I was originally going to write this post about the top places to buy and sell websites on the internet. Of course, everyone knows about Flippa, but I wanted to find some viable alternatives. So, this afternoon, I spent more than three hours scouring the corners of the web, searching for legitimate places to buy and sell websites. I did find several online marketplaces similar to Flippa, but they all suffered from 1) a vastly inferior interface, 2) a lack of activity, 3) outdated listings or 4) no means of easily determining the truth and accuracy of the website listing description.
So, in the end, I didn’t come up with much. For the sort of sites I want to buy, Flippa is the clear choice as far as I can tell.
Flippa
Before Flippa, the SitePoint marketplace was a popular place on the internet to buy and sell websites and domain names. In June 2009, SitePoint spun-off their website marketplace into Flippa.com. It appears no momentum was lost with the spin-off, as Flippa is, by far, the most popular place on the internet to buy and sell websites and domains despite the relatively expensive cost of to listing a website on Flippa. As far as I can tell, Flippa is definitely the best place to purchase a website. Websites are sorted into high-end, mid-range and entry level. There is also an excellent search function that you can use to help wade through the considerable clutter. For instance, by searching websites that are more than 2 months old or have a pagerank of 1 or greater, you can vastly reduce the amount of turnkey template sites in your search results. You can also search by popular tags such as “blog” or “Clickbank”.
Digital Point Forums
Digital Point is a webmaster forum with a busy marketplace for domains and websites. Listings here are free, so there is a tendency towards low-end sites or start-up sites. If you’re in the market for a brand new start-up site, this may be a good place to look. If you’re a seller that builds turnkey websites for sale, this may be a great choice since you can avoid Flippa’s steep listing fees.
Ebay
Ebay is another popular place to buy and sell websites. Most of these listings tend to be junky startup turnkey websites. There may be some diamonds in the rough, but there are many obvious scams and dishonest listings to wade through.
The V7 Network
V7N is similar to the Digital Point Forums, but not as big. They have a marketplace forum for buying and selling websites. I don’t see any reason to choose V7N over digital point.
So how about it? Are there any good alternatives to Flippa as a place to buy a website?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
By far, I believe Digital Point is the WORST place — far worse than eBay to try and sell a website.
If you’re a site flipper, you’re better off “investing” $19 to list your website on Flippa, then to list it for free on Digital Point and receive offers for $5, $20 — or if you’re lucky $45 (even for websites that have steady income).
I’ve rarely seen any deals higher than $300 take place there. Instead, you’re typically met with a barrage of lowballers looking for a “steal.” Sure, you’ll encounter that on Flippa via private message, but it won’t be as prominent as it as at Digital Point.
Niche Websites´s last blog ..Don’t Forget YOU In the Grand Scheme of Things
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Eric Reply:
December 8th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hmm, interesting comment. I don’t really have much experience with the digital point forums, so that’s something I will definitely be keeping in mind.
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Eric – Interesting read. I’ve got a bunch of sites that I’ll probably look into selling at some point and this post is a great reference.
Also wanted to compliment you on your mods to the Thesis Sharp skin. I really like the new background image you’ve created. Great job and thanks for using my skin.
Chris @ ThesisTheme.net´s last blog ..Thesis Theme Showcase – LegalPPC
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Eric Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hi Chris, thanks for stopping by! Yeah, I really like the Thesis Sharp skin, but I also wanted to make it a little more ‘my own’. I just applied a blue filter to your background image in photoshop.
I think my next project is to replace the header title text, with either a logo of some kind, or maybe just a specialty font to jazz it up a bit more.
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Hey everyone, interesting post. I’m a website seller as well and have used both Flippa and Digitalpoint. I’d say digitalpoint is a great place to go if you’re selling smaller sites. It seems like people there are pretty stingy with their money and there’s a lot of cheap sites. Every once in a while you’ll find a diamond in the rough.
I actually came across a new website marketplace that just looks amazing! It’s called Blarket.com. It apparently has just launched so it’s pretty bare right now, it’ll be interesting to see where it goes!
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Eric Reply:
December 12th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Hi Jake, thanks for your comment.
Are you associated with Blarket? Of course, the big challenge for Blarket is the old chicken and egg problem. Why would someone list a site there if there’s no one to see it? And, why would someone visit your site if there are no listings? I think it’s going to be tough to get listings.
Also, how are they going to differentiate themselves from Flippa?
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IMHO there are no alternatives to Flippa. Sites like DP and eBay just don’t compare in reach. Also Flippa is exclusive to the niche of site sales, eBay and DP just dabble in it.
I’ve sold sites in all three, Flippa as of right now is the best. In any and every way for buying and selling sites. It isn’t perfect by any means, but it beats the others around.
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Keep in mind this is simply a beta and I didn’t want the final version out there for competitors to snag some unique features I’m launching in the next few days for the official launch.
Standard listings are free, I allow adult listings, only viewable by logged in users and after they click on a link. I manually review all listings, am US-based, on a non-auction platform. I am doing this alone, but have help when the time arises. I’d love your input on the functionality. Again, just keep in mind this is not the final version.
To the blog owner, I’d love to discuss a review of the final site when it launches.
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