Trolls taking over Flippa

One of the worst parts of selling websites on Flippa is constantly having to deal with trolls. There is a large and growing number of Flippa members who never buy any websites, but like to spread false rumors and attack sellers for outrageous accusations and claims. I encounter this in almost every auction I run, unfortunately.

Here are some recent examples from my latest auction, before Flippa support removes them – unfortunately, it’s very slow, can take a day or two for Flippa support to reply to a ticket.

trollcomment1

trollcomment2

 trollcomment3

I didn’t actually delete his comment, although I should have. They were deleted by Flippa’s support, after some time. None of his claims are true of course, and it’s very easy to verify by checking whois and all the other data on sites. Which is quite strange as he must have realized that too. So it’s most likely that he has used his other username in order to try to spread some false rumors about the auction to try to get it cheaper. It’s actually a lot more common on Flippa than you’d expect.

It’s a shame that Flippa doesn’t ban such members and allow this type of behavior. Even when they are eventually banned, after multiple reports, it’s easy enough to make a new account and post more garbage to try to discourage other bidders from participating in the auction. Since it’s a no reserve auction naturally he can expect to get the site cheaper if other bidders decide to believe it.

Now, the funniest part:

troll4

These were actually the two sites being sold in the listing – it says so right there in the first line of the listing. So he most likely didn’t read any of it.

Do you think it’s just a bored kid trolling or someone trying to affect the auction outcome to get the site cheaper?

Update: after a few hours the Flippa support replied that the user received a “warning”.. twice. Some of his comments were also removed, but not all of them.

5 Responses

  1. I feel your pain.

    The trolls should be glad they don’t live in my neck of the woods, or I would have fun making their lives offline uncomfortable.

    There’s a special place in hell for losers like these.

  2. Well, actually, they think they are smarter than others. I am one of the bidders on this listing and I am not THAT stupid to waste my money on what he describes. I am in this business for a long time (just inactive on Flippa for a while). Well, I think Flippa must take serious actions – no matter even if the listing is doubtful – it is ultimately the buyer who decides if he needs to buy or not. Trolls – get a life!

  3. Sorry you’re experiencing this. I’m glad you’ve reached-out to Support; we’re entirely committed to eradicating this kind of behavior and want to hear from you whenever issues arise. Anything I can do personally, please let me know…

  4. Kevin, you’ve got to be kidding me about Flippa support. It’s been over two weeks & they haven’t replied to my support email (143828), nor to the follow up email I sent.

    This is not long after Luke McCormack, your “Business Manager”, wrote to me saying that he’d love to personally look after my needs given my long history with Flippa. Yeah, right.

    Well done on spotting this post and commenting but Flippa’s support doesn’t seem to be as great as you make it out to be.

    Michael, I feel your pain about the trolls. Flippa’s idea of dealing with such behaviour is laughable. Blatantly abusive behaviour should attract an immediate ban at the very least. Flippa don’t have the balls to ban such lack of professionalism.

    Clinton

  5. Clinton,

    I agree that there should be stricter rules, such as infractions, temp suspensions or permanent bans for blatant abusive comments and cursing in auction comments.

    Two weeks seems rather ridiculous, hope you get a reply for your ticket soon.

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