Empire Flippers Marketplace Changelog 2020

Feature Update

Removed Seller Submission Success Page

We wanted to streamline the seller submission process by skipping the Success page after submitting your details, instead we now redirect users to their Pending Tasks area to get started on the Vetting Process.

New Feature

Extended Profiles

Significant improvements have been made to the My Account area for both Buyers & Sellers. Visible at the top of the My Account page will be a task bar to help guide customers through setting up their Empire Flippers account. Setting up your user profile will help speed up the process of buying or selling your business. An example of one of these tasks is verifying your identity.

Feature Update

Marketplace Notes Action

On the Marketplace List View we have decided to remove the ‘My Notes’ column and move the button inside the actions area to preserve space on the list view, this will allow users to see more listing data.

Feature Update

Updated Tasklist Messaging

We have implemented clearer feedback to our users for each step of the vetting process. Now on the Seller Tasklist area different messages will be displayed depending on what stage of the listing process you are at.

Feature Update

Set Skipped / Completed Tasks Back to Pending

Users have the ability to skip tasks that are not applicable to them and now we have added a new functionality so that you can set any skipped task back to a Pending status. Same goes for any task you have marked as Completed, setting it back to a Pending status will allow you to re-complete that task and supply new information.

New Feature

Google Analytics Access for Unlocked Listings

To aid customers in knowing when they have Google Analytics access (and to which Listings and under which email address), we’ve added a UI element to each unlocked listing where they can see at-a-glance if they have Google Analytics access and the email address that we granted access to. This appears in the Buyers Tab for Active Unlocks, and also on the full Unlocked Listing details page.

While users already were getting an email when they first were granted access to Google Analytics, this UI element should help be more organized as time goes on and users have a bunch of different listings with access.

Feature Update

Tasklist Update – Prioritize First Task for Vetting

Empire Flippers won’t vet your business until you verify your identity. We have made it mandatory that the first task in vetting is to complete the verification process.

New Feature

Quick ‘Join Zoom’ Button for Buyer/Seller Calls

For each Buyer & Seller dashboard areas under the Upcoming Calls section we have added a new quick action to allow you to click on the Join meeting link and easily join your scheduled call with no hassle.

Feature Update

Verify Identity Step For Listing Unlocks

Going through the verify identity process has always been a requirement when unlocking listings on our marketplace, so to make this much clearer and a smoother user experience we have included this as a visual step in the unlock process so users can clearly see that to proceed to the available unlock options they must first complete Step 2: Verify Your Identity.

New Feature

Automated ID Verification Feature

We have updated our ID Verification feature to make it a more seamless process for our users. The entire process can now be completed using a computer / laptop or on a mobile phone allowing users to take pictures of their IDs and themselves as they go through the verification process. This new update removes the previous requirement of having to hold up the piece of paper step that we asked of our users before.

Platform Update

Optimized Mobile Header Layout

The mobile header layouts have been updated to make much better use of the available space when viewing our marketplace on mobile devices. We moved the page title and subtitle to the center of the header bar leaving much more free room below for the main search and filter functions to fit nicely all on one line. This provides a better viewing experience for our users allowing more listings and data to be visible on mobile devices.

Platform Update

Multiple Buyers Can Be Attached to a Listing

We have tweaked our platform to allow multiple buyers to be attached / own a listing. This allows creating incoming wires from multiple people that will be summed to purchase a business. There is always one primary buyer that is used for most of the other automations.

Platform Update

New Email & In App Notification Created

A new notification has been added when a listing is delisted and active unlocks are closed. Before users would have received a generic “Unlock Closed” notification without specifying the reason why which was a bit confusing. Hopefully this will clear things up when listings are delisted and unlocks are automatically closed.

Feature Update

Improved Google Sync Popup

We wanted to emphasize the security measures that we take and what access we are asking for when syncing your Google Analytics account with us. We take your security and privacy very seriously and to help with gaining our users trust we added this extra area to the google sync popup that emphasizes our security measures.

Feature Update

Updated Connect Amazon MWS Popup

To simplify the process for our users we decided to create an additional step inside the Connect Amazon Account popup, some of our users were getting confused on the second step so we broke the process up into three simple steps, the third and final step being the task of entering in the generated authentication tokens.

Feature Update

New & Improved Seller Submission Form

To help our Sellers get their listing submitted to our marketplace more seamlessly we decided to revamp our Seller Submission form. One of the biggest changes you will notice is that we gave the layout and design an overhaul to help with improving the user experience.

Feature Update

Updated Date Selection Picker

We have updated the date picker tool for our users, now able to easily select the exact year and month from the dropdown boxes. A huge improvement from how it functioned previously.

Feature Update

Offers Version 2 Updates

We have been working to keep improving our new Offers feature for Buyer & Sellers. Some of the main changes we have listed below:

– Updated and improved the counter offers process

– When buyer accepts a sellers counter offer auto the offer is set to pre-accepted and starts circulation

– Buyers can now reject counter offers from Sellers

– Sellers can withdraw their counter offers

– Auto-refresh the offers page every minute to show most recent data

– Withdrawn offers still show on the Seller dashboard

– Bug fixes and some small UX polishing tasks

Feature Update

View Your Live Listing Button

Psst… want a good short cut? We’ve now added a short cut to view live listings on the Seller Dashboard. (You’re welcome!)

Feature Update

Add Funds Popup Updates

We’ll handle the accounting details for you. Keep all your balances in check with new functions to Select Transaction Type & Listing Number on the “Add Funds” Popup.

New Feature

New Error 404 Page

We would never play games with your heart – but we WOULD play games with our 404 error message. Check it out if you want to play a game and try to beat our highest score.

New Feature

Verify ID Task

We’re raising the bar for our security standards. To ensure there are no shenanigans or security threats, the verification of ID task will now be created when a listing is submitted with us.

New Feature

Vetting Tasklist

Dot your i’s and cross your t’s with the latest addition of our Vetting Tasklist. Now you’ll be able to track your progress on our platform and keep your business moving through Vetting.

Feature Update

Valuation Tool Business Tips

Our Valuation Tool just got even more helpful. The Valuation Tool now provides tips for your business based on where it is in it’s growth trajectory to help you make the right decision on to sell or not.

New Feature

Transactions Tab Added to Menu

We’ve now added a ‘Transactions’ menu link to the platform that way you can lovingly glance over all your transactions with us whenever you’re feeling lonely.

Platform Update

Detect Incoming Wires Faster Than Ever!

The wire race just got hotter! Our automated system now detects incoming wires faster than ever, meaning we have more precision than ever to decide on a wire race winner.

New Feature

Download Seller Interview Transcripts

We added a button so you can download seller interview transcripts in the listing page. It will show only when there’s an interview link and you have unlocked the listing. People who love transcripts, rejoice!

Feature Update

Uploading Documents Process

As soon as you upload an ID document in the buyer section, you can then immediately upload PoF or PoBO afterward (even while the ID is pending, naturally).

Feature Update

Sync Google Account Updates

The “Sync Google Account” popup was updated to give you more info on what URLs we need access to. Guided instructions were also added when you click on “Click here to view detailed instructions.” (that’s about as straightforward as it gets, folks)

Feature Update

Added More Accepted Document Types

Funding your acquisition just got even easier. We updated the Proof of Funds section of the dashboard to show more accepted document types.

Platform Update

Removed Earnings & Traffic Screenshots

We’re changing up the listings in a big way. We no longer share screenshots for Proof Of Earnings and Traffic on listing pages.

New Feature

Buyer / Seller Resources Page

Never get stuck again. We’ve added a buyer and seller resources page on all accounts so you’ll have all answers you want when you need them.

Feature Update

Filter Multiple by Ranges

While our marketplace has always displayed each listing’s multiple and allowed you to sort them from low<–>high, until now you couldn’t filter to a specific range of multiples. That’s right, we’ve added the listing multiple to our search filter options.

New Feature

Verify Bank Balance Using Plaid

We have released the ability to unlock listings by your verifying proof of funds by connecting your bank account to our platform. This feature uses a 3rd party called Plaid.

New Feature

Offers

The new offers feature is now live. Buyers can place offers on listings, after the seller pre-accepts an offer the 24 hours circulation period will start and verified buyers can submit counter offers. Sellers can then choose to finalize or accept another offer.

Feature Update

Seller Submission Updates

We redesigned the welcome UI when we detect your email, added a ‘Reset your password’ button, removed the credit card option when you have a VIP code, and added a go back button in the top-left corner when you’re logged in to return back to the Seller dashboard area or the Empire Flippers website.

Platform Update

Add New FBA/FBM Fields to Marketplace

We added two new columns to our marketplace for Amazon FBA/FBM businesses: SKU Count and Uses Brand Registry.

Feature Update

Add Call to Actions to Seller Interview Popup

When you click on a Seller Interview pop-up in the marketplace, you’ll now see buttons to unlock or buy the listing.

Platform Update

Display Advertising Monetization

We have merged AdSense and Advertising monetizations into one monetization: Display Advertising.

Feature Update

Multiple Budget Ranges

For our Buyer Persona Quiz you can now select multiple budget ranges.

Feature Update

Credit On File Filters

For the Credit On File section of your dashboard we have grouped your transactions by status now and added filter buttons so you can switch between transaction types.

Feature Update

Seller Interview Video Popup

When viewing listings in our marketplace the seller interview shows as a pop-up when you select the option.

Feature Update

Updated Wire Details

We’ve updated our wire details to notify you to use the Chase account only.

Feature Update

Website URL Tooltip

We added a tooltip to Sell Your Site which prompts you to enter your link to your KDP or FBA store if you don’t have a website URL.

Feature Update

Amazon Reporting Automations

We sell more Amazon FBA businesses than any other broker. To stay on top of our game for FBA businesses we massively upgraded our Amazon reporting capabilities, creating automations for inventory updates and streamlining how we report for Amazon businesses.

Feature Update

Transaction Automations & Notifications

We’re rolling out more smart automations for our deals. Now when you have an incoming wire or credit on file pending for 7 days we will send you a reminder. After 14 days we will automatically notify you of the transaction cancellation.

Feature Update

Add Changelog Link to My Account Dropdown Area

Loving this Changelog? We don’t blame you. We wanted to bring you two closer together by adding our changelog under your account functions. Now you’ll never have to miss one another.

New Feature

Listing Filter Criteria

Life is full of searching for the right thing but now, your perfect deal doesn’t have to be one of them. We just unleashed our new hyper-specific filtering options so your dream business is just a filter away. We’ll even deliver businesses that fit your criteria right to your inbox.

Platform Update

Sales Automation for 50K or Less Deals

There’s nothing worse than someone not getting to the point. We get that. That’s why we’re getting right to the point with our sales automation for deals under $50K. Instead of setting up buyer-seller calls for sub $50K businesses, you can now communicate directly through email to discuss the deal. It’s one less step for closing deals and this gets businesses sold much faster.

Feature Update

Fewer Zendesk Tickets

Great news: fewer Zendesk tickets (these are the communication tickets that open anytime we talk to you via email) all thanks to our newest automation. You’ll be getting direct email and app notifications instead of unnecessary open tickets. We’re not sure who should be happier, you or us.

Feature Update

New Unlock Process

Unlock your potential…by unlocking your listing. We’ve just solidified our Unlock process which allows you to speed up due diligence, get a whole suite of useful buyer tools, and handy free downloadable resources for the buying process. We spelled it all out for you here – https://empireflippers.com/oba/unlock-process/

New Feature

Amazon MWS Integration

One word: EFFICIENCY. Our Amazon MWS integration turns what used to be multiple back-and-forths between seller and vetting team to gather necessary data for Amazon FBA businesses into an automated and almost instantaneous gathering of the same data. It’s a huge time-saver for vetting AND the seller as they can get a quicker result on their business’s passing of the vetting process.

New Feature

Credit on File

You can now take a deep breath knowing you won’t lose the wire race on a business you love with our launch of Credit on File. Creating incoming wires and receiving wire instructions is now easier than ever.

Feature Update

Lost Google Access Notification

You no longer have to fear the Google Gods (for your personal account) because we’ve added notification of when we lose access to your account or a verified buyer’s account so we can get it fixed right away.

New Feature

In-App & Email Notifications

We didn’t want you to miss us, so we added in app and email notifications. You’re welcome.

New Feature

Live Chat

Oh, you wanted even more of us? Don’t worry, we added live chat so we’re here for any random question you might have.

Feature Update

Google Analytics Integration Updates

Our Google Analytics integration has gotten a makeover. You’ll now see these updated features:

– Automatically adding verified buyer emails to seller Google Analytics accounts

– Removing verified buyers when they close or re-lock a listing

– Automatically updating traffic data for the listing

– Automatically adding an Empire Flippers Google Analytics email to the seller account, which is used by the vetting, sales and price updates teams

New Feature

My Account Navigation Tabs

No GPS for our platform needed – we added tabs to the My Account page for easy navigation (and this allows us to add more options for you in the future).

New Feature

New Ticket Ordering & Filters

We listened to you on making our ticket messages easier to read through. Ticket messages are now ordered from newest to oldest in our support dashboard. And even better, those tickets can now be filtered 🙂

Feature Update

Automatically Message Buyer & Seller for Cancelled Calls

No one likes getting stood up, which is why messages are now automatically sent to verified buyers and sellers when a call is canceled.

Feature Update

Login / Create Account Step for Seller Submissions

We love keeping up a good flow, so we created a new seller submission flow which asks for users to log in or create an EF account during the submission process and keeps users logged in afterward.

Feature Update

Business URL’s More Visible

Prone to losing things? You now have one less thing to find with our listing page redesign. We put business URLs right in front of you so it’s easy to navigate listings with many URLs. Sorry, we can’t help you find your keys though…

New Feature

Platform Walkthrough / Step-by-Step Tour

Want to be astounded by our super stellar, nothing like it, high-tech, kinda sexy marketplace? It’s your day. We released a walkthrough and step-by-step guide to the best online marketplace around.

Feature Update

Screenshot of Unlocked Listing Primary URL

If you thought our marketplace was astounding, wait until you see our unlocked listings. That’s where all the goodies live, and we just added a screenshot of the primary URL to unlocked listing pages to make them a whole lot sweeter.