Hipster Runoff is up for auction

Hipster Runoff is up for auction


Remember 2010? Spain won the World Cup, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus still had their innocence, everyone was making Inception jokes, and the throbbing pulse of the alt universe was tracked by Hipster Runoff. Run by the mysterious Carles, Hipster Runoff made celebrities of #SnackstheCatGirl and #ProjectGirl and relentlessly trolled indie bands and Williamsburg scenesters. Shamelessly voyeuristic and unapologetically snarky, Hipster Runoff was a next-gen, lo-fi Gawker.

Slowly, though, the website petered out, and after one last December 2013 post about the hot AZN bro Lorde canoodled with in the surf, posts on the blog stopped and recently the entire site seems to have disappeared.

Is the time ripe for Hipster Runoff to return? Are you the one to channel the spirit of Carles for a new era? If so, you can buy the entire site—URL, content and all—in an online auction currently being held via Flippa. The auction page lists all the site’s vitals, including its founding date (October 2007), its CMS (Drupal), and its traffic (500,000 page views in December 2013, steadily declining thereafter).

Seller mdv31500 describes the site as a “well-established site that has gone inactive but still generates traffic. Quality inbound links from NYTimes, Gawker, Wired, & more.” Buyers are offered a “great opportunity to take brand and rebuild audience,” promising $1,300 via advertising on the existing content alone.

So far, prospective buyers are skeptical, and despite 22 bids reaching $2,500, with nine days remaining the undisclosed reserve price has not yet been met.

The seller also offers a bit of narrative history, explaining:

Carles got bored and we never got around to doing anything new with the site but the persistent organic traffic and revenue has really surprised us and speaks to an opportunity for someone else. The brand has some tangible value as well and we used to do a brisk business in t-shirts.

These traffic and revenue numbers are not at all reflective of performance before Carles stopped blogging in November 2013. This is after 13 months of inactivity. Happy to share the previous details. Operating costs are down to just above $100 per month beginning in January 2015.

Carles, come back! It’s okay, bb! U give us #strength.

Jay Gabler