Choose the Length of Your Listing!
Posted on June 24th, 2009 by Dave Slutzkin
Wow, it’s been a big few days here at the Flippa bunker, but we’re gradually getting on top of it.
Thanks for all your feedback, bug reports, praise, criticism. They’re all great (mostly), and I promise you – we listen! We’ve made a whole bunch of important changes since launch, almost all of them directly because of feedback from our users. Much of this feedback came through our official feedback channel:
Flippa Feedback and Suggestions
All requests posted to our Feedback and Suggestions site are taken very seriously. Let us know if there’s anything you need to improve Flippa’s usefulness to you!
Here’s a list of the changes we’ve made in the last couple of days:
Choose the Length of Your Listing
Sellers can now choose the length of their auction, between one and thirty days. This option was removed in the move from the SitePoint Marketplace as we were trying to make the listing process smoother and the vast majority of sellers set it to 30 days anyway. Turns out the people who weren’t leaving it at 30 days really liked having that control, so it’s back! Now if you’re going overseas in two weeks, or you just need quick cash, you can run a shorter auction.
However, you still can’t extend your listing while it’s in progress. We’ve left this feature out on purpose because it was being abused. We take the view that sellers shouldn’t be allowed to pretend an auction is ending in two days, then constantly extend by two days until it runs for a full thirty days. Buyers have the right to know under what conditions they’re bidding.
Per-page Notification of Unread Private Messages
If you’re spending a bit of time on the site, it’s useful to be able to see quickly when you’ve got a PM. We’ve now added a link at the top of the site which appears when you have unread PMs, tells you how many, and lets you get quickly to your Inbox. This should make your workflow more smooth, and once again this was added as soon as people asked for it.
Increased Screenshot Quality
Our screenshot partner, thumbalizr, creates high-quality PNGs or low-quality JPGs. We’re now using the high-quality files so that the screenshot on your listing page looks as good your site does in the flesh. We have noticed that Flash content is not included in the screenshot version of sites and are looking for a solution.
Fixed Bugs in the Edit Listing Process
There were a couple of bugs in the edit listing process which meant that you couldn’t change the “Content is unique” and “Design is unique” options, the minimum bid and offer, and the Buy It Now price. This is now fixed. Please check your listing and if you see any problems with it at all, let Customer Support know – we’re here to get your listing the way you want.
Fixed Bugs in the Custom Filter Feature
It was impossible to search or filter by current price, which seems like a fairly useful thing to do! We’ve fixed that so now you should be able to create the filters you want.
Fixed Bug in URL Resolution
Some domains which were parked in a particular way would resolve to a strange looking URL when the automatic redirection process was followed through. This is now fixed, and those listings with weird “/?de67a80″ URLs were changed back to something sensible.
Fixed Bugs With Attachments
Certain types of attachments would display very strange or missing thumbnails. This has been fixed, so the thumbnails section of a listing now looks much more tidy.
Allowed More Symbols in Auction Titles
We’ve restricted auction titles to a particular set of symbols, to avoid the situation where every listing has a title full of strange characters. However, this was disallowing a little too much, most obviously the ‘$’ sign. This is now fixed.
Deleting Multiple PMs Was Impossible
On PM screens, you were able to select multiple, but only one of them would be deleted. This is now fixed so that every PM you select will be deleted.
And More to Come…
OK, I guess that’s about it for this installment. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date over the next few weeks on our development progress – we’ve got big plans. Remember – keep the Feedback and Suggestions coming!
Comments (21)
Comments are closed.
June 24, 2009 - 5:54 pm
You got the features. Can you make a website that actually looks good and is easy to use? This is the worse site design from a large company I have ever seen. I can’t stand using the site for more than 5 minutes before I have to navigate elsewhere. Are you serious when you say you like this design and most people love it? I think not.
Also, how is it that you guys keep saying you are receiving all this great feedback but 90% of the comments on your blog posts and on Techcrunch article are all negative.
June 24, 2009 - 7:17 pm
Too many problems on this website. Why did you switch to flippa when you had something great at Sitepoint?
when trying to compose a new private message in my account Im getting this error:
Oops! Page Not Found
The page you have requested does not exist on this server.
June 24, 2009 - 11:43 pm
Deleting Multiple PMs still Impossible
Thank you for fixing part of my request on uservoice.
I was tested deleting messages again.
Yes, all selected messages deleted simultaneously but only in INBOX.
If I tried to delete 3-5 and more messages from SENT MESSAGES it still Impossible (deleted only one message).
After deleting alone message from list of checked messages why I autoredirected to INBOX ???
Why we need to waste our time for fixing and testing your unfinished site ?
June 26, 2009 - 12:26 am
Patrick,
We’ve implemented 1 and 2, and they’re currently going through testing and will be rolled out in the next couple of hours.
Number 3 will also be done in the near future.
Thanks heaps for the feedback!
June 25, 2009 - 10:09 am
The “success penalty” fee is still there, eh?
Stupid.
As I said in a previous comment, my suggestions are:
- Remove the success penalty fee.
- Replace it with different listing fees. Low cost for “everyday website” and higher listing fee for “premium website”.
June 25, 2009 - 2:05 pm
Hi Andrew, Dave, Shayne, Matt & More!
I know you are probably swamped with questions however, I have one as well.
Couple of things actually…
1. There is no indication that I have new messages waiting. The old format had (#) of messages next to Private Messages;
2. No indication that a listing has a bid other then an email to me telling me there is a bid pending. Usually it was in BOLD RED showing that a BID IS PENDING. Can’t even see the bid in the MY ACCOUNT area;
3. LISTING HISTORY does not show if listing has bid. It would be nice to be able to see Bid History in the My Account overview area.
Look forward to your replies.
Thanks
June 26, 2009 - 12:30 am
Hi Dave;
Thanks for the reply, however, I didn’t see where I had a bid pending for a site I sold earlier today.
Additionally, I have one more thing to add to this thread…
You indicated the OUTSTANDING INVOICES issue would be resolved. I paid the 1 invoice this morning, however, it is still showing as duplicated. Earlier today, after that first one, I sold another site and it automatically slapped up a duplicate invoice as well.
Can you please have a look and let me know.
Thanks!
Patrick
June 25, 2009 - 3:15 pm
Hello,
Your getting a lot of bad feed feedback, It’s natural for something new to be rejected.. I don’t hate the idea, in time all will grow to love it im sure.. my problem is you gave NO NOTICE and i had auctions in progress.. I don’t think its right to make the change with NO NOTICE.. most normal people beta test and make the change slowly.. You threw this at us no choice.. I really think it would be the right thing to do is refund my listing fee.. Isn’t that fair.. I purchased a Mercedes and you came into my garage and switched me to a Yugo.. but didn’t ask me, and charged me the same price..
June 25, 2009 - 3:56 pm
It is critical point! No one told this before auction was moved from sitepoint. I have set it to 10 days, but then I decided to set it to 30 days. And when I logged in to sitepoint it redirected me to flippa where I cannot edit length of my listing. It is very bad. My auction will end earlier than I want!!! You was need to send us some letter before moving auctions, so I could edit my auction before moving. You just damaged my auction. Thank you so much!!!
June 25, 2009 - 6:57 pm
Where is the old marketplace? The backend on flippa sucks. It has less features now in PMs, and other places such as being able to delete attachments in your listing. What if you upload the wrong photo?
You guys really messed up. You keep saying you are listening but everyone wants the old marketplace back, except for like a total of 5 people who are the only ones saying something positive.
When are you going to really listen??????????????
June 26, 2009 - 2:07 am
Can you add the feature of “automatically accept bid” back? it is kind of troublesome for me to accept bid manually, and there’s 2 of potential buyers bid the same price together, and I just accept both, and I can’t close my auction because of this, coz I don’t know whom should I choose as the winning bid
Appreciate if you can add the feature back here, also how do I shorten the auction listing period?
thanks!
June 26, 2009 - 4:14 am
Here is already created ticket: http://flippa.zendesk.com/tickets/1280
Please, increase amount to maximum available value (around 20 days).
June 26, 2009 - 5:01 am
While I understand the purpose of fees but I was hoping it can be lower. A $19 listing fee + 5% success fee seems a bit too much. Perhaps $10 + 2% success fee is more reasonable.
June 26, 2009 - 5:01 am
I got this from support:
Dear Denis,
Thanks for contacting Flippa Customer Support.
Currently active listings with Flippa cannot have its duration modified. Duration of the listing can be set prior to listing commencement.
Kind regards,
Danny P.
Flippa Customer Support.
But Dave said:
Yep, I agree with your point. We’ve been very responsive to the support requests which ask for this exact thing. If you’d like to file a support request, I can guarantee that we’ll change the length of your auction for you.
—————————-
Come on guys! Hurry up! I have just 18 hours.
June 26, 2009 - 5:04 am
Listing updated! Thanks Dave!
June 25, 2009 - 10:56 am
JJ,
I can’t reproduce that problem. If it continues to happen, please file a support request so that we can get it fixed ASAP.
June 25, 2009 - 11:10 am
diwi,
Yep, you’re right, sent messages was still wrong in the way you describe. It should now be fixed. Apologies for the inconvenience.
June 25, 2009 - 11:35 am
John,
On the previous Marketplace there were different listing fees for each category, right? Sellers chose the category for their listing based on how much they wanted to pay.
The problem with allowing sellers to decide is that sellers are (naturally) biased as to the quality of their own site. So, many listings in the “premium” category were two days old, or had no revenue, or had various other properties which many buyers would consider make them distinctly not premium. I’ve lost track of the number of support requests and comments I dealt with on the Marketplace on this exact issue.
To avoid all of this, we’ve replaced that with categories which are solely determined by individual buyers. This of course means that we can’t charge different listing fees for different listings.
However, isn’t the real measure of “startup” or “established” or “premium” determined by the market itself? So, effectively, we charge more at the end of the listing if it turns out that a site was “premium” – in other words, it sold for a large amount. And this also aligns our interests with those of the sellers, as both of us are trying to get a sale for a good price.
That’s the rationale. Do you agree or disagree?
June 25, 2009 - 1:18 pm
The rationale is that you want to take 5% from our hard earned money. Take off the fee that everyone despises. No one is going to list anything if it isn’t changed. I sure know I won’t.
I could just post it on digital point and sell it with no fees at all.
June 26, 2009 - 12:24 am
Dennis,
Yep, I agree with your point. We’ve been very responsive to the support requests which ask for this exact thing. If you’d like to file a support request, I can guarantee that we’ll change the length of your auction for you.
June 27, 2009 - 3:35 am
WRONG.. I sent many requests none have been answered.. This is just plain wrong,… You do know we have a choice not to use your services ?? that seems to be the only option for some of us /.. Well maybe NOT.. OK we have no choice your the only game in town.. I bow to the great Sitepoint.. Ill grin and bear it.. just like ebay and paypal.. Maybe if you switch back to the old website we will give you time to work on the bugs.. Then you can have a PUBLIC LAUNCH DATE..