One of the ways I earn money working from home is by selling virtual real estate, better known as Site Flipping. Selling web property has been a very rewarding experience both financially and in terms of enjoying the actual work.
If you’re at all familiar with this market you probably know that the SitePoint Marketplace is the number one location when it comes to buying and selling websites, however there is change afoot and many sellers are flipping out over it.
Flippa.com
SitePoint have announced that their marketplace has finally been moved to the new flippa.com domain as of today. Like many, you’ve probably just seen a picture of a dolphin in your mind’s eye, it’s hard not to. All jokes aside, many people simply hate the new name not to mention the new interface and increased fees.
So why did SitePoint move their marketplace? Well for the full story you can visit the flippa.com blog. For the ‘in a nutshell’ version, the SitePoint Marketplace has outgrown its home at the marketplace.sitepoint.com domain and warrants its own identity and dedicated service to its buyers and sellers.
SitePoint have received a tremendous amount of negative feedback during the beta phase of the flippa.com launch, mostly around the new fee structure but also about the name and the design. There was positive feedback given also although, as the SitePoint representatives pointed out, the positive feedback was delivered privately.
Out On A Limb
Going out on a limb and showing support for a decision that a large number of people are up in arms about is not easy to do. I have some very positive views on what SitePoint have done and those views come from a very business focused mindset, an appreciation if you like, for what it means to run a business profitably and taking the hard decisions to change even in the face of overwhelming negative feedback. Of course it’s very important to listen to your customers’ feedback and be not only willing to change but also have the business structure and know-how to be able to change as the business needs arise.
Those that are flipping out over the changes seem to be most concerned about the new fee structure having a greater negative impact on the profit on sites that sell for between $50 and $200. The listing fee is almost doubling from $10 to $19 and the newly added ‘success fee’ is set at 5% of your final selling price capped at $499.
Flippa.com have defended the increases in all manner of ways, referring to improved security procedures, better service in resolving transactions that go awry and generally offering a better place to buy and sell; the response has been mostly one of distrust that flippa.com won’t deliver improvements to the tune of the sizable fee increases.
If you’ve used the previous marketplace before you would be very aware that it was far from perfect although not everyone sees it that way, many believe it was working perfectly just as it was. Many also believe that flippa.com is doomed and they could very well be right, only time will tell. I for one won’t be walking away from the new look SitePoint.
