Flippa Failure and My First Premium Theme
Well, I tried selling my dating site for the second time on Flippa last week. I was able to put it up for $9 instead of the $19 fee that Flippa requires.
Unfortunately, the site didn’t sell. It did stir up some interest between 2 buyers. The site was at $45 and I only needed one person to place a bid for $55 and it would have sold. I sent private messages to the two bidders, letting them know that the auction was going to end in a few hours.
But the auction ended without anymore bids. I was quite disappointed. Both bidders sent me pms after the fact. The first bidder asked when the auction was going to end. The 2nd bidder, the one who placed the $45 bid, was willing to buy it for $48. Then he sent me another message saying that if I was still selling the site, to message him and we could work something out. That’s against Flippa rules.
I had my hopes up. The site didn’t have nearly as many “good features” as other sites that are selling on Flippa. But I did have a nice free WordPress news style theme. It was set on automatic using a free plugin. But I guess it just wasn’t what people wanted.
So a couple days ago, I saved up enough money to buy my first premium WooThemes theme. I was hoping to be able to use the coupon code which would knock the $150 down to $105. But I wasn’t so lucky. So I bit the bullet and (stressfully) plunked down $150 for the Gazette theme. With that I was able to choose 3 more themes with developer’s licenses. Separately, they would have totaled $600!
The most expensive thing I need to purchase is WP Robot. The developer’s license is a hefty $549. The warrior discount knocks it down to $509 I believe. Still expensive. But I’m determined to get it because it’s something that many of the sellers are packaging up with their site sales.
I downloaded the “demo” version, which is a free fully functional version of WP Robot. It’s just plain awesome. It utilizes only 4 of the 15 modules that are available with the full version. But even the press releases module works way better than the free autoblogging plugin that I have on other sites.
So I revamped the site using my new gazette theme as well as added the WP Robot demo. I need to also redo my sales page. It’s boring and only states the facts. It doesn’t explain how the site will benefit the buyer.
Stay tuned…
Site Flipping Failures
Ok, that seems harsh but that’s how it appears to me.
I listed my stretch mark site and dating site on Digital Point. Both didn’t sell. I didn’t take it too badly because I didn’t lose money trying to list them there.
But I decided to go ahead and plunk down $19 to list my dating site on Flippa. I figured that it was an eye-appealing site. I’ve seen much uglier sites sell on Flippa.
Unfortunately, the site didn’t sell there either. I was disappointed not only because I was out $19 (a piss in the bucket for many people but not for me) but because nobody wanted it. I had the starting bid at $47 with a reserve of $50. Apparently it was too costly or something.
So I took another look at many of the sites that did sell. And this is what I came up with:
- The seller has a good reputation (I have none at the moment starting at the bottom)
- The themes are premium paid ones that cost at least $70 (value) before heavy customization (I was using Artisteer-generated but customized themes that I created)
- The themes are magazine or news style (mine look painfully like blog themes)
- Sellers offer premium paid plugins such as WP Robot (I can only offer free plugins until I can afford to buy said plugins)
- Sellers offer unique or PLR articles
- Some sellers offer a PLR ebook as part of their BIN bonus
Considering that I’m pretty limited when put up against sellers who offer the above, I completely chucked my blog looking theme and searched online for a free WordPress news or magazine style theme that resembled the paid versions that are being sold left and right on Flippa. I found one available from Woo Themes, the very company that I will be buying my first premium theme from when I have the money.
I spent several hours tweaking and customizing the theme and was met with lots of frustration. Just when I was about to throw in the towel, something clicked and I was able to figure out what my issues were with the theme.
After that, I chucked the autoblog articles that somehow found their way on my site. I also found flickr creative commons photos for the articles that didn’t have any. I located Youtube videos related to dating and placed them on the site.
I was also able to get a hold of a PLR dating ebook with matching sales page and download page that I am using as my BIN bonus.
I took a hard look at my “sales page” that I used for the first auction that had failed and compared it to the ones that sold on Flippa. I made necessary changes and additions to the ad. I also took the time to create Camtasia videos of the site, the backend, as well as the BIN bonus product.
Since my site didn’t sell the first time around, Flippa offered to put it up again for $9. Too bad that’s not the permanent price of listing sites there. It would be much more manageable.
But I relisted it at $1 with a reserve of $67. After some thought I put a BIN of $297. Maybe I’m being too damn greedy. I don’t know. The auction now has 1 day and 17 hours left before it ends. No bites yet. Just 10 views to the auction.
I’m hoping for a happy ending.