flip.uk - .UK Domain Auctions and Marketplace

[WalkinDude]

Just regged Disinformation.uk. Could be big this domain in the future.

 

[lazarus]

The mind boggles how low someone can go. Very childish.

Anyone offering information as to who it is will be kept anonymous. I am sure myself and the real @Edwin would love to know.

I'm positive it's not Denys. But whoever it is they obviously want to cause a stir.

On a plus note another 5 start review!

 

[philiporchard]

Yep, I doubt it's Denys.

Would seem quite out of character from all my epxerience of dealing with him.

 

[WalkinDude]

It's a provocation that should be ignored regardless of who it is.

 

[JMI]

I do genuinely wish flip best of luck, but I'm struggling to see any real usp or benefit over DL, and how that would change in 5 weeks or 5 years. Most of the people supporting flip seem to have a personal issue with DL. I hate Google's monopoly but I'm not dumping Adsense for the sake of it.

 

[JMI]

Off the top of my head three USP’S are

Auction starting price under £50
No fee if domain doesn’t sell
No commission on sale price

I'm not sure I'd really class those as benefits.

You can't say just because one service if free it's better than a service that charges, that's like comparing Freeview with Sky.
Auctions under £50 just promote tat - we can see that already.
The same with the commission - if I want to auction something I wanted best price for I'd stick it on eBay and pay the fees - that's the price of fetching the best price.

Also I'm not sure about auctioning premium domains through a service where there is no incentive to make any money by the owners. What's the point of running a business which costs time, money and resources to make no money?! If there's no incentive to make any money and it's being done on a purely altruistic basis for the sake of proving a point... then what incentive is there to spend time enforcing shill bids, getting more visibility, seo, transaction completions etc.

 

[webber]

What's the point of running a business which costs time, money and resources to make no money?! If there's no incentive to make any money and it's being done on a purely altruistic basis for the sake of proving a point...

Baby boomer comment right there

 

[JMI]

Baby boomer comment right there

Gen X thankfully

What makes you say that out of interest?

 

[lazarus]

Auctions under £50 just promote tat - we can see that already.

We see these lesser quality domains on every platform. A lesser quality domain is not necessarily so for someone else. A domains quality is subjective. Domains of higher quality get sent to the "Showcase" section. This is the quality control part. Id rather let everyone list anything than exclude based on perceived quality. It's the buyers that dictate a domains worth. If you don't want to view these then that's an easy fix, just keep to the Showcase section.

The incentive was defined at the start of this project. To offer a feature rich platform that is free to all. I/we have created this with the input of the community.

I regards to shill bids, visibility, seo, transaction completions.
Shill bidders have already been found and dealt with.
Visibility, Twitter, Acorn Domains auction feed. Soon to be on seemly.co.uk ( )

Our active member base is big now. Reaching a level market price compared to other platforms is not a problem. Trust me... the buyers are there, watching.
The regulars that you would expect from a trader point of view have an account.
The growing members are now SEO agency's, web development companies and end users that are finding domains in the marketplace.

We managed to gain more marketplace domains in the first 2 months than a well established marketplace (Domain Manage) has currently got after being online for a few of years. I specific SEO domain section is a great resource too.

Buyers will follow the domain they want. Nobody is not going to not bid because they have some tribal tie to another platform.

If flip is not for you then that's fine. Nobody is twisting your arm to use it. But at least now you have a bonified alternative. Having choice is a good thing! Right now, we have lots of happy selllers and happy buyers and for me that's all that counts.

If you have a good idea then let me know about it! I am open to all for constructive dialogue. Give me solutions instead of just the problems. That's just too easy... Even though I'd like to, I know I'm not going to please everyone, that's impossible.

flip has come a long way in a short time, there is no denying that. It will continue to grow and be developed with the continued support and input of the community.

Cheers! Laz

 

[WalkinDude]

With Stocks you have the Exchanges of different types, analysts, buyers/sellers, news, regulators and so on all doing separate distinct jobs and roles and any overlap is frowned upon.

Domaining the buyers, sellers and exchanges are all moonlighting as the analysts and the regulator doesn't have any authority over aftermarket sales hence the chaos of views.

 

[WalkinDude]

I lot of online retailers survive and do well despite Amazon's dominance.

Competition is never a bad thing and there is obviously a place for both DL & Flip.

It is also not a direct comparison as Flip also offers fixed price listings with landing pages. You can use this feature without ever using the auction platform.

Perhaps we can get the discussion back on track and offer constructive feedback on how @lazarus can continue working hard on improving things.

That reminds me, @lazarus did you see my comment about having an option to delete finished/closed listings?

Cheers!

Yes, the idea I thought was to make suggestions to support what it is not redefine what it is to the point it's just a DL clone.

One more of my own.

Could there be a button enabling the domain owner to see with one click which domains have bids on them as that would save a bit of time?

 

[lazarus]

@DJ Wood & @WalkinDude
I have noted your suggestions. My next development drive is in a couple of weeks. I will see what I can do.

BTW. Just looking right now across the many platforms and as far as quality domains at auction go (Excluding SEO Domains) I see a clear difference

Cheers, Laz

 

[WalkinDude]

Justice Department And 11 States Sue Google For Violating Antitrust Laws

Early days but I hope to see a day when the same companies and businesses are no longer able to occupy entire realms of potential digital commerce by remaining permanently in top positions for search results for literally millions of specific search requests.

If you want to shop on Amazon it seems natural to me to search 'Amazon' then go to the site and search for whatever it is you are after. Not if you type in any shippable product whatsoever you get amazon results first and foremost each and every time perpetually. Little man/woman entrepreneur doesn't even stand a chance.

I think by any reasonable expectation if I type in 'uk domain Auction' thus specifying I want yanno 'uk domain auction' results then as things stand you'd expect to see DL and Flip in top half of top page at the very least. That's a fairly specific search request imo, not much vague about it.

 

[lazarus]

@WalkinDude

Could there be a button enabling the domain owner to see with one click which domains have bids on them as that would save a bit of time?

This page in your dashboard will show you your auctions.
There is a filter at the top to show only auctions with bids.
https://www.flip.uk/members/selling/browse/open/?listing_type=auction

I hope this helps.

 

[lazarus]

What's the feeling on showing a reserve range?

When an auction has a hidden reserve it could show as a guide (£1 - £100) or (£100 - £500) or (£500 - £1000) or (£1000 - £2500) etc for example...

Cheers, Laz

 

[WalkinDude]

What's the feeling on showing a reserve range?

When an auction has a hidden reserve it could show as a guide (£1 - £100) or (£100 - £500) or (£500 - £1000) or (£1000 - £2500) etc for example...

Cheers, Laz

Just my 2 cents but that one I'd wait on. Folks can pm for example and a low starting bid on reserve brings in more curiosity than a pile of domains with high openly disclosed reserves.

You could however refuse to list domains with unrealistic reserves on them. I'm assuming that's already being done. Reserve feature is good for domainers but has to have some measure of independent realism to the reserve prices set.

 

[WalkinDude]

Just as felt like some momentum was building up...Lockdown Episode II is upon us.

 

[diablo]

@lazarus Really love the clean simplicity of flip.uk!

One suggestion: the auction pages show time left, but could the end date and time show too? Useful for quickly noting when auctions end.

 

[lazarus]

@lazarus Really love the clean simplicity of flip.uk!

One suggestion: the auction pages show time left, but could the end date and time show too? Useful for quickly noting when auctions end.

Hi Diablo, You can switch between time left and end time on the page that lists all the auctions.
But I will add it to the actual auction listing page too.

Cheers, Colin

 

[DomainMagic]

I would prefer being able to set the start price rather than a reserve as I feel the reserve can actually put people of from bidding (but that might just be me). This way the auction is fully transparent and if the buyer is happy, they will bid and if they are not, they won't. I've seen a lot of people starting auctions at £1 or £10 with reserves higher than £50 and I always wonder why they didn't start at £50 in the first place. I guess they are doing this in order to be promoted to the 'Showcase' or 'Popular' auctions section, which seems unfair, especially if the reserve has been set unrealistically high.

Cheers!

I agree, I'd like to be able to start @ £50 where I'm happy to sell to a single bidder and not do reserves

I'd also like to be able to catch something when it drops and list it quickly same day while its still fresh with others who may have also been after it rather than wait over 24hours.

So combine both those, Catch > quick list starting @ £50.. rinse and repeat