive outline of Flippa as an online tool. We’ve looked at it from the point of view of the seller, as well as the point of view of the buyer. After that, we gave you a full review of Flippa from our perspective. But we’re not done yet!
We want this article to be the ultimate guide to Flippa. We want to give you the most objective look possible at Flippa as a service. So in this section, we’re going to see what the rest of the industry thinks about Flippa.
Looking at independent reviews is the best way to get a full and accurate, objective look at any product. In this section, we’re looking at 5 reviews from industry experts, so that you can get a full and complete picture of Flippa as a software and as a service.
Let’s check these out in turn:
Our first expert review comes from Business Brokers Rated. Business Brokers Rated is a highly trusted review site. They actually specialize in reviewing different broker services. As their industry of expertise, so you can really trust what they have to say about website brokers. You can find their review of Flippa here.
Business Brokers Rated generally enjoys Flippa as a service, but definitely points out a few problems which are inherent to the service offering. Overall, they gave Flippa a rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars. Let’s run through the review and see what they think.
Business Brokers Rated start their review by giving a comprehensive outline of all the services available on Flippa, for both buyers and sellers. Since we’ve already examined that above, let’s just take a look at their pros and cons.
Overall, Business Brokers Rated liked Flippa as a service. They spent the majority of their review outlining the service offerings. They were impressed at the true amount of services offered. They were also impressed by how intuitive it all was. From both a buyer’s and a seller’s perspective, they were happy with all the options on offer, and how the website design made it easy to access any of these features.
They were also impressed with the quality of the online market. Flippa attracts professional buyers and sellers. It is a popular marketplace because it vets candidates with ID verification, and also attracts qualified buyers and sellers. The end result is that you can expect to get competitive offers if you have a competitive offering.
Finally, they were very impressed with Flippa’s broker service (which means a lot considering they are a broker review site). They spoke to the reputability of Flippa’s partner brokers, and vouched for the value you would receive from listing your website through a broker. Not only does this significantly lower the stress involved in selling a website, it raises your chances of getting a competitive offer.
Of course, no review is complete without also mentioning the cons. While Business Brokers Rated did enjoy Flippa overall, they also had some problems with the service offering as well. Any objective decision should be made by looking at the upsides and the downsides.
First up, there is an issue that is quite typical to Flippa reviews – scams. Simply put, Flippa is a big marketplace. While they do their best to filter out scam offerings, it’s just inevitable that some slip through the cracks.
Scams aren’t always a huge issue on Flippa, but they do come up. Whether it be a misleading website offering, or a buyer who is trying to scam you, Flippa does encounter these issues, and it can be difficult to know who to trust.
They also pointed out some potential issues with Flippa’s broker service. These issues are pretty typical to using a broker in general, but they are worth noting either way. Firstly, you’re giving up control. Going through a broker means you are sacrificing some of the control you might want when listing your website. You are relying on the broker to make these decisions for you.
Secondly, if listing through a broker, you are giving up some potential profit as well. Brokers either operate on a fixed rate, or take a cut of your profits. While Flippa’s brokers do take a smaller cut than a traditional broker, it is still money that you are losing. If you are more confident in your ability to create the listing and sell it yourself, then that might be the better option.
Overall, they pointed to a few cons with Flippa, but none of them seemed like deal breakers. The issues are mostly just issues that you should be familiar with when it comes to any online marketplace, or any broker service.
Taking the pros and cons together, Business Brokers Rated were relatively happy with Flippa overall. They were mostly happy with the true wealth of options available. No matter how you were looking to sell or buy a website, Flippa had options for you. The massive user base makes it so that there’s a big inventory of service offerings, as well as a large audience to compete for listings.
Because they are a broker review site, they did focus rather heavily on Flippa’s broker services. They were happy with the broker offerings overall. They were happy with Flippa’s list of partner brokers, and even stated that the profit cut was more than fair. However, they did state that you receive less individualized attention than you would by going through an independent broker.
They recommend that in order to have the most success using Flippa, you should know your company’s worth before starting the process. This will avoid you getting taken advantage of by either brokers or potential buyers.
Overall, Flippa is a large marketplace with a large audience. Many of its problems, and also its advantages are because of its sheer size. Consider these points when making your decision.
Now, on to our next expert review.
One More Cup of Coffee is a blog which is run by a successful internet marketer (who goes by his middle name Nathaniell). He has experience starting and selling many Internet websites, and has started a blog to document his journeys. He is an expert in this area of online business, and shares his opinion on Flippa from his own experience.
Overall, Nathaniell thinks Flippa is an okay website, but he thinks there are better options available. Let’s check out what he has to say:
In terms of pros, Nathaniell’s review was definitely shorter on the positives than most.
Mostly, Nathaniell pointed to the fact that Flippa is a very intuitive site with very low barriers to entry. Anyone can get on Flippa, list a website (provided they have one worth selling), and have access to a large marketplace of interested sellers. This benefit can’t really be overstated, as its simply not an option with many other websites. It provides you with a market of interested buyers, without you having to seek these buyers out yourself.
Nathaniell also mentioned that he had many friends which had successfully sold sites through Flippa. He knew of three separate friends who had had very positive experiences with the site, and spoke to their easy experience selling a site through Flippa. They stated that the process was fast, easy-going, and netted them a pretty good profit.
Unfortunately, Nathaniell’s personal experience with Flippa was less than ideal. He did admit that he had only used the service once, and was not fully satisfied. Nathaniell prefers to sell his site through trusted brokers, his personal favorite being FEInternational.
Nathaniell prefers these brokers because they offer a more individualized approach. They give your website more individualized attention. This means they put more effort into valuing your website, and creating a compelling listing to maximize your return. Of course, they charge more as well, but Nathaniell has found the larger return to compensate this difference.
Nathaniell also prefers trusted brokers because he doesn’t like to sell through the Flippa bidding process. He has found the he secures a more reliable return if he only works with trusted buyers, as opposed to Flippa’s open marketplace. Working with brokers such as FE International ensures that Nathaniell’s websites are not exposed to any scams, and he only sells them for what they are worth (as opposed to the highest bid).
Overall, Nathaniell’s negative thoughts about Flippa were mainly based on the fact that there are better options available. Based on his experience, you can get a much higher return by working with established website brokers (provided you have a quality service offering).
As you can probably guess by this point, Nathaniell’s opinion on Flippa was less than ideal. However, he didn’t write it off completely. He spoke with a bunch of his friends that all had very positive experiences with Flippa. He was actually surprised by how many people had great experiences selling with Flippa.
His bottom line was that Flippa is a great service if you are just looking for a simple, intuitive process. If you want help creating a listing, and want to guarantee that your website gets seen by interested buyers, then Flippa is a great place to start. Chances are, if you have a quality offering, it will get sold, but the question is whether you’ll get a return you are happy with.
Nathaniell definitely prefers the route of using a more established broker. He finds the personalized attention well worth it in order to generate a better offering and to secure a higher return. Additionally, the potential for scams is minimized.
There is definitely a lot to like about Flippa, but the question is whether it does enough to separate itself from more individualized services.
Our third expert review comes from Niche Pursuits. This website was started by Spencer Haws (Co-Founder of Motion Invest), a successful online entrepreneur who has focused on “niche” areas of online business. As a result, Spencer has a lot of experience buying and selling niche websites, which means that he has an expert opinion when it comes to online website marketplaces. Let’s take a look at Niche Pursuits’ Flippa review:
Niche Pursuits focused their review around the perspective of both the buyers and sellers. The pros of Flippa were mostly pertaining to the viability of the website for sellers.
Niche Pursuits highlights that Flippa is an easy, intuitive website that allows access to a lot potential buyers.
They point out that navigating Flippa is simple and intuitive. Whether you’re a buyer and seller, you can easily navigate from the homepage to any feature you desire. Flippa explains these features well, and makes it easy for even beginner buyers and sellers to understand their appeal.
Additionally, they point out that Flippa truly offers a marketplace for all types of sellers and buyers. Many competing websites (FE International, Empire Flippers, etc.) only focus on websites with very high valuations. Flippa allows you to access their marketplace with even a very small valuation. This opens up their market to a wider variety of people.
They also highlight the fact that, if you really dig for it, you can find great deals on Flippa. There are simply so many offerings on the site, that you can find some great prices if you are willing to put in the work and the due diligence. As a buyer, you need to be prepared to put in the work. Because although there are great deals, there are also a lot of shady offers, which brings us to the cons:
Niche Pursuits like a lot of things about Flippa, but they also disliked a lot of it as well. Among their concerns was the quality of the offerings on the website. They paid special attention to the less than reputable offerings, and even “scams.”
They point to the vast number of websites which seem to be built for the sole purpose of misrepresenting their value. With a marketplace this big, these issues are pretty much inevitable, but it still presents a major challenge to the average buyer. You have to be prepared to really dig in order to get value for your money on Flippa. Don’t believe everything you see, and be prepared to put in the due diligence before you settle on a purchase price.
They mostly blamed this issue on Flippa’s low barriers to entry. Flippa does vet sellers, but not in a very extensive way, especially when compared to the extensive vetting done by a lot of their competitors.
Of course, that’s Flippa. They are meant to be the easy-to-access online marketplace for both buyers and sellers. As long as you are aware of the potential pitfalls, there is value to be found, but you have to be aware.
Overall, Niche Pursuits thought Flippa was a well-designed site with a large online marketplace. Spencer would recommend it to sellers who want a do-it-themselves solution who want to put a little more in their pocket but have the time to spend vetting through buyers and answering questions.
However, they wouldn’t recommend it to buyers to the same extent. The reason is that the scam potential is pretty high. If you’re an experienced buyer, your expertise is probably better used elsewhere. Flippa is a competitive market, and combined with the scam potential, you’re probably better off looking at listings from more reputable sites. However, if you’re willing to do the work, there is opportunity to be found. It really depends how much work and effort you want to put into it.
Niche Pursuits finds Flippa a bit of a mixed bag. There are advantages and disadvantages you should be aware of, but it might appeal to certain buyers and sellers.
Here’s another Flippa review from Khalid Farhan. Khalid is an Internet marketing professional with lots of experience buying and selling affiliate websites. He has done a wide variety of online entrepreneurship for years, and he has tested the waters on different online marketplaces. Let’s take a look at his Flippa review:
Like many of the reviewers on our list, Khalid’s experiences with the actual Flippa website were very positive. He was impressed with the intuitive nature of the site for both buyers and sellers. The website can be navigated easily for both beginners and experienced buyers and sellers alike.
He also points to Flippa’s overall success rate on the platform. Flippa has seen over 250 million in website sales, and also has a NetScore of 80 (which is good!). So, while Flippa does have its share of issues, its overall success really speaks for itself. It’s a market that brings buyers and sellers together, and deals get done.
Khalid also mentioned that, while scams do happen, Flippa does seem very adamant on addressing this issue. He notes that scams are relatively rare, and their users are free to report scams at any time with their Support line, and Flippa investigates all claims within 24 hours.
So, while Khalid did acknowledge that Flippa is a reputable website overall, he also acknowledged that there is still a lot of potential for unsavory behavior. He actually points to his own experience with the website as an example, which brings us to the cons:
Khalid’s cons were mostly centered on Flippa’s reputation for scams and untrustworthy behaviour by various buyers and sellers on the website.
Khalid actually points to his own experience buying a drop shipping site. He notes that the offer was quite attractive. However, when he dug deeper and did his due diligence, he found that there was no traffic from Google, and the Facebook page had no ads running, with only 3 Facebook likes. Simply put, the advertisement was dishonest and this was a scam.
Khalid points to this issue as a representation of the problems with Flippa in general. There are so many offers out there, that you really need to put in the due diligence to separate the good from the bad. This was an example where due diligence was the difference between a scam and not. While Khalid was lucky, many others not have been so lucky.
Khalid’s main issue with this stemmed from Flippa’s own verification process. While they do attempt to verify that seller’s numbers are true, they don’t do enough to actually verify them in any concrete way. There are ways for sellers to misrepresent their revenue and profit, and it does happen throughout the site. Khalid notes that other brokers like Empire Flippers and Motion Invest have a much more stringent vetting process and are a more reliable source.
Overall, while Khalid was certainly aware of the many benefits offered by Flippa, he seemed less than impressed with the service offering overall. Although he noted the various benefits associated with the large online marketplace, he had trouble getting past the propensity for scams and misleading offerings.
Khalid’s main recommendation would be to go with a site that more stringently vets sellers. When buying a website, you need to be absolutely sure that the numbers are legit. If not, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting scammed. So unless you are willing to do all the due diligence yourself, you might be happier with a more strict website broker.
It really depends how comfortable you are with scam potential. After all, there’s also the opportunity to find sites that are undervalued, so you have to take the good with the bad with Flippa.
Our final expert review comes from Empire Flippers. Empire Flippers is a trusted website broker, with a lot of experience buying and selling online websites. Empire Flippers offer personalized brokerage services, and help sellers through every step of the process.
And yes, before you mention it, we realize that this review comes from a place of bias. Empire Flippers is pretty much a direct competitor with Flippa. But we have made it our goal of this article to give you a complete, varied look at Flippa. We’re giving you perspective from all sides of this debate, and that includes from the perspective of the competition. So let’s see what Empire Flippers has to say:
For the pros, Empire Flippers mostly points out the obvious things that Flippa does well.
First of all, they are simply a huge online marketplace. With millions and millions of revenue in websites sold through the site, it’s hard to deny Flippa as a viable alternative for website sellers. If you have a website and you want a listing to get seen, then you know it will get seen on Flippa. This makes Flippa a great “easy” alternative. Easy to create a listing, easy to get seen, and easy to make a sale (provided you are selling something worth buying). It’s truly the no-hassle alternative, and that is backed up by its site’s functionality.
Its hard to understate this appeal. Getting an offer seen is often one of the hardest parts of selling. Getting an offer seen by many people is even more advantageous, as it can create a bidding war which would drive the price up. Overall, this is a great opportunity for sellers. For buyers, it means you really have to do your due diligence to be sure that what you are buying is worth what you are willing to pay.
Of course, as you might imagine, Empire Flippers had some problems with Flippa as well, and we’ll get into those next.
Empire Flippers focused on a few areas that they thought Flippa could improve.
Firstly, they focused on the protection aspect for buyers. As mentioned throughout this article, there is the possibility to run into scams on Flippa. It’s just the way it is with a marketplace this big. Empire Flippers point to this as the main downside of Flippa. They state that there isn’t enough protection for buyers, and not enough vetting of sellers.
The result is that it is too difficult for buyers to know whether an offering is legit. While due diligence is an option, it is unrealistic to be able to perform extensive due diligence on every offering available. Empire Flippers thinks Flippa needs more extensive vetting in order to cut out the bottom percentage of sales (in terms of reputability).
Additionally, Empire Flippers points out that, even when a seller is banned from Flippa, it is very easy to just create a new account and start all over again. This creates a problem with the same untrustworthy sellers taking over the site over and over again.
Unlike many of the other reviews on our list, Empire Flippers actually caps off their review by explaining the pathways Flippa could take to improve their site and fix their “scamming” problem.
Firstly, they recommend that Flippa implement a better method of verifying earnings. They also recommend that Flippa should verify a seller’s earnings, and give them a “verified” badge, so that buyers can be ensured that the seller is fully trustworthy. As it stands, some sellers only provide screenshots of sales, which can quite easily be fabricated or falsified. This would also be appealing to sellers, as honest sellers would be eager to prove that their sales are legitimate.
Additionally, Empire Flippers recommends that Flippa do a better job of vetting a seller’s identity. Proving a person’s identity is one of the most effective ways of addressing fraudulent behaviour. People are less likely to cheat if they know their real identities are on the line.
Overall, Empire Flippers likes Flippa as a website and as a marketplace, but note that a few steps need to be taken to up the accountability and reputability of the site’s sellers and buyers. They also note that, since the article was published, Flippa seems to have shown increased efforts towards verifying earnings and verifying identity.
However, you obviously have to take this with a grain of salt, as Empire Flippers is one of Flippa’s main competitors. That being said, the points they made are valid, and these are issues which are mentioned throughout most of our expert reviews.
There you have it, 5 different expert reviews. We looked at reviews from Internet professionals, online review professionals, and competitors of Flippa. The result is a bit of mixed bag. However, most reviewers’ pros and cons were somewhat similar, and some patterns definitely developed.
Overall, almost all the reviewers were in agreement about Flippa’s viability as an online marketplace. They praised Flippa for the size of their marketplace. Sellers will have their offers seen and considered, and buyers will always have new and exciting assets to consider.
All the reviewers also agreed that Flippa was a well-built, highly intuitive web platform. They made the process easy for both buyers and sellers. The result is that Flippa is great for both experienced online entrepreneurs and beginners. As long as you are willing to put up with Flippa’s unique obstacles, then you might find something you like in their platform.
Speaking of obstacles, by far the most common gripe was with Flippa’s vetting process and their website offerings. Most reviewers pointed out that the bar is pretty low to get a site listed on Flippa. As a result, there is sometimes the tendency to run into listings that are less than honest, or a straight up “scam.” This was a bit of a crossroads for most reviewers. They either used this as a reason to avoid Flippa outright, or just noted that it requires extra due diligence to find the best offers available.
Of course, what really matters is whether you think Flippa is worth it to you. These reviews are meant as a guideline for you to decide whether or not Flippa is worth your time as a buyer or a seller. We’re aiming to give you all the information we possibly can to make your decision.
We’re not done yet! This is your comprehensive guide to all things Flippa. Now that we’ve looked at some expert reviews of Flippa’s platform and service offerings, we’re turning our focus to some online reviews left by Flippa’s userbase. In this section, we’re checking out some online review aggregators to see what people think about Flippa.
These are the opinions of average Flippa users. Sometimes, these are the best metric for whether or not a platform is worth your time. These people don’t have a stake in Flippa’s success, and are usually just trying to offer their thoughts. We’re going to check out customer reviews from three major review aggregators. Let’s get started!
Our first review aggregator is Mouth Shut reviews. Mouth Shut is a popular review aggregator out of India. With so much business coming from that part of the world, it’s worth checking out what customers there think of Flippa.
Reviews for Flippa on MouthShut have been pretty mixed. The average score is only 2.5/5 stars. Customers have a wide variety of opinions on Flippa, and it really shows in the reviews that they leave.
Unfortunately, as is the case with customer reviews, the reviews are often quite short and not very in-depth. This is simply an aspect of online reviews, and you really have to take the good with the bad. The best way to manage this is to skim through the reviews and get an idea of a “big picture” opinion on the product, which is what we’ll attempt here.
As far as the positives, most people who left a positive review pointed to the fact that Flippa is a large website with an extensive offering of online assets. People were impressed with the sheer number of online assets available for sale.
People were also happy with the site’s functionality overall. Most users claimed that it was very easy to use, and each section was marked clearly and explained thoroughly. Flippa is a well-made website for beginners and experienced online sellers.
However, there were quite a few negative reviews as well. As you might expect at this point of the article, many of the negative reviews pointed out Flippa’s propensity for scam products and dishonest listings. Many people were dissatisfied because they had had an experience with a scammer, or had found difficulty finding listings that were all they claimed to be.
Some even said that, even after they had won an auction, the buyer back out (presumably because they were unhappy with the purchase price).
This is nothing new at this point in the article, but it’s still worth mentioning. Flippa is very much about knowing what to expect. There are good deals out there, but there are also bad deals. Some of these customers found this out the hard way, and were left with a less than good impression about Flippa.
Next up, we’re looking at reviews from the review aggregator Trustpilot. Trustpilot is a leading online review aggregator for various web-based services and products. Their mission is to be a free and open review platform, which allows anyone to voice their opinions, good or bad. Their goals is for customers to share their experiences, so that corporations can improve their practices.
This is a trusted source, and there are many reviews for Flippa (857 at the time of writing). Flippa has a user score of 3.9/5 stars, which puts them in the “Great” category. Let’s dig into why they got this score:
First up, let’s look at the positive reviews for Flippa on Trustpilot. As mentioned, they received a score of 3.9 out of 5 stars, which means that the reviews were overwhelmingly positive.
Many were happy with the site from both a buyer’s and seller’s perspective. The marketplace was beneficial to both parties, as it allowed offers to be seen and considered. Many buyers stated that there are great deals to be found if you are willing to dig for them (and you know what to look for).
People were also happy with the website’s functionality, as it made any task as straightforward as possible.
Many were also happy with their experience working with partner brokers to sell their online asset. The brokers they used were professional and honest, and got their site sold at a price they were hoping for.This is good news for anyone looking into a reputable website broker.
Some reviews even showed positive experiences with the Flippa customer support team. Their questions were answered in a timely and informative manner, and their concerns were dealt with.
Of course, not all reviews are positive, and it helps to highlight the negative ones as well.
As you might expect at this point, many of the negative reviews pointed out the potentials scams. As many reviewers have stated up to this point, you have to be very careful on Flippa. Their platform very much requires due diligence in order to be successful. As a buyer, you need to expect to put in the work to find those deals.
Some sellers also were upset that the success fee was so high. We outlined the success fees in our “costs” section above, and it’s really up to you to judge whether these fees are fair.
Overall, while negative reviews were a bit more rare on Trustpilot, they are more than worth noting. They repeated many of the issues that have become themes throughout this article. You really need to know what to expect with Flippa, and you have to know that not everything on the marketplace is as it seems.
Flippa does have various measures in place to verify traffic and revenue data from sellers, but many have ran into these issues regardless. The scams to be getting less prevalent, but they are an issue still.
We’re finishing our outline of review aggregators with SiteJabber. SiteJabber is a free, open review website, whose mission is to allow consumers a place to leave their honest feedback on any business. They have over 100,000 businesses reviews, and over 3 million monthly unique visitors.
SiteJabber’s Flippa reviews are a bit sparse, but the feedback is worth mentioning still. There are only 37 reviews, and the average rating is 1.27/5 stars. Of course, this is a little bit of a small sample size, so we’d be best to look at the content of the reviews rather than the review score overall. Here’s what customers had to say:
Unfortunately, there were few positive reviews of note on SiteJabber. This seems to be a bit of an anomaly, as there were quite a few more positive reviews on bigger review websites, but it’s worth noting that Flippa had such a low score on SiteJabber.
Of the few positive reviews, most simply praised the website for its ease-of-use and its large marketplace. A few people stated that it was a simple website to make a listing, or to browse listings. Many also stated that they found good deals on Flippa, even though they did have to dig for it.
The typical drawbacks were outlined when it came to Flippa’s negative customer reviews. Buyers were upset at the many scammers on the website. We’ve covered these issues pretty extensively at this point, but it’s worth noting that it remained an issue here. After all, the more customers that note this issue, the more it’s worth your consideration.
In fact, customer service reps would periodically respond to some of these reviews. The official stance was that Flippa can’t vouch for the quality of every offering on their site, and that part of the user experience is in doing your own due diligence in order to ensure quality.
One customer had a unique complaint that we hadn’t seen mentioned before. They noted that you need to open an account simply to view an offering’s listing details. Essentially, as a buyer, before you can see the details of a listing, you need an account. They pointed out that this may be a barrier to entry to buyers, as many would want to survey offerings before making an account. This could potentially limit the buyer pool and drive some users off the site.
Overall, the reviews on SiteJabber were pretty negative overall. We don’t think the sample size is large enough to warrant concern based simply on these reviews. After all, Trustpilot had significantly more reviews, and the score raised dramatically.
However, this article is all about giving you the most info we can. So this has been another review aggregator that is worth your consideration. We hope you find this useful in deciding whether Flippa is for you.
Let’s take a look at our customer reviews as a whole. The goal of this section was to outline enough aggregators that you could get an honest look at what customers thought of Flippa overall.
As you can see from our summaries, many customers echoed the concerns of the professional review sites we outlined in the previous section. This isn’t really a surprise, and Flippa is very much about taking the good with the bad. You have to balance the large marketplace against the difficulties that come with doing your own due diligence and searching high and low for deals.
Overall, it’s very much about deciding whether this is the kind of service offering you are looking for. At this point, you have more than enough information to make this decision. Even if you’ve just jumped throughout this article to learn various tidbits, we hope you have found our comprehensive outline helpful and informative!
We would put the most stake in Trustpilot’s reviews. This is due to the simple fact that more customers left reviews on Trustpilot than any other review aggregator. This makes it the most extensive look at customer opinions, with the least possibility for skewing due to sample size.
There you have it! Our massive, informative, jam-packed, complete guide to Flippa! We’ve covered a lot in this article, from the basics of Flippa, to the site’s various functionalities and features, to many expert and consumer reviews (including our own review!). Our aim was to give you the most comprehensive outline available!
Of course, when it really comes down to it, there’s only one question that matters – is Flippa right for me? As a seller this depends on how much you want to do yourself. You will need to create the listing, field all potential buyers and spend your time to secure a sale. If you are a buyer, Flippa might be good if you are looking for a deal slightly below market value, but with this comes by doing your own due diligence and understand what you are purchasing. If you are looking for a more hands off solution or someone with expertise, Motion Invest is here and available to help with both buying and selling of sites.
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