Auction for Companies Customer Data List

[TruthHunter]

Hi Everyone,

A company in our field has gone into liquidation and their assets are for sale. We are a young company doing well and the company that has gone into liquidation were quite a significant and well established company.

As part of the auction their customer data list that contains 6k customers is up for auction. This would be of interest to us but we have no idea how much to value this at or bid for it.

We think it would be a quality list of qualified customers, has of which would probably be interested in what we do and I dare say there will be bigger companies after it too.

But it's still an unknown and a risk and I'm wondering how you guys would value such a list?

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

You could buy the list but unless you have explicit agreement from each person on the list it may be worthless.

It’s all about privacy and GDPR. Talk to the ICO about the legality of using the data.

 

[Ozzy]

I've moved this thread to the insolvency section as it would be interesting to get an IP's perspective on this, selling of a client list as from the outside I'm also not sure of the legality of this based on intended consent. The persons on that list have not consented for their data to be sold.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

I suspect they have already ensured they have the GDPR consents to be able to sell.

It really depends on how much you value it, and whether you think there will be much competition.

I can refer you to an expert valuer, but there will be a charge for their valuation...

Have a look at the company's Statement of Affairs form lodged at companies house - did they put a value on it in there? (Probably not...)

It might be worth you putting in a cheeky offer and seeing how the liquidator reacts. If you're the only party at the table then you will likely win the bid...

DM me for some figures.

 

[Daybooks]

Subject to the GDPR issues already mentioned the worth to you is the future income streams that you believe you could achieve from the customer list.

The seller may want a multiplier of the annual income it generated for them. You would need to decide the probability of those customers turning to you and the expected income value that may provide. There would be many factors that you would consider - you will know your market better than anyone directly on here. You would need to do some form of due diligence on the credibility of there income streams and / or build into any conditional payment plans. You may then want to consider the return on investment that it may generate as well as its payback period.

Supply and demand is also a key factor and this may drastically change over time - meaning you potentially have an upper hand in discounting any multiplier they may want. Ultimately it’s a willing buyer and a willing seller agreeing on the price that is acceptable to both.

 

[WaveJumper]

And what value would you want to put on a list which apparently saw the company become insolvent, to me its worth zilch

 

[Lisa Thomas]

And what value would you want to put on a list which apparently saw the company become insolvent, to me its worth zilch

The reasons for insolvency might be something outside the company's control. Or, even if it was due to poor management, another party might be successful with the date (or at least think they can be).

 

[fisicx]

Also consider that many of those 6K customer have already moved on to another supplier.

@TruthHunter - are you looking to buy the customer list from Knights of Old?

 

[TCH]

I have no idea of the value of such an asset

you have no idea of the value of such an asset

they have no idea of the value of such an asset

offer them £100 and tell them that any acceptance must be within 14 days

 

[Paul Carmen]

I have no idea of the value of such an asset

you have no idea of the value of such an asset

they have no idea of the value of such an asset

offer them £100 and tell them that any acceptance must be within 14 days

OP, just for info, the IP acting for the company will unlikely be interested in selling an asset like this for £100. It simply would not be worth their time or cover the fees they will charge for the work.

We tried to buy a secondary (non company) website and it's database via an insolvency a few years ago, the IP was NOT interested in selling anything for less than £10k, so we didn't buy it. Now that was a large well known IP, but even a smaller one will have hourly fees that mean they won't entertain really low offers, they just won't sell it.

 

[mmvb]

Where do you find such auctions ? where company selling thier assets ?

 

[Lisa Thomas]

OP, just for info, the IP acting for the company will unlikely be interested in selling an asset like this for £100. It simply would not be worth their time or cover the fees they will charge for the work.

We tried to buy a secondary (non company) website and it's database via an insolvency a few years ago, the IP was NOT interested in selling anything for less than £10k, so we didn't buy it. Now that was a large well known IP, but even a smaller one will have hourly fees that mean they won't entertain really low offers, they just won't sell it.

Paul - your first para took the words right out of my mouth - although the £10k figure has surprised me. We've sold databases for much less.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Where do you find such auctions ? where company selling thier assets ?

Usually via an agent.

 

[fisicx]

The OP seems to be a transport company. The recent demise of Knights of Old suggests this might be the source of the list. If this is the case I’m not sure it will be that useful as these customers will already be looking for new providers.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

When my company in the workwear sector went tits up, the IP sold my customer 51,000 list for £11,000 but that was quite a few years ago now

 

[Paul Carmen]

Paul - your first para took the words right out of my mouth - although the £10k figure has surprised me. We've sold databases for much less.

Lisa, I won't name names, but it was one of the big 4 accounting companies. I think they charged £500 just to get out of bed, so any work ran to thousands; I suspect £5k or more was the starting point for it not to be cost negative, so £10k was the minimum they'd start a discussion on.

 

[AlanJ1]

And what value would you want to put on a list which apparently saw the company become insolvent, to me its worth zilch

You can't be serious?

A GDPR fully compliant list of customers who have bought in X market is worth a fortune to the right buyer (someone in same sector), Just because they went bust doesn't mean the list isn't worth money. You will then have customers full buying habits and info to contact on.

 

[AlanJ1]

Paul - your first para took the words right out of my mouth - although the £10k figure has surprised me. We've sold databases for much less.

Maplins database went for tens of thousands.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Maplins database went for tens of thousands.

It wasn't the figure itself that surprised me, it was that the IP wouldn't deal with anything less than that.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Lisa, I won't name names, but it was one of the big 4 accounting companies. I think they charged £500 just to get out of bed, so any work ran to thousands; I suspect £5k or more was the starting point for it not to be cost negative, so £10k was the minimum they'd start a discussion on.

Makes sense. I hear similar stories like that about some of the bigger IP firms from time to time so I shouldn't be surprised any more!

 

[Paul Carmen]

You can't be serious?

A GDPR fully compliant list of customers who have bought in X market is worth a fortune to the right buyer (someone in same sector), Just because they went bust doesn't mean the list isn't worth money. You will then have customers full buying habits and info to contact on.

If it's Knights of Old, like @fisicx says, they went under due to a cyber attack recently, they were a profitable solvent company. That data could be gold to another transport company if they can buy it quickly, as many previous customers will be in the process of looking for a new transport partner. If it takes 2 months to buy, then not so much...

 

[Paul Carmen]

Hi Everyone,

A company in our field has gone into liquidation and their assets are for sale. We are a young company doing well and the company that has gone into liquidation were quite a significant and well established company.

As part of the auction their customer data list that contains 6k customers is up for auction. This would be of interest to us but we have no idea how much to value this at or bid for it.

We think it would be a quality list of qualified customers, has of which would probably be interested in what we do and I dare say there will be bigger companies after it too.

But it's still an unknown and a risk and I'm wondering how you guys would value such a list?

Thanks

@TruthHunter none of us can value the list for you, but using your data is the answer. You need to do some cost analysis; essentially you model this; e.g. what would a small ad hoc customer of theirs be worth to you, what would a large customer/contract be worth to you (profit wise, not revenue), and what time period would you want this to pay back in.

How long ago and time sensitive is the list; e.g. you should be able to estimate from your industry knowledge how many of those on the list will have already had to put something else in place already, and whether that would be ad hoc, or a new long term contract signed.

Then you can model (approximately) on how many of each type you'd close out of the 6k, you could start with - we close 1 or 2 of each, right up to a fair percentage of the leads.

Only you will know your current profitability and cash flow position, plus what you spend on marketing and lead gen currently.

That will determine whether its worth offering £1,000, £10,000 or £25,000 etc.

 

[WaveJumper]

You can't be serious?

A GDPR fully compliant list of customers who have bought in X market is worth a fortune to the right buyer (someone in same sector), Just because they went bust doesn't mean the list isn't worth money. You will then have customers full buying habits and info to contact on.

Yes I was deadly serious. What would be interesting is to hear from any members on here who have bought such a list and what finical benefit they made. ie cost of list versus return

So far we have not heard from any members on here who have

 

[AlanJ1]

Yes I was deadly serious. What would be interesting is to hear from any members on here who have bought such a list and what finical benefit they made. ie cost of list versus return

So far we have not heard from any members on here who have

I would be shocked if anyone on here has bought a list before. It's not something that comes up on a daily occurrance. But just because someone hasn't bought from here doesn't mean it's not a good business practise to do.

I have bid in a previous company for one but got outbid by a significant anount.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I would be shocked if anyone on here has bought a list before. It's not something that comes up on a daily occurrance. But just because someone hasn't bought from here doesn't mean it's not a good business practise to do.

I have bid in a previous company for one but got outbid by a significant anount.

I guess it depends a lot on the industry you are in, In transport I imagine but dont know, but suggest a lot of a list would be made up on 1 or 2 time users, and at the other end just under 5-10 companies with long term large Regular orders, but as I said just a wild guess