You can now buy and sell apps on ShipDesk
George · 4 min read
The short answer: ShipDesk.dev now has a place to buy and sell apps. Founders can list a SaaS, a web app, or an iOS, Android or Mac app for free for 15 days, or keep it up for $4.99 until it sells. Every owner is checked before a listing goes up, revenue comes straight from the founder's payment provider, and buyers talk to founders directly. ShipDesk takes no cut of the sale.
Every app has a next chapter. Sometimes the founder moves on to a new idea, sometimes the app needs more time than they have, and sometimes it just deserves an owner who can take it further. Until now, the only option on ShipDesk was to launch. Now you can also sell, or find your next app to run.
Why we built it
ShipDesk started as a weekly launch board for solo founders. Many of the apps launched here are small, real and working, and some of their makers are already building the next thing. A quiet app with users and a little revenue can be worth a lot to the right buyer, but most marketplaces are built for bigger deals, take a commission, or bury small apps.
So we built a simple version for indie apps, on the same site where they launched.
What it costs
- Free for 15 days. Every app gets one free listing, up for 15 days after it is approved.
- $4.99 until it sells. One payment, no subscription. The listing stays up as long as you confirm, with one click every 60 days, that it is still for sale.
- No commission. ShipDesk introduces buyers and founders. It does not take part in the sale, hold money or take a percentage.
Every owner is checked
Before a listing can be sent in, its founder shows the app is theirs. For a website, that is a short code in a meta tag, in a file on the site, or in a DNS record. For an App Store or Google Play app, the code goes in the app's promotional text or description for a moment. Then a person looks at every listing before it goes up.
Real revenue, from the payment provider
Founders can connect a read-only key from Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Paddle, Dodo Payments, Creem, Gumroad or RevenueCat. ShipDesk reads only totals, once a day: monthly recurring revenue, revenue over the last 30 days and the number of subscribers, never a customer or a single payment. Buyers see the numbers and a small chart of how they changed.
The key is encrypted before it is stored and never shown again. A founder can also choose to read the numbers once and not keep the key at all. Numbers read with a test key are clearly marked as test data, so nobody can pass off test payments as real sales.
For founders who sell
- List from your launch. If your app launched on ShipDesk, pick it and the name, description, icon, screenshots and video come over by themselves. A launch can be listed from the Monday after its launch week.
- Or paste a link. Paste your website or store link and the details fill in.
- Keep the name private if you like. Buyers see the kind of app, its line and its numbers. The name, link and logo show only to buyers you accept.
- You decide who you talk to. When someone is interested, they write you a note. You accept or decline. Contact details are shared both ways only after you accept.
- Choose how buyers reach you. Add another email, a phone number, X, Instagram or LinkedIn, and tick the one you prefer.
- See how it is doing. Your dashboard shows page views, visitors, interested buyers, contacts shared and how many people follow your app.
For buyers
- Every app for sale in one place. Search, pick the kind of app, filter by price, and sort by MRR, revenue, subscribers or asking price.
- Follow an app. Tap follow and hear, in your notifications and at most one email a day, when its price drops, it sells, it comes back up or its revenue grows.
- Talk to the founder directly. No middleman, no bidding war. Say who you are and what you would do with it.
Buying safely
ShipDesk checks ownership and shows revenue from the founder's own provider, but it does not check everything a founder says. Use an escrow service, ask for access to the analytics and the code, and pay only once the transfer of the product, its domain or its app has started.
List yours
If you have an app you are ready to pass on, list it today. It takes a few minutes, and the first 15 days are free.