The following rules apply to any members participating in a FlipSquare auction, including sellers, commenters and bidders:

Rules for Sellers

  1. Auctions are legally binding: This is very important. The highest accepted bid greater than or equal to the reserve price is legally binding. The auction holder is obliged to sell to the winning bidder and the winning bidder is obliged to buy – for the price of this winning bid. If a completed auction has a winning bidder, FlipSquare's system will automatically email the contact details of the winning bidder to the auction holder, and also email the contact details of the auction holder to the winning bidder so that they can complete the transaction.
  2. Linking to or providing the URL of pages containing explicit, obscene or vulgar language or images is not allowed. This means that adult websites may not be sold at FlipSquare.
  3. Auctions may not be used to sell: access to services, memberships, subscriptions, “leased” services, or discounts thereof. Such services should be advertised in the "Advertise Your Services" FlipSquare category. Auctions must be used to advertise items for outright sale, rather than temporary, non-exclusive or leased licenses.
  4. When selling domain names, the buyer must be given full control and ownership of the domain name, including the ability to transfer the domain name to another registrar.
  5. Sites containing illegal content or sites based around linking to illegal content (eg: pirated sofware torrents) are not allowed to be sold on FlipSquare.
  6. The seller must provide full details of the item for sale (including a URL if they are selling a website) in the auction. Sellers may not intentionally hide information from public view. This includes the use of statements such as “PM me for more information”. This also includes obfuscation or abbreviation of URLs using services such as tinyurl. If a moderator sees evidence that the seller is not publicly disclosing information, the auction may be suspended pending changes.
  7. Sellers may not list an item for sale via any other channels whilst conducting an auction on FlipSquare.
  8. Linking to external sites is restricted by FlipSquare's self-promotion policy, which states that “Linking to your own web pages or pages from sites which you are affiliated with (including affiliate links) will be deemed as self-promotion and could result in the loss of your membership”. However, sellers may link to the site for sale if they are selling a site, or to web pages which solely contain information about the item they are selling. In particular, sellers are not allowed to link to other items for sale which are not a part of the auction.
  9. Sellers must ensure that they place their auction in the correct category, according to what they are selling. See also What is a Turnkey Site below.
  10. If you accept a bid equal to or higher than the reserve on your auction, you are obliged to sell.
  11. Sellers may not create an auction if they have no intention of selling (for example, if they only want a valuation). If an auction indicates or implies that the seller does not intend to sell, it may be suspended or removed by a moderator. A seller is allowed to change his or her mind and decide not to sell after the auction has started, solong as no bids have been accepted.
  12. The seller may sell more than one item in a single auction, but the items must be sold together as a package. The seller is allowed to change his or her mind later and sell the items individually. When this happens the seller must cancel the auction in which all the items are listed together.
  13. FlipSquare does not oversee the process of money changing hands and is unable to offer assistance in cases where the sale does not go as planned. All sellers should take due care when selling any item.

Rules for buyers and participants

  1. Bid's are legally binding: This is very important. The highest accepted bid greater than or equal to the reserve price is legally binding. The auction holder is obliged to sell to the winning bidder and the winning bidder is obliged to buy – for the price of this winning bid. If a completed auction has a winning bidder, FlipSquare's system will automatically email the contact details of the winning bidder to the auction holder, and also email the contact details of the auction holder to the winning bidder so that they can complete the transaction.
  2. Comments should be made only by those who are seriously interested in buying the item for sale. Frivolous comments, even if they are well-intentioned, are discouraged and may be removed by a moderator.
  3. Negative comments about or criticism of the seller or item for sale are strictly not allowed. This includes accusations of fraud or theft, even if they are well-intentioned (for example, to “warn others”). If any member has a dispute with a seller, it must be solved privately, and not be referred to publicly in auctions. A member who posts negative comments or accusations about a seller may have their posts removed, or may be banned permanently.
  4. FlipSquare does not oversee the process of money changing hands and is unable to offer assistance in cases where the sale does not go as planned, or the item is not delivered as described. All buyers should take due care when purchasing any item.

What is a Turnkey Site?

This section describes what is considered a Turnkey Site. Turnkey Sites must not be listed for sale in the Established Sites For Sale or Premium Sites For Sale categories; likewise, established sites must not be listed for sale in the Turnkey Sites For Sale category.

Turnkey Sites are sites which do not yet earn any revenue. Content sites without complete content and ecommerce sites without any products also qualify as Turnkey Sites.

If your site meets the following criteria, it is not considered a Turnkey Site and must be listed in the Established Sites For Sale category:

  1. The site generates a reasonable amount of revenue, ie. enough to cover the cost of hosting.
  2. If it is a content site, the site already has enough content to be reasonably useful to a visitor.
  3. If it is an ecommerce site, the site already has one or more products for sale.

However, if your site meets any of the following criteria, then it should be considered a Turnkey Site and should be listed in the Turnkey Sites For Sale category:

  1. The site generates no significant revenue — not even enough to cover hosting cost.
  2. The site is in an unfinished state such that it is of no use to visitors yet.
  3. The site is based on a commonly available script or piece of software and does not contain any unique content.

Reporting offenders

FlipSquare advisors and moderators regularly view the auctions, however they may not notice every guideline violation immediately. Anyone breaking the rules needs to be reported to FlipSquare admin as soon as possible. Please do not complain about a member breaking the guidelines publicly in a comment. Your comment may be removed and you may receive a warning. Multiple offenses will have your account banned from FlipSquare. Instead, report offenders by sending their username, description of the alleged offense, and the auction number in question to help@flipsquare.com.

FlipSquare's Role

FlipSquare does not enter into monetary transactions or business dealings between FlipSquare buyers and sellers. FlipSquare is a neutral facilitator only. We are not responsible for the failure of either party to follow through with their obligations, agreed or otherwise. The content of a FlipSquare listing is the responsibility of the respective sellers including compliance with all laws and not engaging in misleading and/or deceptive conduct and therefore FlipSquare is not liable for any violations of rights of a third party, in particular intellectual property rights, trade mark rights, and copyright resulting from a FlipSquare listing. FlipSquare reserves the right to remove or edit a listing at any time and may ban users from participating in FlipSquare's services.

If a dispute arises between a buyer and seller, please be aware that FlipSquare does forward the sellers information to the buyer and vice versa to facilitate open communication for a fair and smooth transaction. Any legal action one party may take on the other is their sole responsibility. FlipSquare will not play an active role in any litigation.