All you need to know before start selling on Flippa

With these secrets, we hope to help you differentiate the good sellers from the scammers (which like everywhere, there are also on Flippa). I will focus on some points that may not be so obvious if you are just starting to do business on the internet and that will help you to be more critical in the next auction in which you participate:

1. Be careful when they do not present Google Analytics reports

Some marketers say they don’t because they want to get off Google’s radar, but not including Analytics means they may be putting up inflated or fake numbers. Flippa allows anyone who wants to sell their site to do Google Analytics and Adsense checks. All the seller has to do is install Analytics for the duration of the auction so potential buyers have access to at least a couple of days of verified captures. I think there is no valid excuse for not submitting these reports unless they are trying to mislead buyers.

2. Brief income history

Many product launches are successful because they have had a certain amount of outreach, pre-sale offers, etc. Even though the last 2 weeks have had phenomenal income, you don’t want to get stuck buying a product whose sales will decline in a few days. Evaluate the product that is being sold and if it has a long useful life to maintain that level of income. Don’t be won over by 2-week sales numbers only.

3. Traffic and revenue don’t close

If you have experience with web pages you should know that it is necessary to check the traffic and visits to the page in relation to income. It is common to see that some sellers reach better numbers than ours, but when we see in the auctions that they are having 10 times more income than us in the same niche and with a similar monetization strategy, you can detect that they have inflated the numbers.

4. Check where the traffic is coming from

A great way to find out if a seller is paying for traffic without asking is to check their Google Analytics capture. Look at their top keywords and then Google them to see if they really rank. If you can’t find the web on the best keyword, chances are you bought it through paid traffic. You can also check with tools such as MozBar SEO if their backlinks are real, they are bought or they come from other websites that the seller owns.

5. Find out who the seller is

Sellers that are hard to track or find on the internet always have a big red alert for me. If I cannot easily research a real person who is selling the site, I am automatically inclined to think that this is intentional and that they do not want me to know who they are (for a reason, right?). You can Google your username (many use the same name on multiple sites, forums, social media, etc.) or by researching the site you are selling. Most good sellers promote their own auctions on social media or on a blog, this will be a good starting point to assess their “background.”

With these tips I do not want to discourage you, nor do I tell you that you will always be scammed or that it is very difficult to get it right. If not, quite the opposite, the idea is that you internalize these tips so that you do not go blind on your first purchase and avoid all possible risks. With these tips in mind, now, you can go and choose the auctions that appeal to you the most on Flippa and start practicing for yourself. You can also be a “follower” for a while and spy on a sale that you thought passed all the quality rules, and see how the new owner of the website is doing, so you will know if you are really sharp in the selection.