How to sell an e-comm business

March 22, 2023 11:24 AM

Because of a sudden illness, a person I know needs to sell her e-commerce business, and is not able to do so on her own. I’m pretty sure she needs a broker or seller’s agent of some sort to get any value for her business. Where should she look?

The business is in Northern Virginia, more than 10 years old, revenues (not profit) are somewhere in the range of $5-10 million annually. The business is essentially just reselling goods on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, etc. She is the only full-time employee, but has a warehouse with around 10 people working part-time.

Unfortunately, because of her illness, the owner is not going to be able to provide much help in getting the business ready to sell, and there’s no possibility of any family or existing employees taking over. So she needs to hire someone to make the most of what she’s got, maybe multiple someones. Is a broker what she wants? A seller’s agent? Someone to put documents in order to establish the business’s value?

posted by skewed to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I bought an existing retail store and sold it 6 years later. When I bought it, the owner was out of the country, the broker took 10% and did very little. As owner, I got a couple inquiries from business brokers, who were astonishingly bad at the job. I met with a broker who contacted me; she realized, halfway through the confusing meeting, that she's called me. Nope. Sold it on my own. Interview brokers, find somebody smart, they must exist.

Get her tax records, and make a proposal with sales records and any useful info. What skills and resources are needed for the owner to thrive? I sold my business to sa sales rep who was looking to buy a store. Look at her vendors and any associates. Define what's for sale? Inventory, equipment, brand name? Try to avoid selling goodwill; it may have weird tax issues.
posted by theora55 at 11:43 AM on March 22, 2023

Best answer: There are brokers that handle website (including ecomm) sales - the one I'm aware of in this space is FE International. There are others I'm sure. Note I've never worked with these folks, but they're the ones I've heard recommended from the various podcasts I listen to that discuss ecomm and online marketing.
posted by cgg at 12:57 PM on March 22, 2023

Talk to the accountant for the business - the better ones usually have some idea what information to present to potential buyers and may have some ideas as to brokers for the sale of the business.

Are there any logical owners of the business? Suppliers? Competitors? it may be worth reaching out to see if they are interested.
posted by Barbara Spitzer at 9:41 PM on March 22, 2023