Just about anyone who has looked at buying an online business will be familiar with Flippa. With over 3 million users and a network that exceeds 600,000 buyers, Flippa powers more than 12 thousand deals annually. Founded in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, the marketplace has become a juggernaut in the digital M&A space.
Flippa is unique in that it offers something for everyone – from established, profitable businesses, to startups, domains, and other assets. It has also innovated with some sophisticated technologies, including an AI-driven engine for deal recommendations, a comparative market insights tool, and robust integrations that allow for automated listing updates and deal transparency. With price points ranging from $5,000 to $50 million, Flippa caters to a broad user base that includes “entrepreneurs, side hustlers, hackers and new-age small business owners.”
A Wide Array of Deals
Flippa’s primary areas of focus include websites, apps, domains, ecommerce, content, marketplaces, SaaS, services, Adsense, and Amazon. With regard to deal distribution, the “Websites and Online Businesses” and “Domain” categories are the most prevalent asset types on the site, each with over 5,000 listings. Approximately half of the websites/online business listings are revenue-producing with roughly 25% generating more than $10,000 in profit annually, and about 5% producing more than $120,000 in profit. Beyond websites/online businesses and domains, Flippa lists an additional ~175 Amazon stores, ~390 apps, and ~75 other online opportunities. About 2,500 deals are for “Auction”, following a bid/buy it now structure, similar to eBay. The remainder are “Classified.”
Flippa also lists on its site what the company refers to as “off-market” deals. The approach is similar to that taken by Zillow, Redfin and others in real estate, where site visitors can view and get estimated values for properties even when they are not for sale. Flippa includes off-market deal information on 74,800+ online businesses. This information is useful for comparative purposes and also provides a means for buyers to proactively approach unlisted businesses and domain owners. Flippa offers a service for buyers to engage an expert Broker Agent who will support buyers every step of the way, from initial outreach, to ongoing discussions and purchase negotiations.
Granular Searchability
While the site layout is simple and intuitive, it is also comprehensive. Flippa deals are granularly categorized, allowing sophisticated buyers the ability to quickly identify criteria matches. If Flippa’s fifteen industry categories aren’t sufficient, buyers can delve deeper into over 100 subcategories. Beyond industry, asset type, status, and financials, buyers can search by authority score, pageviews, and monthly users, among other specific criteria.
Once signed up with Flippa, a buyer can review high-level information, including a business summary, the monetization method, and benchmarking insights. Users can even toggle through eleven currency options when viewing financials. Some listings offer additional detail once a buyer signs an NDA, including direct data connectivity, a deal room for discussions, call scheduling, due-diligence options, legal services, financing, and integrated payment options.
Many Options for Sellers
Whether seeking to sell for-sale-by-owner or with help from a broker, Flippa is a great resource for business owners to gain visibility and drive buyer traffic to their deal. Sellers have flexibility to choose the type and level of support they need. The four pricing tiers, which reflect deal size, advisory and marketing support, and listing duration, include two components: (1) a one-time upfront fee ranging from $49 to $599, and (2) a success fee ranging from 4% to 10%.
The higher priced tiers include such services as a dedicated Flippa agent, free escrow, buyer retargeting, homepage promotion, a daily newsletter feature, third party syndication, an optimization report, and legal templates. With offices in Australia, Texas, and Amsterdam, and a team spread across the globe, Flippa can offer advisory support to business owners regardless of location. Their team can assist through each step, from business valuation, marketing, and deal flow management, to negotiation, document development, and closing.
Tech Innovation
This is a visual representation of how similar online businesses are to each other based on how prospective buyers interact with them.
Flippa incorporates a number of sophisticated technologies to support matching and information sharing. Their Recommender Engine is an AI-driven system to match listings with prospective buyers. The system assesses over 100 factors to determine a fit and relationship. When paired with notifications and automated emails, it promotes highly efficient connections.
Flippa’s Market Insights is a comparative market tool available for every listing with an ask or list price over $5,000. The tool allows users to view performance and market data across similar companies. Data includes live and recently-sold listings, as well as benchmark indicators.
To promote trust and transparency, Flippa’s Integrated Data allows for integration between Flippa and online business service providers, including Amazon, Walmart, Magento, Shopify, Squarespace, Quickbooks, Xero, Wix, among others. The integrations enable up-to-date information to be automatically added to listings each month. Every listing with connected integration receives a Verified Listing badge viewable with the asset details.
Building Trust and Community
Flippa has taken a number of proactive steps to build trust and community among its users. The company has put in place a verifications team that reviews revenue and primary expenses for thousands of listings each month, marking those that pass with the “Vetted by Flippa” icon. They also provide a buyer funds verification option, so sellers can quickly identify serious buyers, and buyers can speed up negotiations by pre-verifying their funds.
Community-building resources include Flippa’s blog, podcast, discussion forum, and newsletters. Their blog provides a wide range of success stories, how-to guides, tips, stats, and informative articles. Their podcast, The Exit Podcast, has over 100 thirty-minute interviews with entrepreneurs who have bought and sold businesses, offering useful lessons while casting light on the world of digital M&A.
The Flippa Discord channel and forum provides access to discussions, insights and the latest news on alternative asset investing. And lastly The Deal Newsletters highlight the best deals on the site in either daily, weekly, or monthly email installments.
Bottom Line
Flippa truly is “the investment bank for the 99%”, with deals that will appeal to first time digital entrepreneurs as well as experienced business buyers. Flippa offers buyers and investors a wide array of verified opportunities, and sellers a range of support options, resources, and a broad buyer network. The firm has a number of unique tools geared toward efficiency and transparency. If you are a website buyer, investor, or seller, you should definitely check out Flippa.
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links to Hatchit’s broker-partner sites. If you choose to buy or sell a business through a brokerage site we link you to, Hatchit may receive a referral fee at no additional cost to you. Thank you.
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