SitePoint.com

ShayneTilley · Jun 22, 2009, 01:23

Whip out your diaries, grab your pen, and let it be known: today, June 22nd, is the day flippa.com went live!

Some of you may have already crawled your way through the innards of Flippa through the numerous beta tests over the last couple of months, but for those who haven’t, let me tell you more about it.

SitePoint’s marketplace has now been divided in two. The entire function of buying and selling web sites has been moved to an entirely separate site, flippa.com. This includes premium, established, and start-up web site sales.

So if you’re in the market to buy or sell a web site, then flippa.com is your new home. There’s a whole raft of new features to go with the new name, but I’ll let the Flippa team tell you all about that.

Your Forums or SitePoint Marketplace login, will allow you to log in to Flippa. Additionally, your complete auction history, bidding history and feedback rating has also been carried over to the new site, so all you need to do is log in and you’re good to go!

Oh, and if you’re new to buying and selling web sites, welcome to the jungle! You can sign up here.

So what’s left in the SitePoint Marketplace?

Our vibrant Looking To Hire, and Advertise Your Services marketplaces will remain on SitePoint, as will classified listings for scripts, hosting deals, content for sale, advertising space for sale, and more. So if you’ve got something to sell (that’s not a domain or web site), or you’re seeking that next gun recruit, look no further than the SitePoint Marketplace!

With all web site buying and selling now conducted on flippa.com. The SitePoint Marketplace will be more focused on advertising your services and general webmaster classifieds and we're looking for your suggestions on where to from here.

Some ideas that we’ve discussed include:

expanding the Looking To Hire and Advertise Your Services sections of the marketplace to include specific areas for designers, programmers, writers & bloggers, and marketers & SEO Gurus
the introduction of web sites reviews including SEO, usability and design feedback

That’s just a couple of possibilities to get you started.

Note, any feedback about flippa.com is best directed at the Flippa team — you can talk to them on Twitter, make suggestions on their UserVoice page, or lodge support tickets via their ZenDesk forum.

So what do you think the SitePoint Marketplace should focus on?

glenngould · Jun 22, 2009, 01:56

I wonder what the logo mark represents, is it temporary?

cordlessmart · Jun 22, 2009, 01:56

This is OUTRAGEOUS.. no notice forced to advertise with flippa.com ??? no choice.. i want a refund. At least let us decide we paid our ads for sitepoint.. its not right to force us at least lt us decide.. the format is awful..

Edited:

I was talking about switching my ad from sitepoint to flippa.. That my problem.. You didn't ask me.. You should refund my listing fee and then let me decide.. not force me.. Put yourself in my shoes.. How would you like it if you went to the store and bought NIKE shoes and i slipped in at night and switched them to Brand X but you paid the same for them.. then you woke up to find brand-X instead.. Would you NOT SAY ANYTHING>> I Think So..

ryanhellyer · Jun 22, 2009, 02:08

Looks great.

@cordlessmart - I don't understand. What is the problem exactly?

ryanhellyer · Jun 22, 2009, 02:10

Just noticed you guys have the WordPress logo as your favicon. You should change that. When I saw it in my list of tabs in Chrome I closed it because I didn't have any use for a WordPress related site just then. It took me a while to figure out why Flippa had disappeared!

EDIT: I figured out the problem. Your blog is on WordPress.com the main part of the site is on Flippa.com.

How come the blog isn't hosted on the main domain?

TalkingWorld · Jun 22, 2009, 02:32

Well, as a long time buyer and seller, I have to say that the transition could have been better handled. I received no notice what so ever regarding the switch and my auctions seem to be completed and no where to be found. I also did not like the new flippa interface either. Maybe I am biased and just used to the old design.

Marika Charalamb · Jun 22, 2009, 03:03

Ok so I checked out my transfered auction from Sitepoint and some of the options got transfered wrongly. For example the site layout was unique, yet now it comes as 'not unique, available elsewhere'. If I try to edit my listing it gives me a lot of error messages such as the title is too long (was ok for Sitepoint!!), and after I make all the changes I need to, to reset it the way it was originally listed at Sitepoint, I have to click on accepting the 5% success fees.

I'll send a message through their forum, but I'm really not happy with the way all this was handled.

delta4 · Jun 22, 2009, 03:41

if i click on my account tab, i get:

Error
An error occurred

CyberAlien · Jun 22, 2009, 03:52

Up to $500 fee for a successful sale? What for? That website isn't escrow, all it does is list websites for sale, it doesn't handle transactions. So now in addition to escrow.com fees (which are way smaller than flippa ripoff) for selling website, seller/buyer should also give huge chunk of money for a listing?

edit: I think interface is rather bad. Price is shown only in featured listings tab, all other tabs show is auction title and start/end time. Visitors have to read every single ad in order to filter good websites from junk. I think it would be a good idea to add columns for current bid and buy now, maybe also a column that shows monthly profit.

edit2: Aha, there is a price, but its shown only when I use filters. Filters are very inconvenient, there is too much stuff in it and its all confusing. I think it would be a good idea to add a quick filter for price sorting and keep current advanced search as extra option. Also I think it would be a good idea to add some preset filters, such as good old "premium websites", but name it "Established: $10,000 or above" (filter by current bid, not by buy now price) and few more similar filters ("Established: $5,000 - $10,000", "Established: $1,000 - $5,000", etc...) and add them as popup for quick filtering.

edit3: Statistics popup is badly coded too. Visitor checks listings from top to bottom, not the other way around, that popup covers statistics link for listing below it and it doesn't disappear when visitor moves mouse out of it. I suggest to put it on timer, so it would disappear 0.5-1 second after visitor moved mouse out of statistics link and out of that popup area.

That website should still be in beta with its current interface.

mycolumbus · Jun 22, 2009, 03:52

This is a really bad move guys. I hate it so much. Now do I have to create a new username / password? You had a good thing going at Sitepoint. Please listen to your customers here and revert.

Flippa.... what a stupid name, and stupid design. I doubt I'm going to use Flippa, and prob will start using DP more from now.

Guys... seriously... think about what your customers want. We want the old Sitepoint Auctions back.

aj510 · Jun 22, 2009, 04:39

Just to add to everyone elses posts.

I've been using the site point marketplace for along long time and I truly don't understand why this has been created?

The success fee is laughable - 5% of the winning bid? Are you kidding me?

Quote:

Success Fee: 10cr to 500cr (5% of winning bid) when the auction is won

^^^^ = I won't be buying or listing one single site on flippa - what a deadset ripoff, you guys are making Aussies look bad!

edit : So the success fee is going to increase prices of ALL sites listed and decrease the number of sites listed. Sounds like a great idea, wish i'd thought of it.

kjh-08 · Jun 22, 2009, 04:51

I don't like the move to flippa. At first I thought I had a virus taking me to some other site. Need to revert back to the old listing format. Looks like I'll be spending less time here now.

ShayneTilley · Jun 22, 2009, 04:59

guys as you know I always welcome feedback, but could we try to keep this on topic. I'd like to know what you'd like to see the remaining Marketplace become.

If your feedback is specific to Flippa, please make suggestions on their UserVoice page, or lodge support tickets via their ZenDesk forum.

ShayneTilley · Jun 22, 2009, 05:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryanhellyer

Just noticed you guys have the WordPress logo as your favicon. You should change that. When I saw it in my list of tabs in Chrome I closed it because I didn't have any use for a WordPress related site just then. It took me a while to figure out why Flippa had disappeared!

EDIT: I figured out the problem. Your blog is on WordPress.com the main part of the site is on Flippa.com.

How come the blog isn't hosted on the main domain?

It's so if the main site goes down, we still have an avenue to communicate with you.

flooby · Jun 22, 2009, 05:07

The site looks great but doesn't stand out from many other similar looking sites that are out there. Think its the blue stripe background which is quite popular.

aj510 · Jun 22, 2009, 05:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShayneTilley

guys as you know I always welcome feedback, but could we try to keep this on topic. I'd like to know what you'd like to see the remaining Marketplace become.

If your feedback is specific to Flippa, please make suggestions on their UserVoice page, or lodge support tickets via their ZenDesk forum.

So the sitepoint marketplace was sold?

I'd like to see the new marketplace become the old marketplace.

TalkingWorld · Jun 22, 2009, 05:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberAlien

Up to $500 fee for a successful sale? What for? That website isn't escrow, all it does is list websites for sale, it doesn't handle transactions. So now in addition to escrow.com fees (which are way smaller than flippa ripoff) for selling website, seller/buyer should also give huge chunk of money for a listing?

I would like to second this question. Why on earth are you charging a 5% success fee now ? Are all payment processed will be handled through you like an Escrow service ? How are you going to charge this fee ?

From your blog ;

Quote:

As you know we have set our listing fee to $19 and introduced a new 5% success fee based on the sale price of the site (capped at $499). Many buyers and sellers requested this new structure the last survey we did of marketplace users. Whilst some sellers were totally for this, others were against it, feeling like it was pricing them out of the market.

When did you exactly do this survey? Where can we find the results ? I especially would like to see a list of the buyers and sellers who actually "requested" for this new fee structure...

Best Regards,

mycolumbus · Jun 22, 2009, 05:58

Yes, it would have made sense to survey your customers before offloading them to flippa and charging exorbitant fees.

I would like to see the current Sitepoint Marketplace become what the old was like. If you sold it off to flippa, then howabout start a new SitePoint Marketplace here?

I wont be using Flippa, that's for sure.

Phil Jones · Jun 22, 2009, 07:13

I don't think the sitepoint marketplace was exactly sold... see this page for details...

http://flippa.com/about

Although I do hate the new changes. It will be interesting to see what Flippa becomes...

Phil Jones · Jun 22, 2009, 07:14

Yes, I wonder how many people really wanted a fee increase?

Quote:

As you know we have set our listing fee to $19 and introduced a new 5% success fee based on the sale price of the site (capped at $499). Many buyers and sellers requested this new structure the last survey we did of marketplace users. Whilst some sellers were totally for this, others were against it, feeling like it was pricing them out of the market.

webber324 · Jun 22, 2009, 07:17

Flippa will become the end to Sitepoint sales. The design is horrible, it's difficult to manage, it's ungodly horibble color scheme.

Bring back Sitepoint Marketplace! It not only looked professional, it was much easier to navigate.

imagize · Jun 22, 2009, 07:20

Does the new flippa site provide escrow? or do we have to pay 5% of the sale price ($499 cap) AND pay additional fees for a service like escrow.com...

Just say you sell a site for $10000, you would have to pay a $499 "success fee" to flippa. You could have listed 10 premium auctions for that on the old system and if your sites were good enough you would easily sold them after 1 listing.

I understand that sitepoint is a business and wants to grow their business but what do we get from this upgrade exactly? The old marketplace was simple and effective, if there was additional info required the buyer and seller could simply communicate together. Flippa just seems to provide a lot of extra bells and whistles that were not needed. All I see here is a grab for some cash and for sitepoint/flippa to become more involved in the transactions.

aj510 · Jun 22, 2009, 07:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Jones

Although I do hate the new changes. It will be interesting to see what Flippa becomes...

It will crash and burn if the current fee structure isn't looked at.

I reckon we all sit back and wait for sitepoint to change their fee structure once less and less people post their site up for sale due to the high pricing...

ethanp · Jun 22, 2009, 08:07

I guess, since Flippa's fees are a tad higher, perhaps lower the fees of the Marketplace here. It would also be nice to see the interface simplified like on Flippa, a little less crowded and bigger fonts. There is no reason the simplicity be only on Flippa.

Tekime · Jun 22, 2009, 08:28

Congratulations on the launch guys.

Flippa must have been a big project, and it's probably tough hearing some of the criticism after all that work. It's a position I can empathize with - the unsatisfied/disgruntled users are always the loudest. But your confidence shows in your planning and persistence. I have no doubt that most of the negative comments make up a very small slice of Sitepoint users.

That said, a lot of people do business on Sitepoint and every voice is important. It seems like you're listening and that's good. This is a big site that influences a lot of people, and surprising users with daunting changes is bound to create some tension.

So anyway, hats off to a smooth launch. I'm enjoying the site, post-shock.

Jun 22, 2009, 01:23	#1
ShayneTilley Team SitePoint Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,085	flippa.com: It’s Alive! Whip out your diaries, grab your pen, and let it be known: today, June 22nd, is the day flippa.com went live! Some of you may have already crawled your way through the innards of Flippa through the numerous beta tests over the last couple of months, but for those who haven’t, let me tell you more about it. SitePoint’s marketplace has now been divided in two. The entire function of buying and selling web sites has been moved to an entirely separate site, flippa.com. This includes premium, established, and start-up web site sales. So if you’re in the market to buy or sell a web site, then flippa.com is your new home. There’s a whole raft of new features to go with the new name, but I’ll let the Flippa team tell you all about that. Your Forums or SitePoint Marketplace login, will allow you to log in to Flippa. Additionally, your complete auction history, bidding history and feedback rating has also been carried over to the new site, so all you need to do is log in and you’re good to go! Oh, and if you’re new to buying and selling web sites, welcome to the jungle! You can sign up here. So what’s left in the SitePoint Marketplace? Our vibrant Looking To Hire, and Advertise Your Services marketplaces will remain on SitePoint, as will classified listings for scripts, hosting deals, content for sale, advertising space for sale, and more. So if you’ve got something to sell (that’s not a domain or web site), or you’re seeking that next gun recruit, look no further than the SitePoint Marketplace! With all web site buying and selling now conducted on flippa.com. The SitePoint Marketplace will be more focused on advertising your services and general webmaster classifieds and we're looking for your suggestions on where to from here. Some ideas that we’ve discussed include: expanding the Looking To Hire and Advertise Your Services sections of the marketplace to include specific areas for designers, programmers, writers & bloggers, and marketers & SEO Gurus the introduction of web sites reviews including SEO, usability and design feedback That’s just a couple of possibilities to get you started. Note, any feedback about flippa.com is best directed at the Flippa team — you can talk to them on Twitter, make suggestions on their UserVoice page, or lodge support tickets via their ZenDesk forum. So what do you think the SitePoint Marketplace should focus on? Last edited by mattymcg; Jun 22, 2009 at 06:33.

Jun 22, 2009, 01:56	#3
cordlessmart SitePoint Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 12	This is OUTRAGEOUS.. no notice forced to advertise with flippa.com ??? no choice.. i want a refund. At least let us decide we paid our ads for sitepoint.. its not right to force us at least lt us decide.. the format is awful.. Edited: I was talking about switching my ad from sitepoint to flippa.. That my problem.. You didn't ask me.. You should refund my listing fee and then let me decide.. not force me.. Put yourself in my shoes.. How would you like it if you went to the store and bought NIKE shoes and i slipped in at night and switched them to Brand X but you paid the same for them.. then you woke up to find brand-X instead.. Would you NOT SAY ANYTHING>> I Think So.. Last edited by cordlessmart; Jun 24, 2009 at 01:41. Reason: Needed Clarification

Jun 22, 2009, 03:52	#9
CyberAlien Forums Designer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 311	Up to $500 fee for a successful sale? What for? That website isn't escrow, all it does is list websites for sale, it doesn't handle transactions. So now in addition to escrow.com fees (which are way smaller than flippa ripoff) for selling website, seller/buyer should also give huge chunk of money for a listing? edit: I think interface is rather bad. Price is shown only in featured listings tab, all other tabs show is auction title and start/end time. Visitors have to read every single ad in order to filter good websites from junk. I think it would be a good idea to add columns for current bid and buy now, maybe also a column that shows monthly profit. edit2: Aha, there is a price, but its shown only when I use filters. Filters are very inconvenient, there is too much stuff in it and its all confusing. I think it would be a good idea to add a quick filter for price sorting and keep current advanced search as extra option. Also I think it would be a good idea to add some preset filters, such as good old "premium websites", but name it "Established: $10,000 or above" (filter by current bid, not by buy now price) and few more similar filters ("Established: $5,000 - $10,000", "Established: $1,000 - $5,000", etc...) and add them as popup for quick filtering. edit3: Statistics popup is badly coded too. Visitor checks listings from top to bottom, not the other way around, that popup covers statistics link for listing below it and it doesn't disappear when visitor moves mouse out of it. I suggest to put it on timer, so it would disappear 0.5-1 second after visitor moved mouse out of statistics link and out of that popup area. That website should still be in beta with its current interface. Last edited by CyberAlien; Jun 22, 2009 at 04:28.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Jun 22, 2009, 01:56	#2
glenngould SitePoint Wizard Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,420	I wonder what the logo mark represents, is it temporary?

Jun 22, 2009, 02:08	#4
ryanhellyer SitePoint Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: New Zealand Posts: 2,297	Looks great. @cordlessmart - I don't understand. What is the problem exactly?

Jun 22, 2009, 02:10	#5
ryanhellyer SitePoint Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: New Zealand Posts: 2,297	Just noticed you guys have the WordPress logo as your favicon. You should change that. When I saw it in my list of tabs in Chrome I closed it because I didn't have any use for a WordPress related site just then. It took me a while to figure out why Flippa had disappeared! EDIT: I figured out the problem. Your blog is on WordPress.com the main part of the site is on Flippa.com. How come the blog isn't hosted on the main domain?

Jun 22, 2009, 02:32	#6
TalkingWorld SitePoint Evangelist Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 455	Well, as a long time buyer and seller, I have to say that the transition could have been better handled. I received no notice what so ever regarding the switch and my auctions seem to be completed and no where to be found. I also did not like the new flippa interface either. Maybe I am biased and just used to the old design.

Jun 22, 2009, 03:03	#7
Marika Charalamb SitePoint Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Cyprus Posts: 2	Ok so I checked out my transfered auction from Sitepoint and some of the options got transfered wrongly. For example the site layout was unique, yet now it comes as 'not unique, available elsewhere'. If I try to edit my listing it gives me a lot of error messages such as the title is too long (was ok for Sitepoint!!), and after I make all the changes I need to, to reset it the way it was originally listed at Sitepoint, I have to click on accepting the 5% success fees. I'll send a message through their forum, but I'm really not happy with the way all this was handled.

Jun 22, 2009, 03:41	#8
delta4 SitePoint Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 20	if i click on my account tab, i get: Error An error occurred

Jun 22, 2009, 03:52	#10
mycolumbus SitePoint Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4	This is a really bad move guys. I hate it so much. Now do I have to create a new username / password? You had a good thing going at Sitepoint. Please listen to your customers here and revert. Flippa.... what a stupid name, and stupid design. I doubt I'm going to use Flippa, and prob will start using DP more from now. Guys... seriously... think about what your customers want. We want the old Sitepoint Auctions back.

Jun 22, 2009, 04:51	#12
kjh-08 SitePoint Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 4	I don't like the move to flippa. At first I thought I had a virus taking me to some other site. Need to revert back to the old listing format. Looks like I'll be spending less time here now.

Jun 22, 2009, 04:59	#13
ShayneTilley Team SitePoint Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,085	guys as you know I always welcome feedback, but could we try to keep this on topic. I'd like to know what you'd like to see the remaining Marketplace become. If your feedback is specific to Flippa, please make suggestions on their UserVoice page, or lodge support tickets via their ZenDesk forum.

Jun 22, 2009, 05:07	#15
flooby SitePoint Zealot Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 129	The site looks great but doesn't stand out from many other similar looking sites that are out there. Think its the blue stripe background which is quite popular.

Jun 22, 2009, 05:58	#18
mycolumbus SitePoint Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 4	Yes, it would have made sense to survey your customers before offloading them to flippa and charging exorbitant fees. I would like to see the current Sitepoint Marketplace become what the old was like. If you sold it off to flippa, then howabout start a new SitePoint Marketplace here? I wont be using Flippa, that's for sure.

Jun 22, 2009, 07:13	#19
Phil Jones SitePoint Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 17	I don't think the sitepoint marketplace was exactly sold... see this page for details... http://flippa.com/about Although I do hate the new changes. It will be interesting to see what Flippa becomes...

Jun 22, 2009, 07:17	#21
webber324 SitePoint Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2	Flippa will become the end to Sitepoint sales. The design is horrible, it's difficult to manage, it's ungodly horibble color scheme. Bring back Sitepoint Marketplace! It not only looked professional, it was much easier to navigate.

Jun 22, 2009, 07:20	#22
imagize SitePoint Addict Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 200	Does the new flippa site provide escrow? or do we have to pay 5% of the sale price ($499 cap) AND pay additional fees for a service like escrow.com... Just say you sell a site for $10000, you would have to pay a $499 "success fee" to flippa. You could have listed 10 premium auctions for that on the old system and if your sites were good enough you would easily sold them after 1 listing. I understand that sitepoint is a business and wants to grow their business but what do we get from this upgrade exactly? The old marketplace was simple and effective, if there was additional info required the buyer and seller could simply communicate together. Flippa just seems to provide a lot of extra bells and whistles that were not needed. All I see here is a grab for some cash and for sitepoint/flippa to become more involved in the transactions.

Jun 22, 2009, 08:07	#24
ethanp Floridian Opera Brigadier Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 1,975	I guess, since Flippa's fees are a tad higher, perhaps lower the fees of the Marketplace here. It would also be nice to see the interface simplified like on Flippa, a little less crowded and bigger fonts. There is no reason the simplicity be only on Flippa.

Jun 22, 2009, 08:28	#25
Tekime I <3 Internet Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Maine Posts: 354	Congratulations on the launch guys. Flippa must have been a big project, and it's probably tough hearing some of the criticism after all that work. It's a position I can empathize with - the unsatisfied/disgruntled users are always the loudest. But your confidence shows in your planning and persistence. I have no doubt that most of the negative comments make up a very small slice of Sitepoint users. That said, a lot of people do business on Sitepoint and every voice is important. It seems like you're listening and that's good. This is a big site that influences a lot of people, and surprising users with daunting changes is bound to create some tension. So anyway, hats off to a smooth launch. I'm enjoying the site, post-shock.