Since its launch in 2009 by Mark Harbottle and Matt Mickiewicz, Flippa has traded in more than 140 million USD by 2015, and has consistently acted as a leader of the marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Already 300,000 websites for sale have been sold from the Flippa open marketplace.
They specialize in e-commerce business website transactions, which according to Investors Club, account for over 50% of their sales transactions.
In this guide, we will introduce Flippa and the marketplaces that are Flippa alternatives in India.
Why Should We Use Flippa?
Flippa is a great platform to buy and sell online businesses, domains, E-commerce businesses and SaaS services. Their revenue and transaction volume prove their excellence in the online business transaction market.
However the rapid increase in growth and the current magnitude and massiveness of the Flippa empire has become a constraint for some market sellers and buyers to look for an alternative method to carry out their online business transactions.
Are There Some Reasons I May Prefer Different Alternatives to Flippa?
1. High Volume of Website Listings – Possibility of a Not Very Operational Website
There are so many listings on Flippa. The problem is Flippa verifies websites appraised or valuated over USD 50,000, but under that they below that is unverified. This has led to in past instances certain buyers online claiming the purchase of non-operational websites or websites that do not meet the buyer’s expectations and thus have created a certain amount of noise on internet communities such as Reddit. Google Analytics if linked to certain websites verify this, but again this is not manually verified and thus may lead to difficulty on the buyers’ end.
Remember the legal issues of acquiring a website is in the end in full responsibility of the buyer of the website. So we must always remember to tread with caution.
2. High Barrier to Entry – Monthly Costs for Both Buyers and Sellers of Online Businesses
The average fees of Flippa is relatively costly compared to its competitors. First, Flippa charges a listing fee from at least USD 49 to USD 599 for each listing a seller uploads onto their website.
Many competitors or Flippa alternative platforms provide free or lower charge for this service.
Does this mean the buyers are then given free viewings of the listings? To a certain extent, yes. The most basic information is provided such as business location, site age and monthly profit. The detailed graph information or user volume statistics can only be seen after a paid membership.
This costs about USD 100 per month, while other platforms offer detailed information for free of charge.
There are also extra fees that occur in regards to specific services on Flippa. First, for those who wish to sell on Flippa may choose a service package that does not include Non Disclosure Agreements. The problem is, this may lead to potential competitors to manipulate or use the information posing as potential buyers. So an additional fee is in the end paid to the Flippa platform for an additional USD 199. If they do not pay this, the seller is exposed to the risk of the potential buyer (as he is with high probability in the similar business as the online business seller) making public the information of the online business being sold.
Additional Escrow fees are another problem that Flippa imposes. The Escrow fees depends on the selling price of the online business up for sale, however this is an additional fee that the seller has to burden. Other online marketplace platform competitors provide free of charge.
There is also an additional fee of uploading legal documents, which also is free of charge for other Flippa alternative platforms besides Flippa.
3. Emphasis on the Global Market and Not Regional Specific
Over 100,000 online acquisitions are annually carried out according to Flippa’s homepage. The range of nations vary from the U.S.A., to Singapore, to Indonesia and even Argentina. It is a very broad and global network of digital online business listings for sale. This however also means that most websites are focused on certain regions.
Indian websites do tend to come up now and then, and around 50 business websites have been compiled for sale recently for listings. However excluding a few sites, the majority of the asking price is over the USD 50,000 mark, and this high price can be considered as a difficult barrier of entry.
Other platforms provide a more economic and regional solution than Flippa’s listings.
4. Auction Method of Valuation Pricing
Flippa uses a two price system. The first is the auction method, where the potential buyers of online businesses for sale bid for a specific price of their preference. This is something that is not accustomed to other platforms where they submit an asking price to the seller.
The second system is an initial price set up by the seller in the first place, but this tends to be overvalued and not a preferred point of investment to the buyer.
5. Do It Yourself System of Website Assistance
For websites over a certain valuation range(USD 250,000), Flippa provides migration services in the form of brokerage services. However for undervalued websites up for sales on Flippa, the buyer has to contact the website seller, prepare the acquisition process and communicate the business management steps after buying the website. For certain online businesses above their valuation range, brokers step in to aid buyers and sellers. However this is not so for website below a certain price range.
This doesn’t mean that this is bad but there are other platforms that provide migration services with an equal or lower price of USD 250,000.
Potential Flippa Alternatives Market in India
1. Gruuz
Gruuz is a promising newcomer in the online business for sales market. Specializing in SaaS service websites, E-commerce websites and content websites such as blogs, Gruuz’s comparative advantages are as thus.
Regional Oriented Platform Infrastructure
Gruuz’s infrastructure is regionally based. Although encompassing a variety of websites from around the world, it is divided into each respective national market, focusing on providing online business sellers and buyers with listings that is relative to their domestic market or international markets related to their national market. In the case of India, there are various listings of blogs, e-commerce businesses specified for our fellow countrymen in New Delhi, or an aspiring IIT graduate starting his own start up in Mumbai.
Gruuz also has on-hand Indian IT professionals customizing the Gruuz platform to meet the Indian people’s needs. Domestic after service and assistance is available on hand to aid those interested in buying and selling online businesses in India.
Enabling to See Specific Information of Websites for Sale
Gruuz provides intrinsic graph and statistic based evaluations of business websites for sale. Potential new buyers can see in detail the necessary information of traffic volume, profitability, connection with Google Analytics on Gruuz’s website instantly and without singing up.
Gruuz prides itself on providing as much information to the buyer and thus aid the seller to reach best outcome, and to do this is to reduce the asymmetry of information as much as possible.
The viewing of information is not unlimited, however this specific viewing of site listings is renewed each day. If potential buyers wish to see this on an unlimited basis a very efficient and economic service package awaits.
Reasonable Pricing Met with India’s Dedian Start-up Costs
The average costs of starting an e-commerce business in India varies from a minimum of 85,000 INR to 1 lakh INR (According to Nimbuspost.com). Most of the online business website transaction platforms exceed this amount, reaching around 8 lakh INR (or USD 10,000). Gruuz provides adequate, reasonable pricing dedicated to the average Indian entrepreneur, with online businesses ranging from 45,000 INR to 40 lakh INR.
The websites are not just pies in the sky, they are feasible investments, awaiting your decisive judgement.
Verified Online Businesses
Unlike other platforms, Gruuz prides itself on the verifiable credibility of the listings posted for sale. The operational efficiency is examined, the traffic volume is verified through tools such as Google Analytics, the sales volume and net profit of the online business is checked through documentation provided by the online business seller. Regardless of how low or high the business valuation is evaluated, Gruuz verifies the authenticity of the website to provide the best listings to the buyers of new online businesses. It’s the value of credible quality amidst continuous quantity that Gruuz delivers to both buyers and sellers of the online business trade.
Thus there are various platforms to choose to buy or sell online websites, but for those who are interested in the Indian online business marketplace, Gruuz provides tailored and reasonably priced services to the specific regional market.
2. Motion Invest
Motion Invest is an online buying and selling platform for content websites for sale. This website is visited by potential buyers specifically interested in content websites. They also recently taken a new form of content channels under their wing; Youtube channels. They are very well focused in this niche market and is regarded as a platform that emphasizes quality over quantity. The screening process of their listings doesn’t allow all types of content websites to be uploaded to their websites. Many content websites such as blogs get rejected, as well as Youtube channels up for bids.
The prices are quite affordable on Motion Invest ranging from USD 800 to USD 50,000. However the median price can be seen to be below USD 20,000 so this is much more affordable for entry level beginners who wish to start their blogs or Youtube channels.
A success fee of 20% is required for websites sold for USD 20,000 and the success fee is decreased each time the price of the online business website increases. Also, before and after service of the migration of the content website is provided by the Motion Invest team.
3. Acquire.com
Acquire.com is an online business for sale marketplace specializing in start-up SaaS business for sale. They also deal with domains, e-commerce businesses and etc. It has a large quantity of listings with a client base of over 500,000 entrepreneurs listed and using their services. They also provide, like Motion Invest, a detailed migration process, helping sellers build acquisition documents to aid buyer’s purchasing decisions while guiding potential buyers of the overall process of the acquisition to finalize the buying of the online business smoothly.
Using PG platforms such as Paypal and Quickbooks they verify the listed business’s revenue while at the same time use Google Analytics to verify traffic volume of users.
They also provide a platform for buyers to directly communicate with the sellers through their messenger service online.
The flat success fee of 4% is one interesting trait of Acquire.com. No additional costs are incurred. They however have a membership plan for buyers, disclosing additional information of the website for purchase depending on the premium plan. For example, the direct communication service to the seller can only be reached through a premium package. This ranges from USD 390 to USD 780 a year.
4. Empire Flippers
Empire Flippers is a in between platform between open listings and brokerage services. Their start in 2010 as Adsense Flippers gained momentum, changing their brand to Empire Flippers in 2012. Their main category of online businesses range from Amazon FBMs to cybersecurity websites. The average minimum selling price is in USD 500,000 or 4 crore INR.
There is no additional fees with only a success fee of 15% or less depending on the valuation prices of the website. The revenue is verified by Google Analytics, Amazon’s sale revenue and the user traffic is also verified through various channels. Currently their yearly sales volume has reached over 500 million USD as of November 2024.
5. FE International
FE International is a more of brokerage site for online businesses. The average evaluation of each online business reach to the millions of tens of millions of US dollars. It is considered a high end luxurious platform, and the listings are very confidential.
To request the price of the listings, prospective buyers must contact the FE International team beforehand.
The total acquisition process is very thoroughly handled by the FE International team for both the buyer and seller’s needs.
It is not publicly known, but an estimated success fee of 15% or less is levied on a successful transaction.
Conclusion
Flippa is a good platform for selling and buying online businesses. However, buyers and sellers both must expect additional costs when listing, when browsing for more information and purchasing the website (additional legal costs may be incurred)
Gruuz provides reasonable, verified listings customized for the Indian online business market. The browsing fee is free of charge (up to a certain limit) and the buying process is assisted by the capable regional workforce in India. The reasonable pricing allows for the average entrepreneur to acquire new online business at a reasonable expense.
FAQs
Q. What is the Flippa Platform?
Flippa is an online business market platform that allow buyers and sellers to buy and sell websites online. The open marketplace system is a two tier price system consisting of an auction format and a seller focused pricing system. The type of websites that are sold varies from e-commerce business websites to content websites. Verification is mainly conducted to websites valuated at over USD 50,000.
Q. What’s the Best Flippa Alternatives in India?
The best Flippa alternative in India is Gruuz. Other website platforms such as Empire Flippers and Flippa, Acquire.com all provide a large volume of listings, but those with a specific India focused infrastructure is Gruuz. Even to U.S. standards the barrier to acquiring an online business is high, and this is without migration assistance. However through Gruuz’s platform, potential buyers who wish to purchase Indian online business websites can do so at a reasonable cost and ease.
Q. Are All Online Businesses on Flippa Not Credible?
No, they are credible. It is a very trusted platform that has been operating for more than 15 years. However, due to the additional fees that are imposed such as NDA fees, legal documentation fees, those buyers who do not pay this always run the risk of losing the operational efficiency of the online business after acquisition. The due diligence process must be undertaken by the potential buyer before the final acquisition.
Gruuz requests legal documentation to prove revenue and net profit by the buyer, decreasing the information asymmetry in between. Additional fees of NDA singing or uploading legal documentation is not incurred. Also specific analysis of the website is offered to the buyer at a free of charge cost (up to certain limits per day), whereas an additional membership fee is needed for Flippa’s buyers to view additional information.
