Experience selling an online (e-commerce) business?

[Kieran_Dandy]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone has experience with selling an online business, specifically an e-commerce one?

Due to various personal reasons, I am looking to sell my business. The main assets being the established website, brand, stock, social media channels, 5* rated Etsy shop etc. Does anyone have experience of selling a business such as this? i.e. how did you find potential buyers, how did you value it etc?

Of course I imagine selling a land-based business is more than often a local transaction, i.e. read a discussion on this forum earlier about selling a florist which sounds much more straightforward.

Appreciate any feedback and experience from you guys in this area!

Thanks
Kieran

 

[Clinton]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with selling an online business, specifically an e-commerce one?

Yes

The main assets being the established website, brand, stock, social media channels, 5* rated Etsy shop etc.

Those don't sound like great assets (unless you can provide some context). Just because you have a website, social media account, 5* Etsy shop etc doesn't mean they have value and doesn't mean they have transferable value (if they are not in a ltd company name then you can't transfer most social media accounts).

If you have a subscriber list for example, and you can prove what traction you get when you send an email out (as in actual sales and profit generated), then maybe you can argue a value to that asset.

Due to various personal reasons, I am looking to sell my business.

Yeah, sure.

Every buyer's first thought will be that you're bailing because of a problem known to you.

You have not addressed the #1 most important point. There's usually a reason why people don't disclose this and drone on instead about awards won, 5 stars achieved etc. The value of all your intangible assets is reflected in one simple number - your net profit.

The #1 question: Once a proper salary is taken out for the person running the business, how much net profit is left?

 

[japancool]

Etsy suggests handmade or personalised items. If it requires the owner to make the items themselves, the value would be negligible except to someone already doing something similar.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I'm assuming its for The Dandy Snack Club?

- 0 employees
- Etsy sales of just over 3000 sales in 2.5 years. Lets say £15 - £25 on average, so maybe £20k a year in Etsy sales?
- Only around 800 followers each on Instagram & Facebook which is as good as nothing. No TikTok presence from what I can see and I would have thought that would have been a prime market right now for your product.

I don't want to sound blunt or dismissive if you have a part time or small business that is working for you. It's a smart idea ( and nice website etc, but realistically, it's not pulling up any trees and I think there's very little to sell here. You might get someone to buy the stock (if it's still in date) and maybe give you a couple of grand for the site and what little assets there are.

I'd try Facebook marketplace for a start in terms of selling, sell somebody the dream of taking over and being their own boss.

 

[fisicx]

@Kieran_Dandy - who packs and distributes the boxes? If it's you do you pay yourself a wage? How much profit is left after all expenses, wages, tax etc?

Have you considered selling on your socials, etsy, on the website etc? If you have a strong following then there is a good chance someone will make you an offer. Consider though if it's just you doing everything it's not a business it's a job. And selling a job is difficult.

 

[Uwe (Invoiceberry)]

You can always list your shop on a platform such as flippa.com or acquire.com (previously – MicroAcquire).

Listings are for free (Acquire) or very affordable (Flippa) and you can see if you get any traction.

There will be some time-wasters, and it's best to share as much information as possible upfront, so you save time filtering through dozens of messages that might be irrelevant with fully disclosed information.

I always feel that the best seller is someone who discloses as much as possible upfront. It saves everyone's time.

 

[japancool]

You can always list your shop on a platform such as flippa.com or acquire.com (previously – MicroAcquire).

I had a look on flippa the other day, just for laughs.

The valuations people are asking for their businesses there are utterly ludicrous.

 

[Uwe (Invoiceberry)]

I had a look on flippa the other day, just for laughs.

The valuations people are asking for their businesses there are utterly ludicrous.

oh yeah, well...that's another story ?

 

[Clinton]

I'm assuming its for The Dandy Snack Club?

- 0 employees
- Etsy sales of just over 3000 sales in 2.5 years. Lets say £15 - £25 on average, so maybe £20k a year in Etsy sales?

If those numbers are correct then my advice would be to just close the bloody thing down! Sorry, @Kieran_Dandy , it's worth next to nothing. It ain't even a business. It's possible that, secretly, you already knew all this.

 

[KeithGreen]

Looking at www.rightbiz.co.uk it appears you can advertise an online business for sale for £12 per month. This might be worth a try. I would suggest you put in an asking price as "offers invited" puts people off. Before you advertise prepare some basic details such as a profile of the business and last 3 years accounts. This is by no means an exhaustive list but gives you something with which to respond to any enquiries.

 

[DoolallyTap]

Don't be put off by all the negative bullies on this forum. They are all 'oh so clever' with their 'honest answers'. Perhaps your business is not worth much, but to you it is yours, so carry on trying to sell it, perhaps the best place would be eBay. A new pair of eyes and some new enthusiasm may be able to do something more with it.
For someone with very little except some ambition £20k may be wonderful.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Or listen to someone with experience & knowledge rather than just chasing the answers you want to hear.

 

[DoolallyTap]

Or listen to someone with experience & knowledge rather than just chasing the answers you want to hear.

BUSINESS FUNDING PORTAL LIMITED looks like you have very limited experience and knowledge.

 

[fantheflames]

You'll be surprised how your assets are valued! Do you have a customer database? How many of them are returning customers? From the numbers that others have shared in this thread, you'd be better off gifting the business to someone in your family or selling some of your assets then closing the business down.

 

[Mark T Jones]

BUSINESS FUNDING PORTAL LIMITED looks like you have very limited experience and knowledge.

Haha

My dad's bigger than your dad

 

[DoolallyTap]

I just wonder why you spend time here instead of running your own micro business.

 

[DoolallyTap]

I just wonder why you spend time here instead of running your own micro business.

and with 14 dissolved companies behind you your track record for good advise looks a bit suspect.

 

[Mark T Jones]

and with 14 dissolved companies behind you your track record for good advise looks a bit suspect.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That's why I always seek good information before giving advice.

I have 3 companies dissolved in my tenure (none of which owed any money). I've freely discussed it in several threads. If anyone had a legitimate interest, I wouldn't hesitate to discuss what went wrong & what the lessons were.

My advice and opinion is partly informed by my past mistakes - I'm keen to help people to avoid them. It's also massively informed by both mistakes and successes of my many clients, past & present.

One of those mistakes was believing my own hype, whilst ignoring people who asked difficult/challenging questions. That's the most basic and common business mistake of all.

Out of interest, what value are you hoping to add on here?

 

[MBE2017]

Out of interest, what value are you hoping to add on here?

I think this poster is feeling some frustration since they have a similar thread, where their value placed on their business and what other posters have alluded to differ substantially. Maybe this thread hits too near home.

The problem is one of perception in many ways. Many forum members have, or have had true businesses in their eyes, where it is a full time occupation, employees etc, where others have a smaller cottage industry smaller enterprise, only themselves involved often part time.

Personally I don’t look down on either, having had both types over the years. Both types generate money, not everyone wants to dominate the world, some want the lifestyle self employment gives you, whilst others wish to grow large. Each to their own.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I think this poster is feeling some frustration since they have a similar thread, where their value placed on their business and what other posters have alluded to differ substantially. Maybe this thread hits too near home.

The problem is one of perception in many ways. Many forum members have, or have had true businesses in their eyes, where it is a full time occupation, employees etc, where others have a smaller cottage industry smaller enterprise, only themselves involved often part time.

Personally I don’t look down on either, having had both types over the years. Both types generate money, not everyone wants to dominate the world, some want the lifestyle self employment gives you, whilst others wish to grow large. Each to their own.

Absolutely.

I don't look down on anyone for the nature or size of their business.

As @DoolallyTap has pointed out, I run a micro business. I run it from my front bedroom looking out over fields & sheep - it's lovely!

I've done the staff, offices, Mickey-Mouse PLC thing too. With hindsight, I did it because I was influenced by some generic vision of what success looked like.

It's all about creating your own version of success.

 

[Clinton]

As @DoolallyTap has pointed out, I run a micro business. I run it from my front bedroom looking out over fields & sheep - it's lovely!

I too have run businesses with staff and stuff and I now work from a garden office at the end of my garden.

But I don't have a view of sheep.

All I've got are some bloody birds outside having a domestic.

 

[fisicx]

My view is of some roofers making a right hash of the new build next door.

I don’t even have a micro business. It’s smaller than that. But it pays the bills and that’s all need it to do. If it were any bigger I’d have to do more work and I can’t be doing with that.

The problem with @Kieran_Dandy and @DoolallyTap is they are selling a job not a business.

 

[japancool]

The problem with @Kieran_Dandy and @DoolallyTap is they are selling a job not a business.

In fairness to Kieran, he has his own website, he doesn't just sell on Etsy, so more information about the business would really be needed to come to a view. I mean, if he's got 3000 subscribers to his own site and they're paying £10 a month, that could be worthwhile for someone to look into.

It's one thing to run a microbusiness - it's another thing entirely to sell it to someone else.