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Former Flippa Super Seller Tells All

September 16, 2015 by Raymond Hackney

Shane Bellone who is a member on Namepros was also a super seller on Flippa, Shane posted that his super status was revoked. He believes it was done because he pointed out other listings that he felt were less than on the up and up.

Shane posted his take on what it is really like to sell on Flippa. It certainly is an interesting read. To be fair Kevin Fink does reply in the thread which is real eye opener for some. If you sell on Flippa it is worth a read, and worth reading Kevin’s reply.

From the post:

Flippa has been the subject of much controversy over the last 6 months. Speculative talk has ranged from shill bidding to bloated sales reports. Most of the accusations are pure garbage but the company is sketchy as hell.

While you might be thinking that I’m bitter because I haven’t any luck there, you should know that I moved $75,000 of domains in 6 months. At one point, I was the first to go to bat for them all because I try to show some loyalty when someone is taking care of me.

However, I recently had my Super Seller status revoked “due to comments made towards other users.” In fact, this is due to my response to the auction where an individual claimed to have an offer on a 3 day old domain of 10,000 bitcoins — that’s $2,500,000. Apparently, calling out a scammer is grounds for retaliation from the business.

I suppose this is because Flippa values net revenue more than customer satisfaction.

Now that you know my motivation I will move on and share a little bit of insider information.

If you’re paying full price for listing fees and upgrades you have been scammed.

They have gone on the defensive in the past by saying that they “subsidize” upgrades for their top sellers. Subsidize is a cute word for giveaway.

I received somewhere between $3,000 to $5,000 in “subsidies” — as a private seller — over 6 months. At one point, I received $2,000 in credits at one time.

Now I won’t lie, sometimes I had to pay for listings. When I did, I still got hooked up. For every upgrade or listing I purchased I received 2 free.

So when I paid, which was rare, I paid 1/3 of what you’ve been paying. I’m sure you now see why some people make a killing off their platform while others have lost hundreds of dollars per listing.

Read the entire thread on Namepros

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Filed Under: Flippa

About Raymond Hackney

Raymond Hackney has been involved with domain names since 1997. One of the most prolific writers in the domain industry and founder of TLDinvestors.com and 3Character.com

Comments

  1. K says

    September 16, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    Somewhere Joseph Peterson has an erection.

  2. Joseph Peterson says

    September 16, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    Bound to happen sooner or later.

    When outsiders criticize Flippa, the insiders are quick to insinuate that they’re merely jealous of insider success.

    Now when insiders criticize Flippa, it’s implied that they’re just embittered for losing insider privileges.

  3. Shane Cultra says

    September 16, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    I really respect and trust Kevin Fink. I kind of trust and respect Flippa and their corporation. But I will say this. If you can’t talk things out with Kevin and feel satisfied that he will be open and honest and make things right then you haven’t really tried. I also know that Raymond and I have no problem taking people’s money to help them promote Flippa auctions. Telling everyone that we think Flippa is an OK place to auction names.

    • Anonymous says

      September 16, 2015 at 4:12 pm

      Awww. Isn’t that sweet of you… taking peoples money and promoting something you “believe in.”

    • Joseph Peterson says

      September 16, 2015 at 4:14 pm

      @Shane Cultra,

      Kevin is a nice guy. But his niceness shouldn’t shield Flippa from criticism.

      Most likely, Kevin would have fixed things with Shane Bellone and prevented the fallout. But would that be a good thing? For Shane, yes. For Flippa, yes. For other people, no.

      Frankly, I’m glad to see whistle blowers speak out rather than “make things right” with Flippa management so that they can continue getting hookups at other customers’ expense. Whether you think something illegitimate was happening at Flippa or not, Shane Bellone says so. And if Kevin had “made things right”, Shane’s remarks would have been swept under the rug. That’s indisputable.

      Trustworthy and open as Kevin seems to be, he doesn’t always make things right. How long has Kevin been telling us that transparent bidder identities are something Flippa is considering? At least a year. That positive change would cut down on shill bidding tremendously and demonstrate some commitment to market place integrity on Flippa’s part. Many of us have “really tried” to get that point across. Kevin may mean well, yet it’s all lip service from Flippa.

      Absolutely, “Flippa is an OK place to auction names”. But you wouldn’t deny – would you Shane – that Flippa has a problem with shill bidders? Or that Flippa promotes special sellers above regular sellers? Both those effects detract from visibility for regular above-board listings. And when visibility is diminished, paying for upgrades is more enticing. To a large extent, that is Flippa’s basic business model.

      Ah, Shane, I can hear you saying that shilling and privilege exist at NameJet and GoDaddy and everywhere else too. That’s the way the world works; get your hookups while they’re hot!

      Yes, fine. But Flippa is unique in asking naïve domainers to pay upwards of $300 in upgrades for a domain listing. That means Flippa warrants a higher degree of scrutiny. Especially if those naïve domainers are being seduced into paying those upgrade fees BECAUSE of the success of “super sellers” like Shane Bellone who didn’t have to pay such fees and who enjoyed a special level of extra promotion from Flippa.

      Those of us who are critical of Flippa focus on those issues. Kevin Fink is a nice guy. Great! Let every corporation in the world hire 1 nice guy as a spokesman! Let that 1 guy insulate their business practices from all complaints!

      Want to use Flippa? Go for it! If it’s ineffective for sellers, then that’s good news for buyers who can take advantage of seller cluelessness and desperation to find a good deal.

      • Shane Cultra says

        September 16, 2015 at 6:51 pm

        Joseph,

        If you would kindly send me the Cliffnotes of your comments in the future so I can get to the response quicker.

        And..I am not going to use punctuation mess up some CApitalization and am going to misspell words to drive your OCD crazy
        we’ve had this conversation before we all know how you feel. there was a reason for the Joe Peterson erection comment there is no way I am going to convince you otherwise and I will not even trY

        but I will say this Kevin and I have had hours and hours of conversations of ways to make things better at Flippa We’ve discussed. Problems and ways to fix them. He has always been open and honest with me things he thinks they can fix ,and things he thinks he is having trouble getting management to agree that it needs fixing. He lives and breathes these problems. the ONLY reason I am putting my neck out here for you to make fun, criticize, have you pick through my words is that I have had those conversations and I know the efforts and thoughts that have taken place over the last year and a half
        you have no idea of Kevins efforts you are guessing, assuming, and playing off what you think you see. there is no doubt in my mind there is shill biddinGAnd I still make my point that I stated. There is shill bidding, friends helping friends, and personal information that gives advantages to the privileged going on every day.

        What I love about you Joseph is you and I complete each other. I shrug off too much BS and let things slide because they don’t effect me they effect others but not me. You on the other hand have trouble brushing off anything and most things take a bite out of you (that’s why I’ve taken out the periods and capitals)))) you do good things for others and we need more people like you

        but in this case I refuse to let you sweep Kevin Fink under the bus I put my reputation my neck and my ass out there in these comments and on this blog because he has earned it It would have been easier to say nothing because I knew you would be a commin. regardless of what you think about Flippa and the people that own it, Kevin has done a good job. I’m not saying this because “he is a nice guy” I’m saying it because we’ve had real conversations about real change and I know that for a fact

        • Joseph Peterson says

          September 16, 2015 at 9:16 pm

          You’re right, Shane. We complement one another. I go out of my way to criticize Goliaths – companies and investors within the domain industry who are 100 or 10,000 times bigger and more powerful than me. You, on the other hand, go out of your way to attack anyone who questions any Goliath who pays or might pay you!

          Shane, you’ve entirely missed the point. Kevin Fink is not Flippa. I’m not attacking Kevin Fink, but you’re strapping him onto Flippa as if he were a human shield!

          Here’s what’s going on. You want sponsors and hookups. So you defend big companies and attack those of us who rock the boat. Weirdly, you’ve convinced yourself that you’re defending your friends – the individuals at the companies you drink beer with. But they’re just employees at companies, and when their company is criticized they don’t need Shane Cultra to rescue them like damsels in distress.

          Kevin Fink knows I like him personally. And I have enough respect for him to believe he doesn’t need Shane Cultra as a bodyguard.

          I repeat, merely because a company employs a nice guy is no reason for us not to examine or criticize what the company does.

          Sorry to overtax your limited attention span, Shane. Maybe you can latch onto this simple synopsis:

          Kevin isn’t Flippa.

          • Jonathan says

            September 16, 2015 at 11:18 pm

            you are right Joseph, it is obvious that some only care about their hookups and their conference drinking buddies.

            F- THAT

          • Krishna says

            September 17, 2015 at 2:19 am

            Joseph,

            We missed Rick. At least we got you for honestly saying the truth.

            This industry has so many crooks who do anything for money.

            It is upto new domain investors to understand different domain bloggers and their motives.

  4. Tom says

    September 16, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    Flippa has fallen from grace sometime in the past 60 days.

    These guys were getting editor picks tagged to their domains, tons of promotion, and it was this whirlwind effect.

    Now, all these users are at flippa, who keep relisting their domains waiting for those end user type prices these guys were getting with their editor tagged subpar domains.

    All I ever get is this auction failed to sell, you can submit an offer, then the seller sets a crazy $1M bin, and the domain goes unsold, then the same blurb about this amazing premium domain blah blah

    Sorry Flippa there is no secret sauce

  5. Bill Sweetman says

    September 16, 2015 at 10:36 pm

    Leave it to some domainers to see a corporate conspiracy behind every marketplace, a boogeyman around every corner. I’ve been using Flippa on both the buy and sell side for 3+ years and have been impressed by the positive evolution of the platform, especially since Kevin Fink came on board to bring some much needed domain sales expertise to the place. Is the platform perfect? Hell no. Can it be improved? Of course it can. But Flippa has evolved into a solid domain sales platform at a pace way faster than its competitors. Under Kevin’s guidance and industry outreach, Flippa has added way more features and improvements for domain sellers and buyers in the last 12 months than Sedo or Afternic have done in 5 years. Personally, I’ve found the Flippa team to be highly ethical, very responsive to bugs and concerns, and committed to doing the right thing by their customers. And all my interactions with Kevin have been constructive and professional even when I might have been carping about some small thing that was driving me crazy. If Flippa is not working for you, maybe it’s the poor quality of your domain names or lack of marketing that’s the problem, not some diabolical conspiracy going on at Flippa HQ. Sheesh!

    • K says

      September 16, 2015 at 11:12 pm

      You sound like a shill Flippa has only gotten worse. Read the whole thread on Namepros,Bellone proved it.

    • Joseph Peterson says

      September 16, 2015 at 11:54 pm

      Bill,

      I’m glad you’ve had a good experience with Flippa. Still, it isn’t fair to label those of us who criticize Flippa as “conspiracy theorists”.

      Flippa has some real problems; and many of Flippa’s changes have arguably made the market place less viable for sellers. You’re free to disagree, but it’s a question worth debating politely.

      There’s no conspiracy. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues. Personally, I’m happy to use Flippa for whatever works – buying or selling. It would be irrational not to, right? With more than 1 domain sale in DNJournal this week, my issue isn’t poor domain quality. If I don’t sell at Flippa, it’s because I don’t think it’s effective – plain and simple.

  6. Names Shop says

    September 17, 2015 at 12:20 am

    I agree with all that Flippa is loosing its importance in last six months

    • Ian says

      September 18, 2015 at 3:07 pm

      @NameShop

      I think Kevin Fink and the Flippa team is doing the best they can do..

  7. Sukhjin says

    September 19, 2015 at 2:11 am

    Agee with JOSEPH And disagree with SHANE!

    @shane , PLZ NOTE CAPSLOCK AND EXCLAMATIONS ,!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Ok now chill out and speak truth.

  8. Kevin Fink says

    September 19, 2015 at 8:03 am

    I’ve written a lot.
    https://www.namepros.com/threads/so-you-thought-flippa-was-shady.879930/page-7#post-5013153

    And have put in place a more constructive space to have dialogue about all of this:
    https://www.namepros.com/threads/flippa-domains-and-the-quest-for-a-near-perfect-marketplace.880429/

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