Is it Safe to Buy Websites on Flippa?
Is it safe to buy a website or domain off of flippa.com?
This question has most likely been asked numerous times. Is it really safe to buy a web property off of flippa.com? And if so, how safe is it really?
I am writing this post off of personal experience. There are thousands of websites and domains for sale on flippa, some great, and some not so good. Flippa offers some security features for the peace of mind of it’s buyers, such as owner verification by means of file upload or DNS record. They also offer a variety of different analytics data so a buyer may determine the popularity and traffic stats of a particular web property. One great feature that flippa offers is verified google analytics and google adsense data, so the buyer knows what they may be receiving.
All of this being said, flippa.com highly lacks when it comes to anything to do with the payment and transfer of the web property. This can be a scammers paradise especially if the buyer is a new user and does not know much about the transfer process. Once the auction is over, it is pretty much out of flippas hands. Most sellers want you to pay through paypal, which is great, but paypal DOES NOT protect buyers on “intangible items”. So, if the buyer sends the seller payment, and the seller neglects to transfer the domain and files, it would be a very difficult situation if not impossible to get your money back from paypal.
Some sellers on flippa will want you to send payment via wire transfer, that is perhaps the biggest mistake a buyer can make. Do not EVER send your payment through western union or money gram or any other money wire service. Once the seller picks up the money, there is no way to get your money back, and if the seller fails to transfer the web property, you are not only out of the money you spent, but you will never get the item you purchased.
The only safe bet to assure you wont be scammed, is to go through escrow.com. That can be a task in itself to maneuver around the site and understand your way around the escrow process, not to mention the fees you will have to pay for using escrow service. In my opinion, i think flippa should have their own handle on the payment and transfer process and keep every aspect of the sale on the website. This would eliminate 95% of the scams that happen on flippa and keep users coming back.
If you choose to do business on flippa.com, do your research, stay informed and never send money to a seller where you may never receive your purchase.