Flippa Review – Should You Buy & Sell Websites With Flippa?

In the time I've run WebMonkey, I've been approached to sell the website about a half-dozen times.

Some of these requests were a joke, but two were pretty serious. In fact, I even had a phone call to hear them out, even though I wasn't going to sell.

On the flip side, I've also dabbled with the idea of aquiring a micro-niche website for a while now, just to play around.

In any case, regardless of what side I've been on in the buying or selling website equation, one marketplace has always been a commonly recommended resource to turn to: Flippa.

Flippa is one of the leading websites for buying and selling websites, apps, and even domain names.

Chances are, if you've ever bought or sold a website, you've at least browsed through Flippa before.

Now, the world of website flipping and buying/selling is competitive. Plus, it's also a tad scary.

After all, exchanging a website isn't like exchanging a tangible good, so there's a lot more importance on trust and security than if you're simply selling a commodity.

So today, we're going to break down what buyers and sellers should expect in our official Flippa review.

Plus, we're also going to hear from Flippa's CEO Blake Hutchison on why Flippa deserves to be your go-to marketplace the next time you need to flip a website or buy a new one.

Let's get to it!

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What Is Flippa?

Flippa is an Australian-based company that specializes in the buying and selling of websites.

Founded in 2009, Flippa has grown into one of the most popular website marketplaces around.

Now, Flippa is known for selling websites, but you can actually find a variety of websites and assets on the marketplace, including:

• Ecommerce websites, like Amazon FBA businesses and dropshipping stores.
• Content based websites, like blogs, review websites, directories, and forums.
• Marketplaces.
• SaaS websites.
• IOS and Android apps.
• Domain names.

Websites are certainly the most popular category on Flippa, with ecommerce and content websites taking center stage.

So, Flippa is essentially a marketplace where you can scoop up a new ecommerce business or blog or sell your own if you're looking to make some cash.

How Does Flippa Work?

You need to create a Flippa account to use the marketplace as a buyer or seller. Creating an account is completely free.

Additionally, Flippa makes the process of exchanging a website easy for both buyers and sellers.

Flippa For Buyers

Flippa is most commonly used for buying and selling websites, and this is where the marketplace truly shines.

On Flippa, it's easy to find the exact type of website you want to buy (content or ecommerce) and at a range of prices.

Flippa's home page organizes assets for sale based on their category.

This makes it easy to quickly find websites Flippa editors have highlighted, fully-operational websites, ecommerce businesses, and starter sites,

If you click on a listing, you can view more details about the specific website.

Flippa lets sellers provide a comprehensive breakdown of their site, including:

• Monthly traffic from Google Analytics, including historical data. Sellers can't alter this data so it's impossible to get scammed from a traffic perspective.
• The top channels for traffic, so you know if a website has more organic or social traffic.
• Gross revenue and profit. Websites can explain if this is from Adsense, affiliate income, or other streams.
• A traffic report from SEMRush that includes information on backlinks.

Listings also show the current price, views, how many buyers are watching the listing, and a history of bids.

Additionally, listings can include a reserve price or a buy-it-now price.

All of this data makes it easy to get a snapshot of a website you're considering.

However, the best part of any Flippa listing is the seller's notes.

Flippa lets sellers explain their website in detail, and professional sellers truly make use of this section.

Good sellers will explain every aspect of their website, including a traffic and revenue breakdown, their reason for selling, the website history, website KPIs, opportunities for growth, and marketing information.

Plus, sellers also outline everything that's included in a sale, as well as the costs you're taking on.

Typically, this means aquiring all of a website's content, social media handles, WordPress assets, and email addresses associated with the website.

Sellers typically offer post-sale support as well to help transfer the property and lend some advice. Sellers can also sign a non-compete.

Ultimately, Flippa makes it easy for buyers to vet a website, communicate with sellers, and start a new online business for themselves through aquisition.

Flippa For Sellers

If you're selling a website, you can use Flippa's free website valuation tool to find the value of your website.

I don't suggest only relying on this tool to value your website, but it's nice that Flippa gets the ball rolling for sellers.

Now, one thing that's important to consider is selling fees for using Flippa.

As a seller, you pay two main types of fees: a listing fee and a selling success fee if you complete a sale.

Listing fees include:

• Start websites/templates – $15.
• Domain names – $10.
• Apps – $15.
• Established websites – $49

This is honestly a very affordable listing fee, but it's enough to help keep out sellers who aren't serious and it reduces the number of scams.

Now, you also pay a success fee if you end up selling the website that's based on the total value of the sale.

Success fees are:

• Up to $50,000 – Pay a 10% fee.
• $50,000 to $100,000 – Pay a 7.5% fee.
• $100,000+ – Pay a 5% fee.

You can also deal with a partner broker and pay a 15% fee if you want to take the stress out of selling.

When it comes to making your listing, it's important to include as much information as possible to help buyers make informed decisions.

Thankfully, Flippa makes it pretty easy.

As mentioned, sellers can list a lot of information to describe the reason for selling, traffic, revenue, and future growth opprtunities.

You can also attached reports in your listing, which is a nice way to compile KPI data to share with potential buyers.

Is Flippa Safe?

Let me start out by saying that you can get scammed doing almost anything in this world.

Buying or selling websites on Flippa is no different, and that's why the main rule with using Flippa is that you have to use common sense.

According to Flippa, the platform keeps sellers and buyers safe by:

• Having a marketplace security team.
• Marking trustworthy memebrs as super buyers and sellers.
• Implementing identity verification.
• Allowing PayPal, wire transfer, and an escrow service for payment.

Flippa also has around a 4 star average reviw on websites like Trust Pilot:

All of this bodes well, and Flippa is a safe marketplace.

However, you can still get scammed if you don't do your research.

Flippa makes payment processing and the overall exchange process safe, but you still need to do your own research.

Think: why is a seller deciding to sell a website?

Sellers will butter you up all they want with reasons, but you have to dig deeper.

Does the website use a PBN? Is organic traffic tanking? Is a new piece of upcoming legislation going to destroy the revenue model of the website?

Ask yourself these questions, and don't be afraid to use outside research tools like SEMRush or to ask for other opinions.

What Makes Flippa Unique? – Words From Flippa CEO Ben Hutchison

One of the main reasons I wanted to write this Flippa review was because Flippa's CEO, Ben Hutchison, was able to share his insights on why Flippa makes sense for buyers and sellers alike.

Here are the questions I asked Ben to shed some light on:

Why Should Sellers Use Flippa Over The Competition?

The answer is price, scale and speed.

Flippa charges a success fee when you successfully sell. This fee is a percentage of the sale price and ranges from 5-10%.

If you're selling a site, store, app, domain or online business for  $100k plus, Flippa charges 5%. This is the least expensive option globally.

We have more buyers. With nearly 1000 new buyers joining each day, we are unmatched for scale.

Buyers join Flippa because we are the largest and the #1 marketplace globally for buying online businesses and digital real estate.

Sellers and buyers move quickly on Flippa. Given our scale, a high quality asset can sell in days! That’s unmatched and works in the interest of motivated buyers and sellers.

Finally, I should add that Flippa is an open platform enabling direct contact between a business owner and a prospective buyer.

We also have brokers operating on the platform.

This is different to others and has proven to be efficient and favourable for all parties. ‘Getting to know each other’ is critical to having an effective negotiation and even more critical through the handover process.

What Are Some Tips For Flipping A Website?

Only quality assets sell.

So, in that context, think about merchandising.

This is the most important step in selling an asset and you need to think about it strategically – what is your unique selling proposition. What makes it a quality asset that buyers should consider?

Additionally, always include key metrics.

If it’s an eCommerce site, it’s not enough to say that you make $25,000 monthly net profit.

What is your Average Order Value (AOV), what is your Cost Per Unit (CPU) and if you advertise, what is your Return on Ad Spend?

This is the same for a content or SaaS asset. You will want to highlight key metrics.

With pricing, use the Flippa Valuation Tool.

This is based on historical sales data and will give you a rough estimate. You can also look at Flippa Success Stories to get a sense of what good quality assets sell for.

For example, this case study covers the successful sale of Outdoor Man Cave.

Is Website Flipping Better Than Domain Flipping For Side Hustlers?

Yes, I think it is.

And, it sounds odd but most people don’t flip at all.

They don’t build to sell, they build to thrive. In fact, the average asset sold on Flippa is just over 4 years old.

Websites and online businesses are a more predictable side hustle. Value is easier to predict. They are assessed on performance rather than more arbitrary or ‘personal’ assessments.

Extra Reading – How To Flip Money – 14 Best Assets To Flip.

What's Easiest To Flip? Ecommerce Businesses? Blogs? Does It Matter?

I wouldn’t think of it in the context of a ‘flip’.

I would think of it from a demand standpoint.

There’s currently more demand for blogs supported by ad revenue and this is because they are perceived as being more consistent in performance, more reliable, and with less operational costs.

When Should Someone Start Buyig & Selling Websites?

If someone is looking to create a website to flip they would need to have the skills to build a compelling site with value.

By creating value, I mean something that operates in a niche where there is substantial customer demand and where the site has proven that it can attract customers and either transact or attract advertising dollars.

If they are looking to assist first time website owners than these are termed ‘Starter Sites’ and in this case, a Flippa customer is looking for a business in a box, something that has a good domain, a nice unique design, is setup from a sales standpoint and enables them to essentially ‘switch it on’ and run.

The key thing to recognise is that buyers pay for performance and look for opportunity.

Therefore, the best sites are those with a strong trading history and areas for improvement.

Flippa Alternatives

I'd like to thank Ben for taking the time to share why buyers and sellers should consider sticking with Flippa.

I've considered aquiring a smaller website in the past, and frankly, I'm probably going to end up using Flippa just because of the volume of listings.

However, this wouldn't be a fair review without mentioning some other websites like Flippa.

Popular options include:

• Motion Invest – A newer player in the world of website aquisition, but one that is growing in popularity. I've heard pretty good things about Motion Invest and am even on their mailing list to get news of when new blogs hit the market.
• Empire Flippers – One of the main Flippa competitors. The main difference I spot is that Flippa has more volume but Empire Flippers has more expensive listings and isn't ideal for starter sites.
• Exchange Marketplace – This is Shopify's own marketplace where you can easily buy and sell existing ecommerce businesses at a healthy range of prices.

Ultimately, your budget and goals will play a massive role in which marketplace you use.

Additionally, there's always the option of dealing with independent website brokers, but you'll have to pay more for the luxury!

Flippa Pros & Cons

If you're still uncertain about using Flippa, consider some of the pros and cons of using one of the most popular marketplaces in the business:

Flippa Pros

The main advantages of Flippa include:

• A wide variety of websites, including different niches and price points.
• Range of listings – apps, domains, websites, ecommerce businesses!
• Easy to use.
• Some security features in place to reduce scams, such as Google Analytics traffic reports and identity verification.

Flippa Cons

Despite the advantages, some of Flippa's downsides include:

• There are still scams! You need to use your brain and do some serious research before buying on Flippa since people can still skew revenue numbers and hide problems.
• Some sellers are difficult, which could be an indication of a scam or simply an inexperienced, stubborn seller.

Final Word

Ultimately, I think this Flippa testimonial from Trust Pilot summarizes things best:

You can find reputable, profitable businesses on Flippa as a buyer.

You can also securely sell your website without having to pay too much in fees as a seller.

However, everyone has to do due diligence, especially buyers.

For every listing that's a steal, there are others that probably aren't as attractive as they make themselves out to be.

Ultimately, you are responsible for buying a quality website/app/domain, and Flippa can only do so much to prevent scams.

I hope this Flippa review has helped clarify what you should expect if you decide to buy or sell on Flippa!

If you've ever used Flippa before or another platform to buy/sell a website, let me know about your experiences in the comments!