E-commerce businesses for sale
Online shops and e-commerce projects with demonstrable revenue looking for a buyer or an investor partner.
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Join the investor networkBuying an online shop: what to check before signing
Traffic is not the business
Many online shops are presented with visit and gross revenue figures that impress and say very little. What holds up the value is the margin after cost of goods, advertising, platform commissions, payment gateway, logistics and returns. It is not unusual for a shop with high revenue to have a very small real profit.
The second question is where that traffic comes from. A business that depends entirely on paid advertising is fragile against any change in costs; one that lives on organic search or its own customer base has far more defensible value.
What we review before listing
In e-commerce verification rests on data that can be checked directly in the platforms the business runs on.
- Analytics and sales platform data, cross-checked against the accounts provided
- Real margin per product after all variable costs
- Traffic distribution across channels and dependence on paid advertising
- Returning customers and the size of the owned database
- Supplier and logistics agreements, and whether they are transferable
- Ownership of the domain, the brand and the store, and contracts with outside developers
Questions about e-commerce transactions
How is an online shop valued?
Usually on the recurring net profit of the last twelve months, adjusted for traffic quality and customer recurrence. A shop that depends on paid advertising trades at a lower multiple than one with the same profit but organic traffic and repeat customers.
Can the figures of an online shop be verified?
Yes, and it is easier here than in other sectors: the sales platform dashboards, the analytics and the payment gateway settlements are cross-checked against the accounts provided. If the seller does not grant that access during the review, that is a warning sign in itself.
What happens with suppliers after the purchase?
It depends on whether the arrangements are transferable and whether they were tied to the previous owner personally. Prices and terms negotiated personally are often renegotiated when ownership changes, which can shift the margin. It is a point reviewed in due diligence and it sometimes adjusts the price.
Do I have to buy the company as well?
Not always. In e-commerce it is common to buy the assets — domain, store, brand, customer base and agreements — without acquiring the company, which avoids inheriting its tax history. The trade-off is that contracts and registrations have to be redone, and on some marketplaces the seller account is not transferable.