Stop selling websites
Posted by Danny in Flippa, Selling Websites
….and start selling a business opportunity
The inevitable backlash has started and it’s ugly out there!
A number of forums and blogs I read are all crying poor over the fact that start-up websites no longer sell on flippa.
The writing has been on the wall for a while now. This was an arbitrage opportunity and it was a matter of get in early, make the most of it and more importantly, come out the other end with something to show for it.
Selling websites with little traffic and zero income no longer attract buyers and sellers of these sites are pissed!
What we’re seeing now is a huge pendulum effect. It really has swung the other way and there has been a massive adjustment in the market.
Sites that once sold for $300, now struggle to sell for more than $50!
I feel sorry for people that have tried to build a businesses around selling these sites, banking on it being viable long term. People have quit jobs, invested money in business ventures, teaching programs, all based on selling sites that the market will never want again.
Hell, I was annoyed when it ended and I knew it was coming. It really did just fade away over night. The pendulum swung back so quickly that heads are still spinning, wondering what the hell just happened.
Now that the river has dried up, disappointment has quickly turned to frustration and anger.
Guess who is bearing the brunt of this anger? FLIPPA!
Forums and blogs this week are full of conversations about how it’s flippa’s fault that start-up sites don’t sell anymore. Flippa doesn’t care, they charge too much, they just want the big bucks, they’re not interested in resolving disputes…blah blah blah.
Hell, Flippa is the reason my football team hasn’t one a premiership in over 56 years!!!
It’s not flippa’s fault, or anyone’s for that matter. Selling start-up sites was never a business in the first pace. It was nothing more than arbitrage opportunity in a new market place.
The good news is that now we can take all those skills we developed pumping out site after site, learn a few new ones and start trading websites of real lasting value that will sell for 5 times more than we were getting previously.
I’ve made a few of these sites myself lately and I can’t even get them onto flipa, as buyers on my mailing list snatch them up. (you do have a buyer mailing list, right?)
Ah Flippa, I love you again…..
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8 Comments
Justin @ Flip Filter
01. Jun, 2010
Hey Danny,
We’re one of those blogs feeding off the discussion (I know, it’s shameless bandwaggoning
), but I agree that it has nothing to do with Flippa.
The debate is however linked to another problem of poor quality traffic increasing over the last couple months resulting in a rise of window shoppers and non paying bidders.
This problem is for Flippa to resolve – and I hope they do it quickly before it bites them in the ass!
Justin
[Reply]
Danny
02. Jun, 2010
Hi Justin,
I just see it as the market over correcting. Start-up prices were outrageous for a while there. The market really has swung the other way and quickly, but it will settle at some point.
[Reply]
Mark
02. Jun, 2010
I’ve been very happy with what I’ve learned from Ed Dale and guys like you. Every step of the way I’ve been told it’s an arbitrage. Numerous times it’s been explained.
What got me following the 30 Day Challenge was that there were no outlandish claims. If you’re setting there doing things that many people can do, you have to know the value of that is going to drop as more people catch on.
I don’t even have a problem with the $20 listing fee. At first I thought it was a little steep, but now I use it as a guage. Before I post a website for sale, I have to ask myself, “Is this worth a $20 bet that this website will have enough value to sell above my reserve?
My goal now is to keep finding where people see value and provide it to them.
[Reply]
Danny
02. Jun, 2010
Thanks Mark
30 DC was where I started and other then Ed’s guitar work, it is full of gold!
I’ve never had an issue with the listing fee either. If you’re not getting at least $50 for a site, you’re doing something wrong.
Your goal is a good one, as there is a huge demand for sites of value out there.
[Reply]
Mark
02. Jun, 2010
I am still puzzled as to how the junk websites are still selling. I don’t see them dropping in price, but I’ve only been watching for a month. I just seen one only a month old with zero traffic that was nothing but PLR with auto-posting plugins and nice theme go for $249.
I’ve been tempted to throw these together, but I’m sticking with Ed’s advice and preserving my reputation.
I have seen people that have bought a HUGE amount of these websites. I want to tell them that I believe they’re getting ripped off, but I suspect they would just take out their frustration on me.
[Reply]
Danny
02. Jun, 2010
Mark,
for every one of these sites you will see 10 or so that sell for less than $50.
There are new buyers coming to flippa everyday, so $249 start-up sites will still sell every so often.
End of the day, you need to worry about what you do.
If you’re happy selling start-up sites, you will sell one occasionally for that price.
If instead, you start investing time and build quality sites, you will have sites that sell for $1,000 plus, and it really isn’t that much more work.
Don’t worry about what other people do, as you can’t control any of that, just focus on the market you want to be in.
[Reply]
Luke Moulton
03. Jun, 2010
Well said Danny. The honeymoon is over for Start-Up Website Sellers and it’s time to start creating more value.
As you and a few others have identified, snapping aged domains and re-purposing them is a good place to start.
I don’t agree with @Justin in regards to traffic. The traffic is no different than it was 3 months ago.
[Reply]
Danny
03. Jun, 2010
Luke,
I agree with you on the traffic side of things. The sites that are selling for decent money are getting the same number of views they always have.
A site I listed last week had a very healthy number of views.
I haven’t noticed anything changing other than buyers not wanting start-up sites anymore.
[Reply]
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